Rotator cuff (?)

[woodywoodford]

Not so much worried about if its the rotator cuff or not, just looking for some advice. I did an exercise last night that involves holding arm horizontal at the shoulder, bent 90 degrees vertical at the elbow, and then the reps are to rotate the arm forward/back (I'd find pics but am on the phone)

Question is, I can do a lot more weight but even the 12.5 lb db was hurting. Not a 'gettin jacked' hurt but more of a biting pain. Is more weight an easy way to injure myself, or is that pain just due to working muscles I've probably never touched before?

[CanmoreOrLess]

Sounds like you are working the joint (did that come out right?), in doing the described exercise (no weight) with my bummed rotator cuff shoulder, there is enough pain telling me to not be an idiot and continue unless I want to throw away a dozen physio treatments. I'd go with a lighter weight, honestly like 3-4 pounds and see what it feels like.

[zipdoa]

the 5lbs weights are more than adequate to work your rotator cuff. This is not an exercise where you want to do heavy weight/low reps. When I'm warming up my rotator cuff I'll do this exercise with MAXIMUM 10lbs. Start off very light, I like to do 5 sets of 30 reps each side:


(substitute plate for band)
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/img/184_fig1.gif

[woodywoodford]

That's kind of what I was thinking, but not sure as I always have trouble getting good form on anything shoulder, guess I'll just stick with little weight. Also if it makes any difference this is what I was doing:

http://www.exercisegoals.com/images/shoulder-internal-rotation-standing.jpg

[elite]

I do that for my warmups before I do chest and I have no pain whatsoever. However, i do not rotate all the way down just so the dumbbell comes paralel with the floor and back up. I normally do 10's, 15's and 20's for 8-12 reps and I can feel the burn but it helps me warm up for bench press. Heres a vid on how I do it (going all the way down feels wierd/hurts)

jQ4TKUEVDoc

If you have trouble keeping your elbows in one spot use a preacher bench and stick your elbows on the edge to keep them in one spot:

y86TYYpaMoA

(starts at 0:45)

I also from time to time do internal rotator cuff exercises with cable too its similar to the one mentioned above but instead of rotating outwords i rotate inwards.

[scboss]

Originally posted by elite


y86TYYpaMoA

(starts at 0:45)

I also from time to time do internal rotator cuff exercises with cable too its similar to the one mentioned above but instead of rotating outwords i rotate inwards.

Ive been using this method forever and ive never had an injury in my rotator cuff.

Where is the exact area the pain is coming from? Your rotator cuff has 4 major muscles. Or is it joint pain?

[mr2mike]

Coming from here?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromion

[woodywoodford]

The pain was on my lateral deltoid, when I made this post I wasn't sure where the rotator cuff was hence the question mark lol. My shoulders are pretty weak which is why I kind of wonder if it was just due to working a new muscle, but I have a hard time believing 12.5 pounds is much of a workout.

http://www.build-some-muscle.com/images/shoulder-muscles.jpg

[scboss]

The movement that you are trying to do is more of a warmup/prehab movement rather then a strength one.

To strengthen the muscle you are talking about do side raises with dbs and use a slow tempo with high reps

PS ive never gone over 10 lbs for the movement you tried to do and I would say im getting pretty strong. Dont worry about the little movements and do more compound stuff