Does training antagonist muscles helps with injury prevention ? internal vs external rotation of the shoulder

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello there,

I’ve been armwrestling for about 2.5 years. I often hear both in armwrestling and other sports that training the muscles opposite to those primarily used in your sport is important for injury prevention. This is often considered common knowledge. For example, armwrestling heavily involves internal rotation, but not much external rotation.

Does having stronger internal rotators compared to external rotators increase the risk of shoulder injury ? I haven’t specifically trained external rotation, although I do general strength training in addition to armwrestling exercises, and I currently have no shoulder pain.

Would not training external rotation specifically increase my risk of shoulder injury in the future? Also, over time, could an even greater imbalance in strength between internal and external rotators lead to problems?

Thank you for taking the time to respond

2

This is a variation of the asymmetry question, i.e. do agonist/antagonist muscles need to be trained with equal training load and be symmetrical/have a specific ratio of strength to reduce injury risk, increase performance, etc.

As it stands, most of the evidence regarding this topic is observational, which shows that stronger, more trained individuals tend to have less asymmetry and less injury risk. Achieving a specific ratio of training load or strength is not predictive of injury risk in most settings, though in some post operative settings, it can be associated with greater risk of re-injury. Whether or not there’s something unique to a strength or asymmetry ratio, or if it’s just a proxy for something else (e.g. trainedness) is unknown.

That all being said, you should probably train your shoulder girdle through a mix of compound and isolation exercises.