Yay!  It’s almost the weekend.

Here’s a new shoulder move to add to your workouts.  Notice anything different about this exercise?!

I’m doing a strength exercise with a MACHINE.

This never happens!  I almost ALWAYS use my body weight, or equipment such as dumbbells, bars, bands, mats, and balls.  It’s rare for me to actually use an exercise machine.  One reason for this is that I admittedly don’t exactly know the proper ways to adjust and use each one.  But this is just another reason my workout plan from Tina is awesome!  It’s forcing me to teach myself new things!

Anyways, here you go:

Standing Cable Shoulder Internal Rotations

This move primarily works your subscapularis, which is one of the four rotator cuff muscles that are commonly known as your SITS muscles.  SITS meaning the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, the teres minor, and finally the subscapularis muscles.  The subscapularis is in charge of internally rotating your arm, or more specifically the humerus bone that is part of your shoulder joint.

Note:  It’s important that when working these internal muscles to also do equal work for the external muscles.  If you don’t, you could lead to imbalanced rotator cuff muscles, which often are the ultimate cause of impingement injuries!  That’s what happened to me, and trust me – it’s not fun.

Step 1

Stand with side to elbow height cable pulley. Grasp cable stirrup with near arm. Position elbow against side with elbow bent approximately 90°.

Don’t mind these gross pictures of me.  I never claimed to look my best during a 6am Friday morning workout sesh, okay?

Step 2

Pull cable stirrup toward body by internally rotating shoulder until forearm is across belly.

Step 3

Return and repeat for desired amount of reps and sets.  Make sure to maintain correct form of elbow against side and fixed elbow position throughout the entire exercise!

If you are looking for a way to incorporate these into a workout, check out this post!

Make sure you don’t start out with too heavy of a weight.  It’s better to start light and work your way up.  You definitely need to proceed with caution with shoulder work – the shoulder joint is the most commonly injured joint in the human body!  And as always, if you are new to strength training please make sure to check with a doc before adding anything new to your usual exercise regimen.

What’s your favorite way to work your shoulders?  Do you like to work out with exercise machines or with your body weight and free weights like me?

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!