Strengthening the Rotator Cuff using Stretch Cords (Part 1)

The second set of my current shoulder exercises uses stretch cords. Several months ago, I mentioned a couple of stretch cord exercises that I did in this entry.

For both of these, I perform 5 reps per arm with a 10-second pause at the movement's end position. These exercises are very well known for the Rotator Cuff and I'm still doing them.

The other stretch cord exercises that my Physical Therapist taught me are the Torch and the Reverse Torch exercises. The Torch exercise is called as such due to the "torch-raising" motion required to perform it.

Torch Exercise

For the Torch exercise, anchor the end of the stretch cords at or near floor level.

1. Here's the start position of the exercise. Note the floor-level position of the anchor.
   
   
   Here's another view of the start position.
   
   
   
2. Pull the stretch cord without bending the elbow too much up to the end position (as shown below) while maintaining tension on the shoulder all throughout. Pause at the end position for 10 seconds.
   
   
   
3. For the negative movement (return) of the exercise, pause at first return position (shown below) for 3 seconds.
   
   
   
4. Pause at second return position (shown below) for 3 seconds and finally return the stretch cord at the start position.
   
   

Do 5 repetitions of the Torch Motion for each arm.

Strengthening the Rotator Cuff using Stretch Cords - Part 2 will be on the "Reverse Torch" exercise.