If you’re a climber, you should care about your external rotators. Having strong, stable shoulders will allow you to climb harder, more dynamically, and a lot safer.
Summary:
- “External rotators” is the term we use to refer to muscles that help us — you guessed it — externally rotate our limbs.
- In this case, we’re referring to the external rotators of the shoulder (kinda like this: 🤷). The Infraspinatus and Teres Minor are the main muscles to be aware of here, though the Supraspinatus and Posterior Deltoid also play a role in external rotation.
- Ensuring these muscles are healthy and strong 💪 is essential for climbers as we rely SO much on external rotation strength to keep ourselves close to the wall. Our external rotators also help stabilize the shoulder to avoid injuries in all the weird positions we find ourselves in while climbing.
- For more info on how to train these muscles (and the rest of your shoulder muscles), check out our videos on shoulder strengthening 🏋️. We have a whole series on it!
Hooper’s Beta is the climber’s library for training & injury recovery, created by Jason Hooper and Emile Modesitt. Visit their website and YouTube channel.
