I went to the weight room and did a workout yesterday.  While in there, someone caught my eye.  It was a person performing rotator cuff exercises.

As I went from exercise to exercise, he went from rotator cuff exercise to rotator cuff exercise.  Everything he did, in my mind I was saying why he should not be doing that.

Let me share with you what my mind was saying as this patron was doing things to injure his rotator cuff and how he could tweak things so he is helping his rotator cuff.

#1 – Start Off with the Right Kind of Warm Up

He should have taken 5 minutes and warmed up the upper body and rotator cuff.

I am not talking about going on the treadmill and walking for 5 minutes.

I am talking about a warm-up targeting the upper body.

An example of an upper body warm up that he could have done before he got into his rotator cuff exercises is:

• Jump Rope – 2 minutes
• Push Ups – 10 repetitions
• Shoulder Bridges – 10 repetitions
• Tubing Face Pulls – 10 repetitions
• Thread the Needle – 10 repetitions

These exercises serve to warm up the shoulder, activate the muscle in the shoulder blade area (scapular muscles), and improve the mobility of the mid-back, which all decrease the stress on the rotator cuff.

Now if you have Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body Edition – Josh Saunders goes through a great upper body dynamic warm up that he does for his bootcampers.

#2 – Doing WAAAAAAAAY too Many Scapular Exercises

I will pass on writing about this and let myself explain things in this video:

 (Resent research is Teyhen 2008.)

#3 – Stop Doing the Wrong Stretches Between Sets

It is common to see people stretching after they do an exercise.

For example, after doing a bench press you would see the person stretch out their chest.

Does this help or make things worse when it comes to the rotator cuff?

I would say it hurts the rotator cuff, and decreases your performance.

What he should have done  is stretch the antagonist muscle (the muscle or muscle group that performs the opposite action or movement).

For example, if you are working the back by doing a rowing exercise, after the exercise you would stretch out the antagonist, which is the chest. Doing this will help decrease tension in the chest, lengthen the chest muscles, and allows you to get greater range of motion and less resistance from the chest muscles when performing the rowing exercise.

#4 – Don’t Make Your Rotator Cuff Weaker by “Strengthening” It

Doing too many rotator cuff exercises can lead to injuring the shoulder.

The patron in the gym.  (Ya, at this gym, they call gym members, patrons.  I don’t know.)

The patron in the gym was doing a standing tubing external rotation exercise. He was not doing it for sets or reps, but to fatigue.  Not a good idea.

Often times, you will see people focusing on working their rotator cuff in an exercise. They will be performing repetitions with their maximum weight and going to fatigue. This leads to the rotator cuff not being able to do its job which is to hold the head of the humerus (upper arm) in place in the shoulder. With the rotator cuff fatigued, the upper arm will move upwards and increase the risk of impingement in the shoulder (Teyhen 2008).

You can do rotator cuff work in the warm up at a low load to warm them up, or you can do your rotator cuff work at the end of your workout, but doing it to fatigue is not a good idea.

#5 – Shoulder Blade Muscles are the Key to Rotator Cuff Health

When it comes to shoulder health and rotator cuff health, focus on the scapular muscles (Başkurt 2011).

Exercises like seated rows, diagonal pulley pull ups, straight arm deltoid rows, and bent over rows all hit your back and the muscles around your shoulder blade. That is, if you are at the level to do them.

The scapular muscles work to keep the shoulder blade in a position so the rotator cuff muscles can work at the best position possible. If the scapular muscles lack the activation, endurance, and strength, this leads to them not doing their job, which leads to great stress and risk of injury on the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff can do the job for a little while, but eventually micro-tears occur which could lead to a full blown rotator cuff injury and shoulder pain.

I go into scapular exercises in a lot more detail in the Scapular Stabilization Exercise Program:

#6 – Focusing on Eccentric Contraction of the Rotator Cuff

The patron was doing side lying dumbell external rotation exercises with a 2.5 weight plate.  This is a good exercise but he only focused on one of the contractions in the exercise.

