reckonerBand shoulder external rotation
A light, slow strength exercise for the muscles that turn your upper arm outward. You anchor a band at elbow height, keep your elbow at your side, and rotate your hand away from your body. It is small, quiet work for the shoulder, done one arm at a time.
Elbow at your side, turn the hand out.
- Pattern
- Shoulder isolation
- Trains
- Rear delts
- Kit
- Band
- Loading
- Your own bodyweight
- Reckoner prescribes
- 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps at RPE 8
- Progression step
- Nothing to add, so the sets climb instead
- Skill
- Simple to learn
- Recovery cost
- Very low
Muscles worked
How to do it
Anchor the band at elbow height
Loop a light band around a post or rack at elbow height and stand side on to it, holding the band in the hand farther from the anchor. At elbow height the band pulls straight across, so the forearm rotates against it the whole way.
Elbow at your side, bent to a right angle
Tuck your elbow against your ribs with the forearm across your stomach. A small rolled towel between elbow and side helps it stay put, which keeps the movement a rotation rather than a swing.
Turn the hand out
Rotate your forearm out away from your body, keeping the elbow pinned, until your hand points forward or a little past.
Let it back in slowly, then switch
Return under control with the band taut the whole time. Finish every rep on one arm, then turn around.
What goes wrong
Elbow drifting away from the side
Lifting the elbow lets the hand travel further, so it feels like more range. The arm swings out instead of rotating. Pin it to your ribs.
Too heavy a band
A thicker band feels like progress. It makes you twist the body to finish. Use a band light enough that only the forearm moves.
Letting the band snap back
The return feels like the easy half. It is half of each rep. Let the hand back in slowly.
How Reckoner progresses this lift
Six weeks of this lift, run through the real engine. Nothing below was typed in: the prescription, the decision and the sentence beside it all come from the same code that writes your week.
| Week | Prescribed | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 x 12 | More reps 12 → 13 repsYou finished every set with three reps left in the tank (RPE 7) and room left in the range, so the reps climb before the load does. |
| 2 | 3 x 13 | More reps 13 → 14 repsYou finished every set with three reps left in the tank (RPE 7) and room left in the range, so the reps climb before the load does. |
| 3 | 3 x 14 | More reps 14 → 15 repsYou finished every set with three reps left in the tank (RPE 7) and room left in the range, so the reps climb before the load does. |
| 4 | 3 x 15 | One more set 3 → 4 setsYou hit the top of the range with three reps left in the tank (RPE 7) and there is no weight left to add. When a lift runs out of load, the set is the increment, so it does four sets next week. |
| 5 | 4 x 15 | Deload 40% of sets offFive weeks of building, then one week lighter. About 40% of the sets come off. The load holds and your reps stay where you earned them, so you keep the strength and lose the fatigue. |
| 6 | 2 x 15 | One more set 2 → 5 setsYou hit the top of the range with three reps left in the tank (RPE 7) and there is no weight left to add. When a lift runs out of load, the set is the increment, so it does five sets next week. |
Real engine output, not an illustration. Every row was produced by running the engine itself when this page was generated.
The full rule, and why the reps move before the load does, is in how Reckoner decides to add weight.
Questions people ask
What does it train?
The small muscles at the back of the shoulder that turn the upper arm outward, with the rear delt helping. It is strength work for the shoulder joint.
How do I make it harder?
Add reps or sets first, then move a little farther from the anchor or step up to a thicker band. Reckoner progresses it on reps and sets, and you choose the band.
Will Reckoner put this in my plan?
Not by itself. It is a shoulder strength exercise you choose, so the engine never chooses it for you. Choose it in the lift picker. It needs a band, which counts as your own kit.
Similar movements
Reckoner has no other movement in this swap group.