American Fitness Professionals & Associates

By Elaine Mary Dutton

Anatomy class can be amongst the hardest subjects to face in learning or remembering for a student of Aerobics and Fitness.

In everything we learn, we somehow entail some sort of method or technique in polishing those memory cells, or ‘little gray cells’ as Agatha Christie’s detective, M. Poirot, would have put into words.

Remembering the basics in anatomy may be more easier to some than to others. Whatever the case may be, the following technique may prove helpful to achieve remembering the basics of human anatomy for the learner in the field of fitness.

One main important factor that applies to all skeletal muscles: check where the muscle ends (its distal attachment lies) in order to gather what movement that particular muscle applies

Only one group will be studied in this article (the rotator’s cuff) to alleviate any long reading and facilitate space. The technique can be systematized for any part of the human body and group muscles.

The Rotator’s Cuff – Scapula - Shoulder blade Pointer 1: count how many muscles inhabit the particular area to be studied and write them down giving them imagery names

Example: there are 5 muscles that inhabit the shoulder blade:

Two subs (or submarines as I call them)

1. Subscapularis (under the scapula)
2. Suprapinatus (above the spine of the scapula)

One infra

1. Infraspinatus (below the scapula)

Two Teres (round muscles)

1. Teres Major
2. Teres Minor

Pointer 2: Study a clear picture where each of these muscles are shown. It is preferable to gather a picture on each muscle lined out clearly and separately from the others. Begin noticing where the distal attachment lies (where the muscle ends). This is usually easy to identify since most muscles end on joints or the surface of the bone it moves.

Let us take each of the Scapula muscles one by one:

1. The Subscapularis

We recognize from the name (sub: under and scapularis: scapula-shoulder blade) that this muscle would lie somewhere under the Scapula. In looking at the picture, its proximal attachment (beginning of the muscle) lies inside the surface of the Scapula and travels to the front top of the humerus ending there.

As it ends on the top part of the humerus, this gives away its major action to the arm: an inward rotation of the humerus; in other words it pulls forward the arm.

2. The Supraspinatus

The name of this muscle tells us that it lies above the spine of the Scapula. Its proximal attachment can be seen to be placed above the spine of the Scapula and its distal attachment lies on top of the humerus. This would tell us that its action is to abduct
the arm (pulls up and away the arm from the body since it ends at the top of the humerus).

3. The Infraspinatus

By its name, it tells us that it lies below the spine of the Scapula. Its proximal attachment is below the spine of the Scapula (middle two-thirds) and distal attachment lies on top of the humerus at the shoulder joint capsule. This tells us that it pulls forward the humerus, thus doing an inward rotation of the shoulder.

4. Teres Major

This round and big muscle does not belong to the rotator cuff family, yet rotates the humerus. It begins at the bottom edge of the Scapula and ends at the back of the humerus below the shoulder joint. This would give away its action as pulling inwardly (adduction) and inwardly rotating the humerus.

5. Teres Minor

The round small muscle has a proximal attachment at the edge of the Scapula which is located close to the arm. Its distal attachment is on top of the humerus at the back. In other words, it does an outward rotation of the humerus (pulls it back).

As we have seen, if the distal attachment of the muscle is known, then we can visualize the action of the muscle. With some very good and clear pictures of muscle groups, the above technique can be major help in learning the basics of human anatomy. Nothing excels more rapidly than knowledge.

Good luck to those who are just beginning to excel into knowledge!

GR.A.F.T.S. Certified Aerobic & Fitness Instructor
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