He would externally rotate the weight plate, and then let gravity lower it back to the start position, avoiding the eccentric contraction. Not a good idea.

Many times when patrons work on strengthening their rotator cuff, they end up focusing on the wrong type of contraction for their rotator cuff. Let’s step back and talk about the different types of contraction a muscle has.

A concentric muscle contraction is when the muscle is shortening and the joint angle is decreasing. For example, look at biceps curls. If I take a dumbbell in my hand and go from straight arm and curl up until my elbow is bent to maximum, this is the concentric contraction of the biceps muscle.

An isometric contraction is when the muscles are activated and working but there is no joint movement. Let’s go back to the biceps curl. At the start of the biceps curl, my elbow is straight and my hand is holding the dumbbell. The biceps muscle is active but the elbow is still straight and there is no change in the joint range of motion. This is an isometric contraction.

Eccentric contraction is when the muscles are activated and the joint angle is increasing. Continuing on with the biceps curl example, this is when you go from the end position to the starting position. When working the rotator cuff, focus on the eccentric contraction (Holmgren 2012). This will help when it comes to overcoming a shoulder injury, especially shoulder impingement.

The guy in the gym could have got a lot more out of the exercise if he focused on lowering the weight plate by using the eccentric contraction of the rotator cuff, compared to using gravity.

Last Word on Helping and Not Hurting Your Rotator Cuff

There are a lot of things we can avoid and tweak that will decrease risk of injury and help protect the rotator cuff. Starting the workout right, stretching correctly, avoiding working the rotator cuff to fatigue, taking the time to work on the scapular muscles, and working on the eccentric contraction of the rotator cuff  are just a few of the things that you can to help prevent and overcome a rotator cuff injury.

Now I did not tell this to the patron, but I hope he reads the blog — or he can book a training session with me and I can help him out.

Where to get more information:

Başkurt Z, Başkurt F, Gelecek N, Özkan MH. (2011). The effectiveness of scapular stabilization exercise in the patients with subacromial impingement syndrome. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2011;24(3):173-9.

Holmgren T, Björnsson Hallgren H, Öberg B, Adolfsson L, Johansson K. Effect of specific exercise strategy on need for surgery in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome: randomised controlled study. BMJ. 2012 Feb 20;344:e787. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e787. 

Teyhen DS, Miller JM, Middag TR, Kane EJ. (2008). Rotator cuff fatigue and glenohumeral kinematics in participants without shoulder dysfunction. J Athl Train. 2008 Jul-Aug;43(4):352-8.

If you want more details on re-habbing or strengthening your rotator cuff, you can check out my Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program and yes, you can earn CECs with it:

Rick Kaselj, MS

Here we go to the rambles.

Nice to look at the week that was.

These are a few things that happened.

MIR Approved for Fitness Australia CECs

I just got the word from down under that Muscle Imbalances Revealed has been approved for CECs.

Fitness Australia has reviewed Muscle Imbalances Revealed and approved it for 6.0 CECs.  Now the 23,000 fitness professional that are part of Fitness Australia can earn continuing education credit when learning and watching Muscle Imbalances Revealed.

Very cool!

I just got the details and will be finalizing everything with them.  Working with Fitness Australia is a new thing, so I need to figure out how they work and what they would like their members to receive.

Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises

Just to finish off, here are some kind words I received about Effective Rotator Cuff Exericses:

“The Exercises Rehabilitation for the Rotator Cuff course was excellent! Rick really brought together a course that was thorough, effective, and was easy to apply to my clients as a personal trainer as well as myself, who up until recently had shoulder issues. Thanks Rick! “

Leah Seaton
BCRPA/ ACSM Personal Trainer
Vancouver, BC

“Even if the money spent only helped one of my clients, Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises would have been a worthy investment. The great part about the course is that not only does it allow me to help those with rotator cuff issues, but it also allows me to design better programs for all my clientele.”

