Rotator Cuff Exercises For Rehabing Shoulder Injuries

One of the most common injuries you’ll hear about in the gym is a shoulder injury. In fact it’s so common that virtually all advanced lifters have suffered some pops, pains, and strains in the shoulders at one time or another.

In fact, if you did an informal survey and simply asked the biggest and strongest guys in the gym if they have ever injured their shoulders during training, I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of them will say YES!

The root cause for most shoulder injuries is an imbalance between the front and rear heads of the deltoids. Very often guys will over work their front delts with bench presses, dips, overhead presses, etc. and the rear delts will receive only a fraction of the training volume in comparison.



This uneven development compounds overtime and eventually leads to injury. Now most of the time it’s only a minor pop or strain, but sometimes it can lead to a full blown tear in the rotator cuff muscle or tendon (which can be a real bitch to heal) and will hinder all of your workouts in the gym.

I’ve posted a video clip below that shows some exercises you can do in your workouts to help prevent rotator cuff and shoulder injuries from occurring. And if you already have a shoulder injury now I’ll show you some moves you can do to help rehab that injury so you can get back to normal training ASAP.



Note: if you can’t play the embedded video clip above, you can watch the video on my
YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9bvVGFYl-8

After you give these exercises a try, please post a comment below and let me know how they work for you… 😉

About The Author

leehayward

Lee Hayward is a former competitive bodybuilder and muscle building coach who has been online coaching people since 1997. His work has been featured in several international magazines such as: FLEX, Muscle Insider, Muscle Mag International, Testosterone, Ironmag, and Forbes. Lee's main focus right now is with helping men over 40 - who don't want to be fat anymore - lose the gut, build muscle, and get back in shape. If you're ready to "Start Again" for the last time and finally build a lean healthy body that you can be proud of, just e-mail Lee to discuss a realistic action plan that's right for you... lee@leehayward.com

78 Comments

Comment navigation

  • Frank A

    Hey Lee,

    I appreciate this video as I am receovering from a rotator cuff injury. I will start John Roman’s FPFL 2.0 program on Monday. I am finishing the last three workouts from Dr K’s DEFL 2.0 this weekend so I want to be better prepared for Monday.

    I don’t go to the gym but I can see where I can use a band or tubing in place of the cable. by attaching them to the door at the heights you recommend.

    I like the external rotation lifting the weight up forming a “T”. I was told to the other one lying on the side where the weight is at the abs and you lift against gravity which provides more isolation.

    You can even do that one standing using the cable pull by pulling cross the body.

    Thanks again.

    PS It would be nice to see exercises (basic ones at first) performed using PowerStack DBs. The reason is that they have a different feel and hold than the regulare kind – just a thought!

  • For sure, you can do a lot of these exercises with rubber fitness bands. They will work just as good as the cable weight stack.

    And yes you can do the external rotator cuff rotations laying on your side, doing one arm at a time. That’s actually better than the standing variation I showed in the video.

  • Aki

    Nice video

    Any tips about back injuries? I just injured it today…quite pissed off. I was training with two buddies, doing strip sets for squats. and one of them pulled off two plates instead of one, made me lose my balance and screw up my back.

  • Aki:
    Nice video

    Any tips about back injuries? I just injured it today…quite pissed off. I was training with two buddies, doing strip sets for squats. and one of them pulled off two plates instead of one, made me lose my balance and screw up my back.

    If your back is in serious pain right now, it would probably be a good idea to get this checked out by a chiropractor. A back injury isn’t something you want to mess around with or take lightly. Getting it looked at by a professional would probably be your best bet in this case.

  • Any chance you could post the vids in an iPhone / iPad friendly format?

  • Thor Falk:
    Any chance you could post the vids in an iPhone / iPad friendly format?

    I don’t have an ipad / iphone, but can’t they watch standard YouTube videos?

    I know friends of mine watch YouTube with iphones, etc. and all my videos are on YouTube.

  • Sloopy

    Lee,
    Thanks again for the info and video. TORN my shoulder doing incline bench presses. I;m Ok now, wish I had this advice sooner. In my gym, more guys hurt their shoulder doing incline shoulder chest presses than anything else. I tell them to have a spotter to lift it off, or go to dumbbells. The reason is because on the initial lift off very little muscle is used and all the weight is put on the joint, tendons and legaments which take all the force of the weight, not good. AWAL!!

