Awaken Your Rotator Cuff Muscles

Awaken Your Rotator Cuff Muscles

6 Exercises for a More Stable Side Plank

BELIEF

AWAKEN YOUR ROTATOR CUFF MUSCLES

The rotator cuff muscles carry a great deal of responsibility. When healthy and strong, they help to keep the head of the humerus inside of the glenoid fossa, the cavity of the joint. Because it’s a ball and socket joint, the shoulder joint can be quite vulnerable, so awareness of its positioning in postures that require stability is essential. On the mat, there are many opportunities to bear weight on the shoulders, which can prove challenging if we don’t know how to stabilize in postures that require this type of support. Moreover, if we neglect to maintain activation where necessary, we miss opportunities to build strength.  

A posture like Vashistasana, Side Plank, requires a vast amount of stability and strength. In today’s video, Matt demonstrates 6 essential exercises that help strengthen our rotator cuff muscles for maximum stability.

chromatic yoga 15 hour immersion

THE SHOULDER RESET

2-HOUR LIVESTREAM WORKSHOP!

    • Technique-infused 2-hour workshop
    • Non-dogmatic alignment awareness
    • Chest/heart flexibility
    • Increase active range of motion of the shoulder
    • Learn shoulder anatomy as you practice
    • Strengthen rotator cuff for stability and shoulder health
    • Gain access to shoulder-focused postures
    • Debunk popular alignment
    • Skillfully guided sequence by the founder of Chromatic Yoga, Matt Giordano

    ROTATOR CUFF: GET IN TOUCH WITH THE ANATOMY

    There are 5 muscles in the rotator cuff group: the subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres major, and teres minor. These are the muscles of internal and external rotation and of abduction.

    The subscapularis and teres major are responsible for internal rotation, while the teres minor and infraspinatus are both external rotators. The last muscle, supraspinatus, contributes to the abduction of the arms.

    When all of these muscles are co-activated, they suction and secure the head of the humerus into the shoulder socket. In the full class, Matt explains that these muscles are often stretched during our asana practice. For yoga practitioners, it’s therefore vital to create opportunities to strengthen these muscles for overall function, health, and longevity. This can be integrated into our practice on the mat, particularly if we understand the anatomy involved in performing a given exercise to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.

    WATCH THE VIDEO

    AWAKEN YOUR ROTATOR CUFF MUSCLES: 6 EXERCISES FOR A MORE STABLE SIDE PLANK

    6 EXERCISES FOR STRENGTH

    Strengthen with a Strap

    1. Matt demonstrates ways to strengthen the infraspinatus and teres minor by pulling the strap apart into external rotation of the humerus, along with some retraction of the shoulder blades.  
    2. Adding extra rotation and resistance will uplevel the activation.

    Towel Rotations

    1. In Tabletop position, drawing circles with a towel under one hand will immediately activate the rotator cuff muscles due to the weight-bearing nature of the exercise.
    2. Here, understanding the difference between rotation at the radioulnar joint and the upper arm bone is key in connecting to the rotator cuff.

    Block Raises

    1. Supraspinatus goes to work while holding yoga blocks and abducting your arms in slight internal rotation.
    2. Pushing the blocks back behind us while hugging in will again help activate the infraspinatus and teres major and minor.

    200 Hour Online Teacher Training Certification

    200 HOUR ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING

    GET CERTIFIED & DEEPEN YOUR YOGA PRACTICE

    • Deepen your yoga practice
    • Build confidence speaking in front of groups in person and online
    • Learn foundational class structures and templates
    • Learn techniques for a wide range of yoga postures
    • Get certified and highly qualified to teach yoga
    • Yoga Alliance Globally Recognized Certification Program

    STABILIZE YOUR SIDE PLANK

    There are articulations and joint alignments that are essential in creating healthy stability in Side Plank. In this variation, Matt demonstrates Extended Side Plank, utilizing a wall as a prop. The wall creates feedback that helps us better negotiate where and how to align the wrist and shoulder and to determine the distance between the standing hand and the feet.

    In order to create stability in this posture, it’s imperative to retract the shoulder blade and externally rotate the humerus, which activates the infraspinatus and teres minor. Moving our hips (and thus more weight) towards the wall takes the shoulder away from directly stacking over the wrist, which helps to reduce the load on the shoulder joint. Once the foundation is set, expanding into the rest of the posture becomes more accessible.

