Exercise details
- Target muscle: Teres Minor
- Synergists: Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus, Posterior Deltoid
- Mechanics: Isolation
- Force: Pull
Starting position
- Stand holding a dumbbell in one hand.
- Lean forward a little by flexing your hips and knees (not illustrated in image).
- Raise your elbow to shoulder height and allow the dumbbell to hang straight down with your elbow bent at a 90-degree angle.
Execution
- Keeping your elbow in the same position, exhale as you raise the dumbbell until it is level with your head by externally rotating your shoulder .
- Inhale as you slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position.
- Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.
- Repeat the exercise with your opposite arm.
Comments and tips
- You can also perform the dumbbell Cuban rotation with both arms at the same time, either simultaneously or in an alternating fashion.
- Use light weights because the target muscle is relatively small. Light weights will also help to avoid damaging your shoulder joint.
- The dumbbell Cuban rotation is not about building muscle. It’s about promoting shoulder health by strengthening three of the four muscles of your rotator cuff (teres minor, infraspinatus, and supraspinatus; the remaining rotator cuff muscle is the subscapularis). The rotator cuff muscles and their tendons work to stabilize your shoulder, so strengthening them promotes a strong and stable shoulder joint.
- The target and synergistic muscles are not labeled in the illustration because they are out of view.