  • pan

    Sloopy,

    dang Sloopy, sorry to hear. I got myself into trouble also but it was 2 years ago. I think I did incline dumbbells press. My friend and I got into a shoulder injury so I guess it’s that exercise. I did the shoulder exercises rehab from Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and I didn’t feel that much better so I stopped. I guess I shouldn’t have stopped doing. Now I’m going to try what Lee posted here. Hope you’re making great gains! and Thanks to Lee!

  • Per

    Hi Lee,

    I just wonder if you and for instance Dr K see eye to eye about the external rotation with dumbbells, the one that goes out to the side? Since the load is vertical. I’ve gotten the impression that it’s better to do those with cables/bands where it’s possible to get the tension horizontal instead. I was just thinking since this video is from spring, if you’ve had reasons to change anything since then.

    With kind regards,

    /Per

  • Al

    I thank you for your tips on how to rehab rotator cuffs. Just 3 days ago after working out I have had pain in the left shoulder. Today I went in to see the Physical Therapist who happens to live in my building. He confirms that injured my rotator cuff. I will start doing the exercises you recommend asap. As far as working out, should I wait or keep working out but with lighter weights? Any thoughts on this would be great. Lee, thanks for all your tips and inspiration. A lot of exercise tips you give I have incorporated into my workouts.

  • Thanks for the tips on how to rehabilitate rotating caps, how about for other injuries? do you have similar tutorials such as this?

  • Per:
    Hi Lee,

    I just wonder if you and for instance Dr K see eye to eye about the external rotation with dumbbells, the one that goes out to the side? Since the load is vertical. I’ve gotten the impression that it’s better to do those with cables/bands where it’s possible to get the tension horizontal instead. I was just thinking since this video is from spring, if you’ve had reasons to change anything since then.

    With kind regards,

    /Per

    You can certainly do the external rotations laying down or with rubber bands to add more resistance. But in the video I’m just doing them to move the muscles through the range of motion and warm up the joints, I’m not too worried about lifting with much resistance for this move.

  • Al:
    I thank you for your tips on how to rehab rotator cuffs.Just 3 days ago after working out I have had pain in the left shoulder. Today I went in to see the Physical Therapist who happens to live in my building. He confirms that injured my rotator cuff.I will start doing the exercises you recommend asap.As far as working out, should I wait or keep working out but with lighter weights?Any thoughts on this would be great.Lee, thanks for all your tips and inspiration. A lot of exercise tips you give I have incorporated into my workouts.

    All you can do when working around an injury is listen to your body and work within your pain threshold. Your body will tell you when something hurts and when you should back off.

    Working around injuries comes down to active recovery and having patience to wait it out…

  • Chiropractic Rehab:
    Thanks for the tips on how to rehabilitate rotating caps, how about for other injuries? do you have similar tutorials such as this?

    Yeah, I’ve got over 200 videos…
    What injuries do you currently have?

  • Al

    leehayward,

    Lee,
    Thanks for your your response. With my workouts I have been working around the injury as you mentioned in your response. I’ve been doing the exercises you showed above before workouts also been doing exercises with the thera-band. I have to say the shoulder actually feels better the day after work outs. I’m happy to say the pain overall has lessened though not 100% better. Thanks again for all your helpful workout tips. I’ve been doing a lot of research on weight-lifting. By far your tips are the most solid. It’s your site that is my go to sight for information.

  • Having constant knee injury. Just injured it 4 months ago and it was getting better and then pop it went again yesterday. Any suggestions

  • Norm

    Hi Lee,

    After 15 years of bodybuilding on and off, I decided to train for my first bodybuilding show in 2009. I was 37 at the time. I had trained solid for 1 year (6 days of cardio per week + 4 days of weight training per week) when iI started to feel pain in my shoulders. I kept stetching and training and over a 6 month period, my pain got worse. I went from benching 315lbs to barely being able to lift 135lbs. Well, I was discouraged when I was diagnoced with partially torn tendons in both shoulders…and I stopped training…….which I now understand is the wrong thing to do.

    I started doing these rehab shoulder exercises and have felt better these past 2 weeks than I have in 2 years. At one point, the pain was so bad that I needed to take a hot shower in the winter mornings and sit for 5 to 10 minutes to warm my shoulders to be able to move. In January…I am going to grab a membership again and start training.