    300 hour teacher training online

    300 HOUR ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING

    GET 500 HOUR CERTIFIED AS A MASTER TEACHER

    Master your skill set as a teacher through refined techniques, anatomy, biomechanics, sequencing, philosophy, meditation techniques, theming, yoga business, and much more!

    • Get 500 hour certified
    • Learn anatomy, biomechanics, asana techniques
    • Expand your teaching skills
    • Masterful sequencing and verbal delivery
    • Learn meditation and breathwork techniques
    • Transformative tools: theming, dharma talks, satsang

    AWARENESS AND FOCUS FOR STRENGTH

    If resistance bands or weights are unavailable, strengthening of the rotator cuff muscles can still take place with a variety of yoga props.

    The exercises Matt demonstrates might appear to be simple in nature, but my goodness will they be a challenge! When executed with accuracy, they exhaust the muscles, which breaks them down in order for them to renew with increased strength.  

    It’s the well-placed effort (Abhyasa) that will inform our experience and translate into larger movements and postures like (Extended) Side Plank. Yes, it’s possible to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles with a variety of different tools and exercises, but when we apply technique and focus, our true potential unfolds.  

    Register for Matt’s upcoming Shoulder Reset workshop to learn and refine techniques to create strong, healthy shoulders.

    The 200 Hr. Teacher Training: Click Here to See the Next Start Date

    The 300 Hr. Advanced Teacher Training: Click Here to See the Next Start Date

    Article by Trish Curling

    Videos Extracted From: Anatomy In Motion

    lotus pose online yoga classes

    ONLINE ANATOMY COURSE

    • Accessible, exciting, and easy to learn
    • Anatomy and biomechanics for yoga
    • Appropriate for both teachers and students
    • Learn joint alignment vs pose alignment
    • Demystify yoga poses and transitions
    • Release aches and pains
    • Learn how to avoid common injuries
    • Caters to all levels with modifications and props
    • 20 hours Continued Education Credits with Yoga Alliance
    • 20 hours toward Chromatic Yoga Certification and 300 Hour
    • Lifetime access

    Continue Learning

    Turtle Pose To Titibhasana

    Turtle Pose To Titibhasana

    Turtle Pose To TitibhasanaKurmasanaTURTLE POSE TO TITIBHASANA Turtle Pose is not tiny by any means.  There is a great deal that goes into its preparation.  At the same time, it’s also an excellent preparatory posture for Titibhasana.  The journey between these two...

    read more
    Full Wheel

    Full Wheel

    Full WheelUrdhva DhanurasanaFULL WHEEL Teaching an intentional class becomes inevitable when following the Chromatic system that Matt created .  In Chromatic, we’re following a system that sets up the body for maximum execution within our fullest potential.  When it...

    read more
    Mastering Bakasana

    Mastering Bakasana

    Mastering BakasanaCrow PoseMASTERING BAKASANA We may never truly master a posture, but as we go on a journey of exploration towards our greatest potential within our asana practice, we most definitely become masters of our own awareness—cultivating the ability to...

    read more
    Tuck Jumps

    Tuck Jumps

    Tuck JumpsHandstandTUCK JUMPS Tuck jumps can be a confidence booster when it comes to preparing for handstands. They're not the first step in the course of preparation, but they're definitely a way of identifying where strength and proprioception require attention.  ...

    read more
    Counter Rotations

    Counter Rotations

    Counter RotationsStabilityCOUNTER ROTATIONS The isolation of specific articulations in a yoga posture can be tricky to implement when we’re still learning how our bodies move. When we begin to explore counter rotations, this layer might feel confusing or even...

    read more
    Bird Of Paradise

    Bird Of Paradise

    Bird of ParadiseSvarga DvijasanaBIRD OF PARADISE In Bird of Paradise, we’re balancing while binding, which can be quite an undertaking. Preparation for this posture requires shoulder mobility, hip mobility, and a tremendous amount of strength. What we also need to be...

    read more

    THE FREE TECHNIQUE PACK

    When You Subscribe, You Will Get Instant Access to

    • the Technique Pack: 15 yoga pose breakdowns
    • exclusive online course discounts
    • exclusive blogs and videos
    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    Pin It on Pinterest