Exercise of the Week: Side Lying External Rotation

Level: Beginner to Advanced

Specificity: Shoulder stability

Goal: Injury prevention

Muscles Used: Infraspinatus and Teres Minor

This week we'll begin our series on Shoulder Stability. Maintaining a healthy shoulder is crucial to success in volleyball as the shoulder is involved in all of the major skills - serving, setting, digging and hitting. The shoulder joint provides the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body which allows us to perform the skills listed above. However, frequent use of a joint that provides such a wide range of motion can increase our risk of injury.

Our exercise this week is designed to increase the strength of the external rotators of the rotator cuff. The anatomy of the shoulder and rotator cuff can be seen here:

Why spend time to strengthen the small muscles of the rotator cuff? To put it simply, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When the rotator cuff muscles are weak, the rest of the shoulder complex is put at risk because it now has to take on an unnatural portion of the work.

The good news is a few simple exercises is all it takes to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles. Our first exercise, and one of the most effective strengthening exercises for the rotator cuff, is the Side Lying External Rotation.

Start position: Lie on your right side with a light dumbbell in your left hand.


Begin with your left arm bent 90°, your upper arm held tight against your ribcage and your forearm angled toward the floor.

Gradually rotate your left shoulder so that the forearm travels upwards, away from the floor. Raise the dumbbell as high as you can, without letting your upper arm lose contact with your ribcage.

Slowly return to the starting position. Complete 10 to 12 repetitions. Repeat on the opposite side.

Incorporate strengthening exercises like the Side Lying External Rotation into your conditioning routine once or twice per week for best results.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check back next week for part II of our series on shoulder stabilization for injury prevention.

See you on the beach!

Eric Hand, MA, CSCS

Exercise Physiologist and Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Fast Twitch Fitness

"We're all athletes. Some of us are just farther along in our training."

Exercise pictures from http://stacktv.stack.com/