If you're an avid gym enthusiast, it's likely that you've encountered shoulder or rotator cuff pain during pressing movements.
The common advice found online often emphasizes weak rotator cuff muscles as the culprit, prescribing exercises like external cable or dumbbell rotations to address the issue.
However, in my personal experience and that of others, this approach offers minimal relief at best. Instead, a more effective method involves warming up the rear shoulder musculature with a heavy rowing movement before engaging in heavy pressing exercises. By doing so, not only are the rotator cuff muscles warmed up, but so are the traps, rear delts, and lats, depending on the specific rowing variation. Additionally, heavy rowing serves as a better complement to heavy pressing, as it allows for greater muscle activation compared to lighter, high-rep external rotation exercises. Hence, if you've been incorporating external rotation movements into your warmup routine without improvement, it may be worth considering a shift to a different approach.
- Darryl Perrilloux “Master Trainer”