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Do you suspect you have or have you been diagnosed with rotator cuff impingement?

 

Does the bench press and incline press cause pain in your shoulder?

 

Do lateral raises bring a biting pain to your shoulder?

 

Are flyes and cable crossovers becoming increasingly impossible due to shoulder pain?
Or is it worse?

 

Does shoulder pain wake you one or more times from your nightly sleep?

 

Is your upper back filled with pain limiting motion?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The irongame is rife with mythologies of biomechanics. Those who challenge the vox populi are typically marginalized as cranks. Nevetheless, those seeking peak performance seek them out as gurus.

How many of us internalize and make use of John Grimek's confession that his exceptional strength and physique was the product of 1001 exercises?

Do we make use of Bill Pearl's encyclopedia of movements entilted wisely as Keys to the Inner Universe? Mel Siff, Charles Poliquin and Frank Zane all challenge the mediocrity of normative publications with insights born of science and practice. Vince Gironda produced a stable of champions by thinking outside of the box.

Now it's your turn. With the mindfulness techniques offered in previous articles, we're now going to apply them to solving what is a personal problem for many of us. Genetic advantage has nothing to do with this solution: mindful attention to howwe get injured is the key to setting accounts straight and regaining balance.

Do you have shoulder problems?
Do you suspect you haveor have you been diagnosed with rotator cuff impingement? Does the bench press and incline press cause pain in your shoulder? Do lateral raises bring a biting pain to your shoulder? Are flyes and cable crossovers becoming increasingly impossible due to shoulder pain?
Or is it worse? Does shoulder pain wake you one or more times from your nightly sleep? Is your upper back filled with pain limiting motion?

These and other symptoms indicate rotator cuff problems. Add radiating pain down as far as your hand and up through your neck. Rotator cuff is bad enough, but it can synergistically deepen with what's known as "mouse shoulder" -- a repetitive motion disorder afflicting the shoulder brought on by computer mouse use, perhaps worsened with carpal tunnel disorder.

The good news in all this pain is that all three disorders are variations on a theme: diseases of misuse. As outcomes of misuse and neglect, they can be remedied by an aggressive program aimed at strengthening neglected muscles (restoring balance), stretching overly tightened muscles, and applying concentration to movement in order to reorganize neuromuscular patterns emphasizing balanced use.

How prevalent are cuff problems?
Having worked out in the rec center gym of a major research university, I can tell you cuff problems are no respecter of age -- undergraduates in their late teens and early twenties have them in abundance, while the numbers drop as age increases.

I suspect the numbers drop with age simply because injuries destroy motivation for training. Steroids help make the problem worse, especially for those who have not achieved a basic foundation of strength and balanced movement. An appalling number of youngsters gain amazing strength with steroid use, then suddenly find themselves handicapped by severe rotator cuff problems. Their gyms provide everything but the guiding wisdom to help them out of the trap ruining their futures.

Recognition of cuff problems is relatively new. Shoulder problems have been around for decades. But the diagnostically precise term 'rotator cuff' entered the active vocabulary of the irongame only in 1991 with publication and mass marketing of Horrigan & Robinson's The 7-Minute Rotator Cuff Solution.

Before then, bodybuilders and powerlifters suffered from "shoulder problems." Shoulder problems were something you worked around in the vague hope they'd heal and go away. For older guys, those aching shoulders were called bursitis, even arthritis. Removal of shoulder cartilage was a frequent intervention -- one resulting in loss of ability to do shoulder and chest work. Since 1991 news of the rotator cuff has spread at an astonishingly slow rate. How slow? Slow enough that Horrigan and Robinson's book remains the standard in the field despite important contradictions and a very limited approach to cuff rehabilitation. Popular bodybuilding magazines sometimes allude to the cuff -- usually in a way demonstrating next to no understanding. All this works well for keeping you in the dark and setting you up to get hurt.

Here's the program:
(photos below)

• Upper trap - face down incline raises, 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
• Lower trap - face down incline raises, 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
• L-laterals - standing fixed or sitting on bench, 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
• L-flyes, 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
  
• Subscap rotations, 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell pullover - for brachioradialus, 2 sets, 10-12 reps
• Incline flyes - thumbs up to stretch upper pec, movement in line with your ears, 10-15 reps, 2-3 sets
• Neck training - 2 sets of 10-15, front, back, sides
• Incline shrugs - done on 45 degree incline bench facing down, 10-12 reps
• Long cable rope pull in to neck 2-3 sets, 8-12 reps
  
  Do each 2-3 sets, 10-15 reps, daily six days weekly. This is sheer volume training. You'll get sore. More important, you'll become conditioned. I couldn't handle more than ten pound dumbbells for more of the movements for starters; two to three months later, I'm up to 20-25 pounders. Since these muscles are generally neglected, you'll find yourself on a fast track for increases in strength and size. Give it at least a month. All movements are to be performed with great mindful attention. Light weight and good form. I recommend that your mindfulness be in the target muscle, feeling it work from the inside out -- feeling it move your arms. Also remain mindful of keeping your chest high, shoulders down and semi-relaxed. Those rotator cuff muscles move your scapula -- since scapula means "little wing", let those wings flap your weighted movement.

One outcome I found interesting after 6 weeks was that suddenly my curl weights shot up due to greatly increased shoulder stability. See accompanying photos.

Some of the movements will not be familiar so let's address them:

Upper trap. Lie face down on a low to medium incline bench with a light dumbbell in each hand. This is a thumbs up movement, with arms moving forward at an angle of 45 degrees to your trunk. Lift them high, feeling the upper parts of the trap doing the work. Note any pain.

Lower trap. Same incline, but lifting arms straight out and up as if flapping your wings to fly, 90 degrees to your trunk. Feel the lower trap doing all the work.

L-laterals and L-flyes. The "L" means your going to form a right angle between your forearm and upper arm. L-laterals can be done standing or sitting; in both cases, you stabilize your elbow to concentrate the movement. In the seated version, fix your elbow against your knee, while in the standing version you can use an incline or seated press bench.

L-flyes are done lying on your side on a bench. Stabilize your elbow against your obliques, rotating the forearm with a right angle from your trunk.

Subscap rotations again make use of a right angle. These rotations are for stretching the subscap. Lie on a bench as if you were doing flyes. With arms straight out to your sides, hold the dumbbells at right angles; the movement is done by rotating your forearms backward so that the shoulder gains stretching through backward rotation.

All other working out is secondary. I'd recommend doing dips in place of pec pressing work. Squatting is an excellent movement for further stretching the cuff. In general, do a minimal workout pattern for all other body parts. You'll find a growing mindfulness of your cuff's role in just about everything you do. And that awareness will help you reposture yourself, help you break bad habits. Good luck and good workouts

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Ken O'Neill resides in Wimberley, Texas, and. is available for personal consultation and workshops. kayoneill@earthlink.net.