How many reps of bent-arm shoulder CARs should you do when you are new to the exercise?

Once plain shoulder CARs feel controlled, add three or four slow circles each direction per arm. The progression is in slowing the hardest arc further or holding it a beat, not in doing more circles.

How do I make bent-arm shoulder CARs easier or harder?

Easier: shrink the circle and keep the elbow closer to the body throughout. Harder: slow the tempo more, pause in the toughest arc behind the body, or progress to the banded version for added resistance.

What do bent-arm shoulder CARs train, and when should you avoid them?

They target the rotator cuff and external rotators right at end-range positions, useful as cuff prep before pressing or as rehab-minded maintenance. Avoid them during current shoulder impingement pain, since actively driving an irritated cuff into end range is a job for guided rehab, not a general mobility drill.

Intermediate

Bent-Arm Shoulder CARs

Bending the elbow during a shoulder CAR shortens the lever and shifts the demand onto the rotator cuff, especially the external rotators, at the extremes of the joint's range. It is a more targeted progression than the straight-arm version and exposes weak, poorly controlled zones near the shoulder's limits. Use it as focused cuff prep before pressing and overhead work or as rehab-minded maintenance.

Equipment: Body Weight
Body part: Shoulder
Type: Functional, Recovery, Stretching
Browse by muscle: Deltoid Middle, Infraspinatus
Browse by movement: Mobility Drill

How to do it

1
Stand tall with one arm bent to ninety degrees, upper arm at your side and knuckles facing forward.
2
Raise the bent arm forward and up, keeping the elbow angle fixed, until the upper arm points overhead.
3
At the top, externally rotate the shoulder so the forearm rotates back and open.
4
Carry the elbow out and down behind the body into extension while maintaining the bend.
5
Internally rotate to close the circle and return to the start, keeping the torso still.
6
Move slowly under tension, resisting any shrug or trunk lean.
7
Complete equal circles each direction, then switch arms.

Tips

Keep the elbow angle locked; letting it open or close hides the range you are trying to train.
Do not let the shoulder shrug up toward the ear; keep it set down and back.
Slow right down through the behind-the-body extension phase, where control is hardest.

Variations

Common mistakes

The elbow angle opens and closes through the circle instead of staying locked at ninety, hiding exactly the weak zones this drill is meant to expose.
Rushing through the behind-the-body extension skips the hardest part of the circle, the one spot this variation is actually testing.
The shoulder creeps up toward the ear as the arm swings overhead, letting the traps take over from the rotator cuff.
Swinging the elbow out with momentum instead of driving it slowly under tension turns a control drill into a loose flail.

Frequently asked

How many reps of bent-arm shoulder CARs should you do when you are new to the exercise?: Once plain shoulder CARs feel controlled, add three or four slow circles each direction per arm. The progression is in slowing the hardest arc further or holding it a beat, not in doing more circles.
How do I make bent-arm shoulder CARs easier or harder?: Easier: shrink the circle and keep the elbow closer to the body throughout. Harder: slow the tempo more, pause in the toughest arc behind the body, or progress to the banded version for added resistance.
What do bent-arm shoulder CARs train, and when should you avoid them?: They target the rotator cuff and external rotators right at end-range positions, useful as cuff prep before pressing or as rehab-minded maintenance. Avoid them during current shoulder impingement pain, since actively driving an irritated cuff into end range is a job for guided rehab, not a general mobility drill.

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