Exercises

Printer Friendly Version

Shoulder Rotator Cuff Exercises

Shoulder rotator cuff exercises are simple - you rest your elbow, you have your elbow bent at 90 degrees, you slowly move your hand away from your midline - you do not change the angle at the elbow - neither bend or straighten, just rotate. Use a light weight - 0.5 kg is quite ok, the trick is to change the position of the elbow, rest it and repeat the exercises.

By changing the position of the elbow I mean move it away from your body, then rest it on something so it is supported and repeat your rotator cuff exercises. If you think more weight (over 2 kilograms) is better, consider this. The golf club does not weigh very much, so its not a case of pure brute strength that will enable your rotator cuff to work better, it's a case of better co-ordination. A problem I see fairly often is that the internal rotator muscles are "working" all day - i.e. me sitting here typing this out for you is "exercising" my internal rotators - my hands are closer to my midline than my elbows. I "exercise" them far more frequently than my external rotators - I don't often have my hands further away from the midline than my elbows - except at the top of a backswing. It is here that the muscle group will be the weakest, it is in this position that I do my exercising.

I am pedantic about positioning the body for this exercise - later I will write about "muscle specificity", however, it is for this reason that I almost get into the stance position - bending forward, feet apart, body rotation for the top of the backswing - then rest the elbow and commence rotator cuff exercises. Why I say rest the elbow, is that the deltoid muscle holds the arm out to the side, it is the big triangular muscle at the join of arm and shoulder (glenohumeral) joint. When experiments using the electronic feedback of muscle activity (EMG) are used the deltoid muscle is mainly not active in professional golfers. If pro golfers don't use the muscle playing golf then I don't want to increase its activity - it will obviously alter the swing path and that is bad.

The old adage, there is not one swing for everyone, but everyone needs one swing is true, however when testing professional golfers muscle activation patterns, one muscle in particular is very active - its name is subscapularis, it is a rotator cuff muscle of the shoulder, and its action is to allow the hand/wrist/forearm to move towards the belly button while your elbow is resting by your side. An excellent way to exercise this muscle is to place your hand behind your back, allow the back of your wrist to rest on your lumbar spine - do not move your elbow, but lift off your wrist - try to do it in a straight line.

Try with 0.5 kg weight. At no time should you experience any discomfort, if you do please seek professional help - you may have a minor (or more than minor) problem with your rotator cuff and the position is irritating it. Other muscles apart from the rotator cuff are involved in shoulder activity - 17 in all and others need specific training. An excellent starting point is the shoulder activating and trunk rotating muscle groups - trapezius for one.

There are three "parts" of this muscle - upper, middle and lower - and all have different roles to play when swinging a golf club. The upper part goes to the neck and is a favourite one for massage therapists to dig their thumbs, elbows, whatever into. Try this: with your little finger resting on a partners outer tip of the shoulder, and your other little finger on the spine, the spot half way between the two - your thumbs will easily figure out this. It is an amazing acupuncture point - it is the highest point on this muscle, and your partner will greatly appreciate a massage here.

Why is this muscle nearly always sore, tight, or in spasm or whatever? It is not because (as poorly trained therapists will inform you) you are too stressed, it is because you are using the wrong muscles to bend your chin towards your chest. See a qualified therapist is my advice - over the net it's too risky to give general advise. Ask how to activate your deep neck flexors.

Mid trapezius muscle "fixes" the scapula firmly for other muscles to generate power from a stable source - it's not so important to "exercise" this muscle, but you can do wall push ups, kneeling "push ups" etc if you want. A fairly good one for when you are stuck in traffic: holding the top half of the steering wheel try to push it back over the dashboard without moving your trunk forward. I have never heard of anyone actually breaking the steering wheel yet, but there is always some idiot who is prepared to be the first, don't let it be you, however, you don't need to push THAT hard. Just firmly "poke" both shoulders forward (actually you are protracting your scapulae) and hold the pressure for about 7 seconds.

Lower trapezius - this is the one that powers your swing, rotates your trunk and assists in stabilising your middle back. You need your arms in a specific position to strengthen this muscle. Above 90 degrees between arm and trunk, position the elbow / wrist slightly in front of your body, and the line of pull requires is aiming just behind your bottom. This muscle is so close to latissimus dorsi you can use "lat pull downs" as an exercise, just do not exercise with your arms below 90 degrees to the trunk -you will be exercising middle and upper trapezius if you do.

A good exercise is to raise your arms to 90 degrees, adopt the "hands up" position, feel a tug on muscles as you pull your elbows down about 1-2 cm and hold that contraction while standing on your right leg, balanced. Then, as you get better at that add in some trunk twist, just like your golf swing, but keep balanced, then as that becomes no challenge, add in about 0.5 - 1 kg weight.