Prehab

Hi Jordan & Austin,

I have had rotator cuff injuries in the past. I’m currently doing halos and Cuban presses every day with extremely light weight. Do you think there is value in doing prehab exercises like these to strengthen up and mobilise areas like the rotator cuffs? Do either of you do any prehab exercises?

best,
Eric

The concept of unique “prehab exercises” is made up and arbitrary. You are simply performing a variety of exercises involving the area.

We do not do anything we’d specifically label as “prehab”, but we do aim to train areas using a variety of exercises in accordance with our tolerance and our goals.

Thanks for replying Austin.

A big deal has been made that rotator cuff strength and activity may lag and be insufficient in many lifting programs, e.g., programs that see progressive overload in pushing and pulling movements without any exercise for the external rotators. The conclusion drawn: relatively weak external rotators lead to shoulder instability, lower performance of pressing movements, and possible injury. In the hypertrophy 1 template, I don’t see any exercises involving external rotation (please correct me if wrong). So would it be right to say that you don’t think external rotation needs to be trained?

Best,
Eric

There are numerous logical leaps between each of these claims, none of which are based on any real evidence.

There is an implicit assumption in your question that the only way these muscles function is through direct external rotation exercises, which is not accurate. However, if an individual’s training and performance goals demand (or are otherwise limited by) their shoulder external rotation, then it would be reasonable to include direct external rotation training.

The overarching point here is that “prehab” does not deserve any sort of unique status or consideration. It’s just training, and we should train in accordance with our current abilities/tolerance and our specific goals.

Thanks again Austin. The views I posted above are just a summary of some common perceptions, and not necessarily my own. But I wanted your opinion on them because I’ve recently recovered from rotator cuff injury.

So it looks like if my goal is hypertrophy (thru hypertrophy 1 template), it’s likely unnecessary to do any direct external rotator work, and the existing exercises provide sufficient external rotation stimulus to get through the program.

Unless you have other specific reasons to want/need to train external rotation directly, then yes. There’s nothing wrong with this sort of direct training, but to reiterate: we would simply conceptualize it as training, rather than some special “prehab” or unique “injury prevention” method.

Got it, many thanks again!