    Thank you so much for all this much needed info on rehabing as well as all these exercise I haven’t done in years…..

  • Al:
    leehayward,

    Lee,
    Thanks for your your response.With my workouts I have been working around the injury as you mentioned in your response. I’ve been doing the exercises you showed above before workouts also been doing exercises with the thera-band. I have to say the shoulder actually feels better the day after work outs.I’m happy to say the pain overall has lessened though not 100% better. Thanks again for all your helpful workout tips.I’ve been doing a lot of research on weight-lifting.By far your tips are the most solid.It’s your site that is my go to sight for information.

    ===============

    Thanks for the comment, glad to hear you are benefiting from my tips and videos. It’s hearing feedback like this that makes it all worth while 🙂

  • Norm:
    Hi Lee,

    After 15 years of bodybuilding on and off, I decided to train for my first bodybuilding show in 2009. I was 37 at the time. I had trained solid for 1 year (6 days of cardio per week + 4 days of weight training per week) when iI started to feel pain in my shoulders. I kept stetching and training and over a 6 month period, my pain got worse. I went from benching 315lbs to barely being able to lift 135lbs. Well, I was discouraged when I was diagnoced with partially torn tendons in both shoulders…and I stopped training…….which I now understand is the wrong thing to do.

    I started doing these rehab shoulder exercises and have felt better these past 2 weeks than I have in 2 years. At one point, the pain was so bad that I needed to take a hot shower in the winter mornings and sit for 5 to 10 minutes to warm my shoulders to be able to move. In January…I am going to grab a membership again and start training.

    Thank you so much for all this much needed info on rehabing as well as all these exercise I haven’t done in years…..

    ============

    Glad you enjoy the tips, etc.
    As for helping with joint pain, having a hot shower before training works wonders. I’ve often gotten a hot shower before going to the gym to help warm up my joints, tendons, etc. It works great.

  • George Perez:
    Having constant knee injury. Just injured it 4 months ago and it was getting better and then pop it went again yesterday. Any suggestions

    ==============

    What exercise or activity were you doing when you injured your knee?

  • Derik

    Lee,
    This video gave me back my peace of mind when it comes to my shoulders. Before I would just go into the gym and do my usual warm-ups of bench press or shoulder presses and have at it with the heavy lifts. A day or two later I would be at work or at home and go to pick up something or even just clench my fist and I would hear the dreaded “POP” and I knew I was in for shoulder pain for the next 2-3 weeks. Now, before ANY heavy pressing movement I will do 3-4 sets of the rotator cuff movements to warm up the shoulders. I urge EVERYONE to do a few sets of these before having at the heavy DB or barbell presses. It looks boring or ” a waste of time” to grab the 10-12 pound weights but its seriously given back my confidence and pain free shoulders to press the heavy weights! thanks a ton Lee!

  • Dani

    I have recently acquired some shoulder pain over the last few weeks and i have a fight soon so i will put these exercises in with my resistance band work outs on my shoulders.
    I thought that the face pull would be a good one for it as well.

  • Calvin

    Hi Lee,
    another great video by you. Several months ago I sustained a shoulder injury and I’ve only recently been getting back into my normal gym routine. Consequently, I’ve been looking for rear delt exercises to supplement my shoulder workouts with and this was precisely what I have been looking for! Thanks!

  • Jesse

    Hi Lee,

    thanx for sharing the link by e-mail to this website again. Got it a long time ago from you, too. I wanted to tell you that I do have shoulder injuries, from time to time. Miraculously, they go away, after about 2-3 weeks, using your workout tip! So, thanx, again!

  • I’ve had rotator problems for 4-5 years now. And upper back problems too. I’ll give these a try using high rep, low weight and see how it goes. Thanks for that.

  • TIM

    I recently injured my left rotator cuff. I saw your video and have started doing all the exercises that you show in the video. I can gradually feel the pain when lifting gragually going away and am carefully increasing the weights per exercise back up to where it was prior to the injury. THANKS MUCH!!!

  • Larry

    Face Pull elbow / wrist position

    Hi Lee,
    question about elbow / wrist position during the face pull. Should I leave elbows and wrists parallel to the floor when pulling back or bring the wrists up higher along side my head and leave elbows down?

  • Jim

    Great input! I always track my shoulder pain level when working out. This might be a chance to get on top of a crummy left shoulder.

    Thank you

    Jim

  • Bara

    I will start TODAY…..some great tips…thanks

  • Peter S

    Hi Lee,
    Really helpful video as i recently injured my shoulder and it was affecting my all my workouts so adding these into my warm up will really help

  • chengy

    thanks Lee, had a shoulder injury sometime ago within a month of joining gym. had be nerovous going hardcore on shoulder since then but this really helped me start again in a safer way. cheers mate ur advice is gold

  • Thomas J Ahern(Irish)

    Once again nothing(video) is shown on my computer!

  • Alien

    Hi Lee,
    Good video but i realised that some use an other grip! Also using the rope but a little bit different grip and i´ve noticed myself that this is easier for the elbows as well as for the writs.

    Best regards
    Alien

  • Rudy

    Thanks Lee, this helps a lot…

  • Alien,

    You can use an underhand or an overhand grip on the rope for facepulls. Both work the rear delts and upper back.

  • Larry,

    I like to keep my elbows high when doing face pulls to place more stress on the upper back / rear delts. When you keep the elbows low the stress goes lower towards the middle of the back.

  • Jay

    Hey Lee.

    Great video, not many people focus enough on the rear delts.

    The problem im having is that in my gym is that you cant set the cables at different heights. There fixed at the bottom and the top, no middle.

    Would you still reccommend doing the same exercises as in the video but with what i have, like rows to the face from the top and cable extensions from the bottom or can you show us any other good exercises that focus on the rear delts either with free weights ot machines.

    Thanks

  • Thomas J Ahern(Irish),

    Whoops, my bad…
    Sometimes certain computers, tablets, etc. won’t show the embedded video clips. So I just added the link to where you can go watch the video directly on my YouTube channel at:

  • Jay,

    Use the seated cable row machine with a rope attachment, this should be close to the right height and angle to target the rear delts / upper back.

  • Rickey

    The rotator cuff rotations really helped to rehab my shoulder. I was lifting and overworked my shoulders in my workout a week ago and strained a muscle. Doing the rotator cuff rotations have really helped to heal my shoulder. Question…what would you recommend for fat burning especially around the waist?
    Thanks Lee

  • michael iantorno

    HI lee, yes i have been doing all of the exercises that you are showing for long time, and they do work. I am a older bodybuilder, and i am sure they have helped my delts big time, i feel the face pulls are the best .

    michael iantorno

  • Ray Gieser

    Hi Lee
    Good info I do have rotator problems every so offend I think these exercises will help the problem immensely.
    Thanks Lee
    Ray

  • Michael

    Hey Lee,

    I appreciate this video

  • Lady Dee

    Lee,

    Thanks for posting this. I incorporated these exercises into my workout last night and plan to use them on a very regular basis. I had rotator repair surgery on the left shoulder about three years ago and now right side is presenting some issues. I’m hoping these exercises will help me to avoid surgery on the right side. I will also try with resistance bands as I can’t do enough reps with the cable machine (on the lowest possible weight right side starts to hurt around the 5th rep).

  • juffel

    what is the exact counting if you want to gain muscle?ty lee

  • bob g

    lee
    Very good and informative. btw – where do you worout? That place looks amazing. Beats the gym I go to hands down.

  • Rickey,

    I’ve got a good fat loss program that you might want to check out called “Extreme Fat Loss”. This is what I use when I’m dieting for competition. It’s available at: http://www.leehayward.com/dvd/xfatloss.htm

  • Lady Dee,

    Yeah, that’s a good idea. Resistance bands are awesome for working the shoulders. I recommend getting a set from http://www.BodyLasticBands.com they have adjustable tension bands. So you can use them for light moves like this, or heavy moves like rows, presses, etc. They are awesome!

  • juffel:
    what is the exact counting if you want to gain muscle?ty lee

    =================

    Can you clarify your question more? What are you counting?

  • bob g:
    lee
    Very good and informative.btw – where do you worout?That place looks amazing.Beats the gym I go to hands down.

    ================

    Global Gym in St. John’s Newfoundland. I’ve been training there for years.

Comment navigation