Brent Campbell

“Dear Rick, I would be happy to help you out with the Rotator Cuff program. I have reviewed the program and have found it very beneficial for use in the clinic. As a physiotherapist, it is always challenging to provide patients with all the information and handouts they require. Rick’s systematic approach and reliant/clear patient handout have helped me keep on top of patient education. In the long run, this equals more compliance and better results. I also think the way the program is divided into goal focused sections helps keep patients focused on their exercises and their rehab goals. Overall I think it is a great program and it has really helped me address rotator cuff injuries within a clinical setting. Thanks Rick.”

Katie Ireland
Registered physiotherapist
Ottawa, Ontario

Positive Vibes

Ending things on a positive note.

Thanks for everyone that says such kind things on my Facebook page:

Thanks for reading.

Have a great weekend.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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Another research update.

I am so glad I take the time to do this.

There is all kinds of great stuff that comes out every week.

The Problem with Overtraining Your Abs

The article focused on those performing Olympic lifts but they did bring up some interesting points that can be carried over to injured client.

In order to hold a load over head you need good stability in the flexors and extensors of the trunk plus good deceleration of the flexors of the truck.  Not being able to do so increases your risk of injury and decreases you ability to hold a load overhead.  This is important for the athlete but also the general public.  Overhead movements are essential for all and have been avoided of late in the fitness industry due to the perceived risk of injury.  I make sure I do a least one over head pressing movement with my clients but if your client can’t do a proper overhead weighted movement make sure to look at their trunk flexors and extensors.

Many times truck flexion (abdominals) exercises are done on a daily basis while lower back exercises maybe done 2 to 3 times a week.  This leads to muscle imbalances in the flexion and extension muscles of the trunk.  This imbalance could lead to an alteration in the tilt in the pelvis which had an effect on latissiums dorsi which an increase the risk of injury in the shoulder.

The writers provided a sample exercise program to train the trunk flexors and extensors.  The exercises were lever abdominals, medicine ball seated twists, bridge with arms lifted, marching bridge with arms lifted, dumbbell farmer’s walk, supine weighted extended hold, hyperextensions with arms out straight , hyperextension to row with
weight (medicine ball or plate), hyperextension with weight (plate or medicine ball), and barbell over head circle walks.

I wrote a little report on core training that may interest you.  Here you go:

Read the rest of this entry »

It has been a bit of a crazy week.

I have been in Orange County at a Fitness Conference.  It was a little more than a fitness conference, it was a fitness mastermind group.

After the fitness mastermind in Los Angles, I was off to Seattle for a fitness business conference.  The people presenting were Tom Plummer and Bill Parisi.

Just Marked Her Rotator Cuff exam

The great thing about the scoliosis and rotator cuff manuals that I have written, I have been able to help people with these injuries and fitness professionals better understand these injuries.  These manuals have helped people around the world.  I just sent off a scoliosis manual to Seol, Korea.  How cool is that.

Here are a few kind words from a fitness professional in Calgary, Alberta, Canada had to say about the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises.

“Thanks Rick!  Always great to read your manuals though – I find them very thorough and I really like the progression that you write them in – anatomy, purpose of exercising, etc.”

Fiona Yeoman
Wellness trainer, Kinesiologist
Talisman Centre, Calgary

Read the rest of this entry »

People have been asking me for clips from my fitness education webinars.

Here is a clip from The Most Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program:

Rick Kaselj, MS

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As you know, I am really big into scapular exercises and teaching an effective rotator cuff exercise program.

I have another perspective on the shoulder for you.  It is a guest blog post from Tara Keller.  It is the third part of her series.  Enjoy!

Addressing Shoulder Dysfunction Beyond the Shoulder Itself

By Tara Keller, BSc.(KIN), MES

Part III: The Silent Triggers

Leading into this final segment of this article we have discussed the kinetic chain response and how cueing can play an integral role in the retraining of functional movement. This week we are looking beyond the shoulder to the silent triggers of shoulder dysfunction.

