The truth about rotator cuff strengthening

and how we do it here

I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of direct work to the rotator cuff, but there are times and places it has value.

Here’s 4 I like. You’ll see most don’t “look” like things usually sold as cuff exercises.

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My 4 favorite rotator cuff exercises

1. Elbow on knee shoulder ER

2. Torches

3. Crawling

4. Single Arm Press

#1 Elbow on knee shoulder ER

This has a lot of names and people think it’s new, but we’ve been using it for years.

The benefit isn’t purely “cuff” strength. As a matter of fact

I don’t think there’s any strength benefit at all

The benefit is mobility as it improves the (good) stiffness in the back of the shoulder while decrease the (bad) stiffness in the front of the shoulder

This is why it’s done in the scapular plane. To better control the joint and keep the shoulder from dumping forward.

The weight is not important. Control is.

#2 Torches (Starts at 7:07)

This is a regressed version of a rear delt fly. The arm “long” helps you isolate the movement to the rear delt and the actual cuff/teres, and you can avoid squeezing the shoulder blades together.

Rotator cuff strength is position dependent, so the shoulder blade needs to be more neutral to protracted, so

Stop squeezing the shoulder blades together

Squeezing them together puts more stress on the front of the shoulder, and over time I see that lead to shoulder pain.

This and #1 are “feel” exercises. You need to feel them in the right place.

#3 Crawling

The weight through the arms can help compress the joint, and moving in reverse helps to get the more important muscle, the serratus anterior. You can learn more about that here.

Your shoulders NEED this muscle to work

#4 Half Kneeling 1-Arm Press

You can see he rotates the elbow out, which is fine. Experiment to actually find where your shoulder likes this.

I find most people like it better when they don’t let the elbow rotate out until its about even with your shoulder.

Since the shoulder has to work through a full ROM, the cuff has no choice but to work. The catch is

You have to HAVE full ROM first.

Pain with this likely means you have a shoulder mobility problem that needs to be solved.

Start with this post (LINK) or reach out to us if you’ve struggle with shoulder issues for years.

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