Shoulders · Bodyweight
Standing Shoulder Medial and Lateral Rotation
How to do the standing shoulder medial and lateral rotation, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Rotation
- Mechanic
- Isolation
How to do it
Stand tall with your elbow bent to ninety degrees and tucked at your side. Slowly rotate your forearm outward as far as is comfortable, then rotate it back across your body, opening and closing the shoulder through its rotation range.
- 1Feel a gentle stretch and work deep in the back and front of the shoulder
- 2Keep your elbow pinned to your side as you rotate
- 3Move slowly and stay within a comfortable, pain-free range
Common mistakes
- Don't let your elbow drift away from your body
- Avoid shrugging your shoulder up toward your ear
- Don't force the rotation past the point of comfort
Muscles worked
The standing shoulder medial and lateral rotation mainly works the external rotators, with the internal rotators assisting.
- External RotatorsPrimary
- Internal RotatorsSupport
- ForearmsMinor
Kovo programs the standing shoulder medial and lateral rotation for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More hips & adductors exercises
- How to do the butterfly stretch
- How to do the external rotation
- How to do the cable hip adduction
- How to do the internal rotation
- How to do the cobra pose
- How to do the core scrunch
Last reviewed June 2026.