Have you heard of the serratus anterior? It’s not a very well-known muscle, but it is crucial for many everyday movements, as well as certain sports. In this blog, we’ll tell you exactly what the serratus anterior is, when you use it and how you can strengthen this muscle in the gym.
What is the Serratus Anterior?
The serratus anterior is a muscle that spans across the ribcage from the first to the ninth rib. It’s a large flat muscle that you can usually feel under your armpit. The main job of this muscle is to protract and upwardly rotate the scapula (shoulder blade). It also keeps the scapula close to the thoracic wall, also known as your chest wall.
The serratus anterior also helps with shoulder protraction, the movement of pushing your arm forward in front of the body. This muscle also helps to prevent scapular winging, which is when the shoulder blade moves abnormally away from the thorax during arm movements.
What is the Purpose of the Serratus Anterior?
In daily life, the serratus anterior is mainly used for upper body movements that include reaching forward to grab something or lifting and reaching overhead. When people have weak serratus anterior muscles, their scapular will wing out which is when the scapular protrudes from the back. Hence why it’s so important to work this part of your body during training.
The serratus anterior is often known as the boxer’s muscle. As mentioned above, the primary movement that uses this muscle is reaching forward, which is the same as punching in boxing. This is why you will commonly see boxers with defined serratus anterior muscles.
In the gym, it is trained indirectly in all anterior deltoid exercises such as dumbbell front raises and to some extent in a few chest exercises that involve scapular protraction, such as scapular push ups, flat and incline shoulder raises. It is also used as a shoulder stabiliser in exercises such as push ups, scapular pull ups and planks.
Six Exercises for the Serratus Anterior
1 - Push Ups
The primary muscle groups used in a push up are the chest and triceps muscles, however, the serratus anterior acts as a stabiliser for the scapular which protracts as you push yourself back to the start position.
2 - Scapular Pull Ups
A pull up is an overhead movement, the scapular pull up specifically works to focus on elevation and depression of the shoulders. It’s during this phase of the movement that the serratus anterior are particularly essential.
3 - Resistance Band Wall Slides
This Resistance Band is commonly used in a rehabilitation setting to improve scapular stability. