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Rubber Tubing Rotator Cuff Work

RUBBER TUBING — ROTATOR CUFF WORK

Taken from Dave Draper's book, Brother Iron, Sister Steel

You know the drill; stand rigidly with your arm by your side, bent at the elbow. Resistance properly directed, rotate your hand inward, thereby achieving the therapeutic propine action. Redirect the tube resistance and rotate your hand away from the body to complete the supine action. Complete four sets of twenty-five smooth, high-pace reps of each action for both left and right sides as an upper body warm-up.

Five years ago this exercise combination was seldom witnessed at our gym and was considered for saps only. Today we have a dozen multicolored tubes of various tensions being pumped in every corner of the gym giving it the appearance of an amusement park. This movement is serious, deserves focus and one-hundred-percent effort. It does wonders to develop the minor rotator cuff muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder and provide resistance and muscle fullness. The usual presses and laterals don’t effect the shoulder straps and require their loyal and tenacious support to help you blast away. Delts need to be warmed up and treated kindly. Perform these cuff rotations regularly to maintain health and achieve full deltoid potential. I dare ya.

Wicked Willie here. Let's add to what Dave has here regarding rotator cuff work. Latex tubing or bands are probably the best to use, since they provide a smooth, linear resistance. Dumbbells may also be used, in the absence of latex tubing or bands.

Dumbbell L-flys and variations

The "classic" L-fly uses a light dumbbell and either a bench or lying on the gym floor or mat. Light is the key word for the weight in this movement...even if you're a Superman, it isn't necessary to exceed fifteen pounds. The muscles being exercised are small and don't require a lot of weight. Also, when using more than this, it is too easy to use other muscles to "assist" the movement and throw emphasis onto muscles that don't need the work. So think light, form perfect and high repetitions. OK? Start with five pounds and adjust.

Lie on your side, either on the mat or a bench. Stretch the bottom arm out straight, as if reaching for something over your head...or any position that you find comfortable and stable. Your top arm is the one being exercised, holding a light dumbbell in a conventional grip. "Pin" your arm into your side and let the dumbbell pull your hand down in front of the body as far as you can go without moving the elbow from its "anchor" point. This is the starting position. Your upper arm and forearm are bent at ninety degrees and rigidly held in that position throughout.

Now, think in terms of drawing a circle, by using a string, thumbtack and pencil attached to the string. You anchor the string with the thumbtack and then draw the circle by straightening the string and then moving it in an arc...dig? Apply that same concept to your arm/elbow (the thumbtack anchor point) your forearm is the straightened string and you describe an arc with the dumbbell. (pencil) This is the basic movement of the L-fly...and it is called an external rotation. Rotate the arm upwards to the comfortable limit of travel, without moving the anchored elbow. Lower, describing the same arc and repeat.

By lying on your side and using the bottom arm in the same manner (crossing in front of the chest) it becomes an internal rotation. This movement needs to be done less frequently, since your internal rotators already are worked anytime you bench press or do flys.

Variations Bench top L-fly Rest your arm on a bench top or table top. (padded, if necessary for your comfort.) Your arm is bent 90 degrees at the elbow and your uppper arm is straight out from your shoulder, perpendicular to your body. Keeping the elbow in contact with the bench top, rotate the arm to vertical. Lower and repeat. (Like you are arm wrestling in reverse.)

Bent over L-fly Bend over from the waist, as if you are going to do bent over rows. Holding a somewhat heavier dumbbell, your upper arm points straight to the floor, while your forearm and upper arm form a ninety degree angle. Describe the same type of arc movement, to the comfortable limits of travel in both directions. (Picture looking down from above on a gate that swings back and forth.)

All of these variations can also be done using latex tubing or Therabands for resistance. You can effectively do them standing this way...with the arm pinned to the side. Move to the comfortable limit of travel without moving the upper arm away from the body and its anchor point. Again, think in terms of a gate swinging when you do this.

High reps are the order of the day...a minimum of fifteen and up to 50 if you can stand the boredom. I wouldn't exceed 4 sets and most seem to do well with 2-4 sets.

Some people warm up with these movements. Others feel that is a bad idea, since you are "tiring" a stabilizing muscle or series of muscles. Try both ways and find what personally suits you. Remember, form is paramount with these and the weights and resistance need to be kept light.

Here's an old interview with Dick Hartzell discussing band stretching.

Quoting from Lyn in this thread on rehab: "In these rehabilitation circumstances, the rubber tubing ("bands") are very useful because they can offer controlled, smooth, progressive resistance over a the desired range of motion. The user selects the starting resistance by preloading (stretching) the cord-thus one can start with zero initial resistance if desired. The best versions (Sport Cord and Bodylastics), allow one to interchange or combine tubing of different resistance so that you can fine tune the resistance to one's needs, both starting out and as one progresses. The Sport Cord was the original sports rehab tubing and has evolved over the years. It now uses interchangable covered bungie cord like cables for greatest longevity. [In the interests of full disclosure, my wife was one of the first people to use these for rehab, thus we know the designers--in the course of almost twenty years of weekly use, she has only only had to replace the equipment once, and the second set has another year or more life remaining). The Bodylastics is very similar, using somewhat shorter interchangeable but otherwise conventional tubing. The Bodylastics can be obtained for somewhere around 1/2 to 2/3rds the price of the Sport Cord. I use the Bodylastics for rotator cuff work.

A good source for the Bodylastics can be found here.

A good source for the SportCords can be found here.

Giant elastic bands like the JumpStretch and Iron Woody have a following, and I have several from the latter manufacturer. They are not as adaptable as the Sport Cord and Bodylastic style, as they lack the handles, straps and door mounts available wtih the others, not to mention their rectangular shape does not deal as smoothly with torsional loading. They are available in much higher resistances, which of course is why they have seen application in powerlifting, but those higher resistances rarely have much application to rehab work.

You will also see latex sheeting that can be rolled or folded to form a resistance cord. I've tried this stuff and don't care for it at all. Though fairly inexpensive, the life span is very short as the layers develop greater internal friction and the thin layers deteriorate more quickly.

Counter to some claims, I find all of the above too boring and limited for weight training, but I highly recommend them for re-hab and pre-hab."