Prone Cuban Rotation

What is Prone Cuban Rotation:

The Prone Cuban Rotation is a bodyweight upper-body mobility exercise that strengthens the shoulder external rotators, specifically the infraspinatus and teres minor, along with the rear delts. It is performed lying face down on a bench or something that will let you internally rotate your shoulders or let your arm go down perpendicular to the ground and externally rotate your shoulders or raise your arms parallel to the ground. It's a valuable exercise for strengthening and stabilizing the shoulder joint, enhancing posture, and reducing the risk of injuries.

Key Benefits:

  • Shoulder Mobility and Stability: Strengthens the shoulder external rotators of the rotator cuff muscles, namely the infraspinatus and teres minor, improving shoulder joint mobility and stability.
  • Injury Prevention: Strengthening the rotator cuff muscles helps lessen the risks of common shoulder injuries, such as impingement and rotator cuff tears, by improving shoulder stability and mobility.
  • Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention: Often used in injury prevention for improving shoulder joint stability and recovery programs to address muscular imbalances.
  • Postural Support: Engaging the muscles of the upper back and shoulders promotes better posture, reducing the risk of postural imbalances and associated discomfort.
  • Functional Performance: Helps improve athletic performance by enhancing scapular mobility and upper-body mechanics.
  • Versatile and Scalable: This can be performed with or without added resistance, making it adaptable for all fitness levels.
  • Convenience: This can be performed with minimal equipment, allowing for convenient training in various environments.

Variations:

  • Prone W-Raise: Position your body in a "W" shape with your arms, targeting the middle region of the trapezius.
  • Prone Y-Raise: Position your body in a "Y" shape with your arms, targeting the lower region of the trapezius and lateral deltoids.
  • Prone T-Raise: Position your body in a "T" shape with your arms, targeting the middle region of the trapezius and rear deltoids.
  • Prone I-Raise: Position your body in an "I" shape with your arms, targeting the middle region of the trapezius and rear deltoids.
  • Standing Cuban Rotation: Perform the exercise while standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged. Changing the resistance profile, making it harder on the internally rotated shoulder position.
  • Seated Cuban Rotation: Sit on a chair or something to eliminate any unnecessary work and focus solely on the shoulder rotation. Changing the resistance profile, making it harder on the internally rotated shoulder position.
  • Weighted Prone Cuban Rotation: Hold light dumbbells or weight plates in each hand to increase the intensity and maintain a sufficient degree of effort.

How to perform Prone Cuban Rotations:

  • Starting Position: Lie face down on a bench with your elbows flared out to your sides at shoulder height perpendicular to the ground with your elbows bent 90 degrees. Keep a slight retraction and depression of the shoulders throughout the exercise.
  • Execution: Initiate the movement by raising your arms to the ground, and externally rotating your shoulders. Hold this position briefly, then return to the starting position, internally rotating your arm.
  • Repetition: Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Breathing Technique:

Proper breathing is crucial for maximizing performance and maintaining stamina throughout the exercise. Experiment with what you're comfortable with and let you perform your best. For starters, you can try the following:

  • Inhale: Inhale at the starting position or as you lower your arms back to the starting position.
  • Exhale: Exhale at the top/end position.
  • Avoid Unnecessary Movement: Maintain your body position throughout the exercise, avoiding any unnecessary movements other than shoulder rotations.
  • Neutral Spine: Maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement to prevent strain on your lower back. There's no need for any spinal extension.
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    Additional Information:

    Ways to make it easier:

    • Decreasing the Range of Motion - partial reps, only go as far as you can handle
    • Doing it while standing with a little forward lean - mimic the movement and make sure you feel the tension on the targeted areas/muscles
    • Decreasing Load - doing it with lesser weight or just arms weight

    Ways to make it harder:

    • Playing with the Tempo & adding an Isometric phase (pause/hold)
    • Lifting your arms and retracting your scapulae as much as possible
    • Adding resistance - external force like a parter, resistance bands, or weights