Shoulder health exercise
Shoulder External Rotation
Strengthen the rotator cuff for stability in contact.
- Equipment
- Resistance band
- Sides
- One arm at a time
- Positions
- All positions
- Tempo
- 20X2
Setup
Band or cable at elbow height, or side-lying with a light dumbbell. A rolled towel between elbow and ribs.
How to do it
- Pin your elbow to your side with a towel and rotate only your forearm outwards, keeping your torso completely still.
- Control it back.
- Do 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps per side with a genuinely light load.
- If you are leaning or shrugging to move it, it is too heavy.
Coaching cues
- Elbow pinned to the side with a towel
- Rotate the forearm only
- Light load, no trunk movement
Common mistakes
- Abducting at the shoulder instead of rotating
- Using far too much load and compensating with the torso
Sets and reps by goal
| Goal | Load | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | Light | 2 to 3 | 10 to 15 per side | 60 sec |
Tempo 20X2: Take 2 seconds to lower it, no pause, lift it as fast as you can, hold for 2 seconds at the end of the lift.
Related exercises
- Rugby Shoulder Stability CircuitBuild shoulder stability for contact with a fifteen-minute band and ball circuit.
- Face PullBuild posterior shoulder and upper-back health under a heavy contact load.
- Isometric Neck HoldsBuild neck stiffness in all directions with no equipment at all.
- Cable Neck IsometricsLoad the neck progressively with a cable and head harness, in four directions.
- Band Neck WorkGet scalable, portable neck loading that a whole squad can actually comply with.
- Back SquatBuild maximal bilateral lower-body strength, the foundation of scrum drive and contact.