Routines Part II: special needs situations.

In Part I last month, we presented a few change-up options in your strength-training schematic that will relieve some of the mental and physical tedium that will eventually confront your players.

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This time around, we'd like to troubleshoot a few areas that do not receive the attention they deserve--a neglect that can manifest itself in the form of various soft tissue injuries.

THE ROTATOR CUFF 

You've undoubtedly heard baseball announcers mistakenly refer to this all-important, deep shoulder muscle grouping as the "rotator cup."

In a sense, the four involved muscles form a cup-like configuration over the head of the humerus (upper arm bone). Diagram 1 displays the framework of the rotator-cuff tendon attachments. From the anatomical and medical perspectives, the cuff nomenclature refers to these tendon attachments on the bone.

These muscles work in concert to stabilize the shoulder joint and enable it to perform a host of vital functions. If even one of these muscles goes on the blink for some reason, it will severely hamper the shoulder movement.

Let's take a closer look at the function of each cuff muscle:

Supraspinatus. Abducts the humerus (i.e., raises it away from the midline of the body) and stabilizes the head of the humerus in the glenoid cavity (the point of articulation in the scapula).

Infraspinatus. Adducts (i.e., draws it toward the midline of the body) and externally rotates the humerus.

Teres Minor. Adducts, externally rotates the humerus, and extends the arm.

Subscapularis. Internally rotates the humerus and extends the arm.

The supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor are depicted in Diagram 2 from a posterior (rear) view. The subscapularis is shown in Diagram 3 from an anterior (front) view. As you can see from their positioning and attachments, these deep shoulder muscles ballast the entire shoulder complex.

Pressing movements (bench press, military press, etc.), which call on the shoulder's internal rotators, are staples in every program--and over-used in some.

Conversely, the shoulder's external rotators are often neglected in strength programs. When you take into account the wear and outright abuse the shoulders are subjected to in both sport skills and training, it becomes clearer how vulnerable the cuff muscles are to injury.

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You can help avert this situation by inserting a simple, yet very effective, external rotation movement into your routines. We use stretch bands that are attached directly to our bench racks and include a set of 8-10 external rotations for each arm immediately following any pressing movements executed on that day.

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So, rather than standing around the bench wasting precious time between sets, have your athletes do something very productive and easy to administer--work their external rotators. They should be able to get 3-4 quality sets in for each side before the end of the workout.

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Photo 1 shows the start/finish positions, while Photo 2 depicts the mid-range position for external rotation. The players are instructed to keep the elbow bent at 90 degrees and tight to the side of the body at all times.

We insist upon smooth, controlled reps with a slight pause at the mid-range position to insure a fluent lowering phase.

Important: Don't fall prey to the prevalent notion that rotator cuff work is only important for quarter-backs, baseball pitchers, shot putters, hammer/javelin throwers, etc. Many shoulder injuries have their genesis traced directly to imbalances and/or poor overall development of one or more of these essential muscles--predominantly, the external rotators.

In addition to integrating external rotations, make sure you've accounted for ample pulling movements in your workout scripts. By the end of the training week, there should be as close to a one-to-one ratio between pressing and pulling movements as possible.

This system will obviate potential imbalances between the anterior and posterior muscle chains in the shoulder and upper back regions.

LOW-BACK/HIPS/HAMSTRINGS

The posterior complexes of the low-back, hip, and hamstring muscles represent another chain that tends to be disregarded. These complexes are intimately integrated, interdependent, and must be specifically targeted in the overall schematic.

Too often it is erroneously assumed that these muscles are fully addressed with multi-joint movements (e.g., squats, leg presses, lunges, etc.) that may indirectly call upon them, but not always in the role of prime movers.

Also, in addition to single-joint movements, such as basic leg curls for the hamstrings, we suggest that you include at least one of the following movements at the completion of your main lower body routines:

* Romanian Deadlifts (RDL's). The starting position of the lift (Photo 3) calls for an erect back posture with an ever so slight bend in the knees. The athlete then flexes the torso forward to a position where the back is approximately parallel to the floor (Photo 4). After a slight pause, he executes a controlled return to the starting position.

* Coaching point: Instruct the athlete to maintain the slight knee bend throughout the entire movement.

* Glute/Ham. With the use of a specially designed glute/ham machine (which we highly recommend for your facility), the athlete starts with a taut back position and a slight forward lean (Photo 5). He then extends his legs, flexes the torso toward the floor (Photo 6), and pauses momentarily in that position. While maintaining good back posture, he extends up to the horizontal position (Photo 7) for another slight pause, and then curls his legs back under control to the starting position.

Suggestions: These two exercises can be performed independently for 1-3 sets (depending upon the total volume of the workout that precedes them) of 8-10 reps, or combined for 1-2 sets of each for the same rep scheme. As with everything done in the weight room, chart the workouts and track the progress. Also, as a coach, be a stickler regarding technique, especially with these two movements.

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FINAL REP

We hope that these last two installments on routines have given you some ideas for making your workouts more interesting and productive to your athletes. More importantly, we hope we've succeeded in stressing the special needs areas that don't always receive the attention they deserve.

For more information on the stretch bands, call Jump Stretch at 1-800-344-3539, and for the glute/ham machine call PowerLift at 1-800-872-1543.

By Ken Mannie, Strength/Conditioning Coach

Michigan State University