Read the rest of this entry »

What’s My Cue? (Part 2)

What I am going to chat about today is rotator cuff exercises and why/when/how to use a towel when performing rotator cuff exercises.

When I was working in a large rehabilitation centre, I work with a wide variety of physical therapists. They all had different ideas on exercises for the rotator cuff. The majority of them would not support the elbow when performing rotator cuff exercises but the odd one would.

Rotator Cuff External Rotation Exercise Set Up

How I  set up a client for the rotator cuff external rotation exercise would be to have the client stand with feet hip width apart and toes pointing forward. The core would be activated in order to prevent any trunk rotation. Upper arm would be at the side and elbow bent to 90 degrees. The pulley or tubing would be adjusted so it was parallel to the floor. The focus of the exercise would be external rotation in the shoulder from 0 degrees to maximum.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dumbbell Lateral Raises - Long Arm (End)

A lot of my rotator cuff clients complain about rotator cuff pain with the lateral raise exercise.

Before I talk about what  you can do to relieve lateral raise rotator cuff pain, let me explain why I do the lateral raise exercise with my rotator cuff clients.

Why I give my rotator cuff clients the lateral raises exercises?

The movement of lateral raise is abduction of the shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint).  For clients with rotator cuff injuries, often times this is a movement that is weak.

I want to improve the strength in abduction of the shoulder joint from 0 degrees to 85 degrees of abduction.  I can do this with the lateral raise exercise.  I can the exercise use dumbbell, tubing or pulleys for resistance.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, the Effective Rotator Cuff Program officially goes on sale at 9 am EST.

Today’s your one and only chance to win a copies of the “Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program”.

And it will only take you a few minutes to enter.

Just leave a short message for me about…

“Why the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program would be the perfect resource to finally help you with your clients with Rotator Cuff Injuries?”

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Feel free to share about your past and current struggles working with rotator cuff injuries and in what specific ways an effective rotator cuff exercise program will help you get better results with your clients with rotator cuff injuries.

I’ll go through every single one of your responses before Tuesday at 5 pm EST and I’ll choose ONE winners.

If you win, you’ll be notified by email and I will mail you the complete Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program.

Good luck and thanks for your participation!

I look forward to hearing from you,

Rick Kaselj,
Author, Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program

PS – Don’t miss the amazing SALE that starts on Wednesday…

…you’ll also get FAST ACTION bonuses and of course, the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program.

I want to hear from you about your challenges working with clients with rotator cuff injuries.

NOTE: The contest ends on Tuesday, November 24th at 5 pm EST.

PSS – Again, here are the steps.

1) Answer the question from above.

2) Write a little post in the comments section about how an effective rotator cuff exercise program can  help your clients.

3) I’ll pick and announce 1 winners on Tuesday.

4) The winner will each get…

A copy of the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program

Good luck to everyone!

I give tubing exercises to all my clients with rotator cuff injuries.

When I started out, I used to fly through the rotator cuff exercises with my client.  I would show them the exercise; then get them to do it and finally move onto the next one.

With time, age and experience; I have improved on that rookie technique when using tubing exercise for rotator cuff injuries.

There are three things that you need to remember and highlight when designing an exercise program for a client that has a shoulder injury especially when you’re using tubing.

The three things that you want to remember to highlight when you’re explaining the exercise to the client with a rotator cuff injury are:

#1)  Distance Specific

You want to be specific on the distance away from where the tubing is fixed.  If the client ends up changing the distance of how far they are away from where the tubing is fixed, it ends up changing the exercise.

#2)  Fix the Range of Motion

The second thing, you want to be specific when it comes to the range of motion that you want your client to perform.

Do you just want them to perform 45 degrees of extension, or full range of motion when it comes to the shoulder?

You need to be specific on the range of motion that you want them to cover when doing the exercise.

