It’s easy to neglect the small muscles that make up the rotator cuff:
- supraspinatus
- infraspinatus
- teres minor
- subscapularis
They are not “showy” muscles, you can’t see them in the mirror…rotator cuff muscles are little. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that they are responsible for keeping the ball of your arm bone (humerus) held in the socket of your shoulder blade (scapula) – these small rotator cuff muscles stabilize your shoulder! These muscles make every movement of your shoulder possible – and we usually don’t notice them …until they start to hurt.
Train Your Rotator Cuff Muscles!
LIke every other muscle, the muscles that compose the rotator cuff must be trained – exercised and then allowed to recover. Most exercises require light dumbbells or elastic tubing to provide resistance. A quick search of YouTube will give you lots of options to choose from … and all these exercises are pretty basic.
Crossover Symmetry introduces Plyometrics to the Rotator Cuff
Thanks to Coach Dan at BaseballStrength.com, who published an article entitled “Counter Dead Arm With Crossover Symmetry” by Jim Moran, a Physical Therapist and Shoulder Specialist. This article introduced me to the concept of plyometric training for the rotator cuff and here is a video explaining how Crossover Symmetry works and why your baseball and softball players need it.
Visit Crossover Symmetry – they have some outstanding testimonials!
Another Shoulder Tool for Stretching & Strengthening the Rotator Cuff
Disclosure: The Rotater is our product and can be used for both stretching the rotator cuff muscles and strengthening the rotator cuff muscles. Here’s a quick video showing you how to use the Rotater to stretch your external rotation.
If you want to see how to use the Rotater to stretch you internal rotation or strengthen your rotator cuff muscles, please visit our video page.