Web Extra: Strengthening your shoulders

As promised in the November/December 2009 issue of TENNIS magazine, a strength move and a stretching exercise to help you keep your shoulder joint healthy:

Cross-Arm Stretch
To increase the flexibility in your shoulder, Todd Ellenbecker, D.P.T., chairman of the USTA Sport Science Committee, recommends this stretch. Bring one arm across the front of your body at shoulder level and hold it in place with your opposite arm. Hold for 20– 30 seconds and switch sides. Repeat three times.

Floor-to-Ceiling Lift
Try this strength move to strengthen your rotator cuff. Step on the end of a resistance band with your right foot and hold the other end in your left hand. Squat down and reach your left hand to the outside of your right foot, then stand straight up and, keeping your arm straight, extend your left arm straight up. Repeat 10–12 times and switch sides. Do three sets. Try other motions, securing a band above you and pulling it down or attaching it to something at shoulder level and pulling it across your body, to work the other muscles of the rotator cuff.

Originally published on TENNIS.com, October 2009.