#3)  Length Matters

And then thirdly, you want to be specific on the length of the tubing that you want them to use.  If they end up grabbing the tubing and wrapping it around their hands, they end up changing the length of the tubing and that ends up changing the exercise again.

3 SPECIFIC TO DO’s If you Give Tubing Exercises to a Client with a Shoulder Injury:

==> CLICK HERE for 3 Shoulder Injury Tubing Exercise Tips

I know, sometimes we just show our clients the tubing exercises and leave them alone.  So make sure you’re clear on how far away they are from the tubing anchor.  Make sure you’re clear on the range of motion that you want them to do when it comes to tubing, and make sure that you’re clear on the length of tubing that you want to use.  If your client has a rotator cuff or shoulder injury, it is important to be clear about these three things or it leads to irritation, re-injury or not getting the most out of the exercise.

So this is Rick Kaselj for Exercises for Injuries.

Thank you very much for reading the blog and watching all the videos.

Rick Kaselj, MS

I have an interview for you with Tim Vagen of Unlimited Athlete.  Tim is a very respected strength and conditioning coach from Kent, Washington.  He is big on shoulders and I was lucky enough to chat with Tim about shoulder injuries and exercise.

I hope you enjoy the interviews as much as I did.

In part 1 of the interview, Tim and I chat about:

- How he began working with injuries

- Being a strength & conditioning coach

- Training elite level swimmers

- Training volleyball players

- Working with other shoulder athletes

- Tips for the fitness professional to help their clients overcome shoulder injuries

- Why the shoulder injury determines the exercises your client gets

- Why thoracic mobility is essential for shoulder injury recovery

- Example of effective thoracic mobility exercises

Tim Vagen on Tips for the Fitness professional on Shoulder Injuries

==> CLICK HERE to watch the video with Tim Vagen on tips for the fitness professionals when working with shoulder injuries

I know the big thing I got from Tim’s interview was the important of t-spine mobility and it is something that I have incorporated into my work with shoulder injury clients.  Plus the exercises he went through were great!  You can never have enough exercises for your tool box.

Now lets head on over to part 2 of the interview.

In Part 2 or the interview, Tim and I chat about:

- Examples of thoracic mobility exercises

- Lack of thoracic mobility leads to compensation in the shoulder joint

- Lack of hip mobility will lead to compensations in the spine and shoulder

- Why to avoid barbells with shoulder press movements

- Use of kettle bells for overhead press movements and scapular stabilization exercises

- Why people that have a tight shoulder often have hypermobile shoulders

- Stretching the shoulder maybe not what is needed

Tim Vagen on Why Stretching the Shoulder Maybe Not What is Needed

==> CLICK HERE to watch the video Tim Vagen chatting about scapular stabilization exercises

The information on the lack of t-spine mobility leads to compensations in the shoulder was a big eye opener for me plus the great tip he gave on getting rid of the barbells was amazing.

I hope you enjoyed the interview with Tim Vagen.  To get more info on Tim Vagen, visit Unlimited Athlete or click here.

I know Tim will be at the NSCA Washington State Annual Fall Clinic and I will be as well.  I am so excited to be heading to the USA to do my first international presentation.  I have made it all across Canada to present but it is great to start heading south and share information on exercises and injuries.

At the NSCA Fall Clinic, I will be presenting on Running Injuries and exercise .  I hope to see you all down there and if you do come to the clinic, make sure to say, “Hi.”

Take care and we will talk to you soon.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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I love the shoulder.

It is one of my passions.

It has lead to over 11 hours worth of courses on all aspects of the shoulder:

• Exercise Rehabilitation of the Shoulder
• Core Stability of the Shoulder
• Save Your Client’s Shoulders
• Exercise Rehabilitation of the Rotator Cuff

In the video below I go through a great tool that your clients can use in order to do their rotator cuff exercises at home.

Enjoy the video and make sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Have difficulty viewing

A Simple At Home Tool for Your Client’s Rotator Cuff Exercises,  click here.

To learn more about Rotator Cuff Injury Exercises,  click here.