![]() ![]() When looking at function in this way, adding a dynamic component to these muscular groups doesn't match their primary actions, which makes this type of training counterproductive at best, and injurious at worst. The musculature of both sides of the forearms that control flexion and extension of the wrists and fingers are anatomically and biomechanically designed to execute two actions: There are far superior methods to build the forearms while getting big and functionally strong in the process. The use of these minor movements with nearly no long-term loading capacity or ability to stimulate localized hypertrophy doesn't make a whole lot of sense. More times than not, the minor muscle-building benefits of direct wrist and forearm flexor and extensor work don't exceed the possible muscular and tendon stress and general waste of training time. People have enough problems keeping their elbows healthy without cranking out short range-of-motion wrist extensions and curls on a regular basis. You'll quickly feel the activation and pump. Place this tri-set into your warm-up every single day before training. And stability is a skill that's improved with frequency and high volume practice. Repeat 2-4 times.įor shoulders to be pain-free, they don't need to be more mobile they need to be more stable. This sequence combines three movements to target both static and dynamic stability at the shoulders, along with authentic movement and stability at the shoulder blades and thoracic cage:Ĭomplete this as a tri-set with minimal rest between exercises and 30-45 seconds rest between sets. This can be achieved through a tri-set of banded shoulder exercises that coaches Charles Staley and Christian Thibaudeau have graciously coined, "The Rusin Shoulder Warm-Up." Since we're targeting the rotator cuff to improve its stability action, it makes sense to do exercises that initiate stability at the rotator cuff. Do This Instead: The Face Pull-Apart Combo It's time to put an end to endless banded external rotations that aren't doing jack shit for your shoulder health and instead use a more effective method to build up strength and function in this region. The rotator cuff is a stability-based unit and not a dynamic mover, as this exercise assumes it is. What does this mean for our training? An exercise like the shoulder external rotation done with the arm down to the side and a 90-degree elbow flexion is useless for a vast majority of people trying to rehab shoulder pain. ![]() Instead, they work as an integrated unit that acts to initiate primary stability at the gleno-humeral joint upon elevation. While the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor all have, in theory, unique isolated muscular action, they don't work in isolation. The rotator cuff is comprised of four musculo-tendinous units that surround the head of the humerus. ![]() ![]() You could write a dissertation on the multi-level problems of the banded external rotation and its lack of efficacy, but it all comes back to mismatching the targeted muscle (the infraspinatus or external rotator cuff) with its primary function. This exercise is also the perfect metaphor for the ever-growing gap between a highly theoretical, academic-based biomechanical model and the reality, which is real world, battle-tested, functional strength training. Over the last few decades, the banded-external rotation exercise has become one of the most overused and under-performing forms of "resistance training" to battle shoulder pain and strengthen the rotator cuff that we've ever seen. ![]()
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