The role of Rotator Cuff muscles in shoulder stability
The Rotator Cuff Muscles are essential for Shoulder stability yet more often than not are totally un-heard of by the general public. Why? Well I think overall they are certainly not muscles that get trained until shoulder problems occur unless you’re an athlete and this in itself is rather worrying. Any Pushing exercise above your head either from a sitting position (Shoulder press) or from a prone position (Bench Press) the shoulder is doing a fair amount of work to a) stabilize the joint and b) to move the weight to its end position. I know most of you will at some point have performed one of the above exercises and will know that when fatigue sets in that the dumbbell or barbell starts to wobble a lot more than when you first started. This is the effect of tiring Rotator Cuff and prime moving muscles.
I like to think of this effect and the training of stabilizing muscles like building a house. You can build a house and use the best builder and the best materials but if you build this house straight on the ground without a solid foundation it will eventually fall down.