move your hand to your right, you are externally rotating your shoulder.
Move your hand to the left, and you are internally rotating your shoulder.. e infraspinatus and teres minor belong to a group of four muscles of
the upper back that also include the supraspinatus and subscapularis. e
tendons of these four muscles connect the scapula (shoulder blade) to the
shoulder joint at the rotator cuff. Overuse and abuse of the rotator cuff and
shoulders in general, together with weak external rotator muscles, make
rotator-cuff injuries among the most common for weight trainees. (e
book - by Dr. Joseph M.
Horrigan and Jerry Robinson alerted me to the importance of specific exer-
cise for the external rotator muscles.) Never try to work through pain in this
area, or any other.Dumbbell work
. Dumbbells are usually used for detail exercises which have very limited, if
any application for the typical hard gainer whose priority is to build sub-
stantial size and strength. Barbells, generally speaking, have a tradition for
being used for the big and most useful movements. If you have in mind
doing the pec fly, lateral raise, concentration curl, triceps kickback and akin
exercises with dumbbells, the ’bells will harm your training progress. But if,
for example, you use them for one-arm rows instead of pulldowns, dumb-
bell presses instead of barbell presses, hammer or supinating curls instead of
barbell curls, and one-legged calf raises instead of using a calf machine, then
the dumbbells will be an asset.. While dumbbells provide variety relative to the straight bar, for some exer-
cises, e.g., bench presses and overhead presses, they are very awkward to get
into position. You may need two spotters for each dumbbell once you are
using heavy weights. If the dumbbells fall out of the groove during a set theDepending on your leverages, the Trap Bar deadlift may not work
your lower back adequately enough by itself. Stiff-legged or partial
deadlifts may be needed too. For some people the Trap Bar dead-
lift is a great substitute for the squat but not for a deadlift variation.
And strength built by the Trap Bar may not necessarily carry over
to the straight-bar deadlift, depending on the individual.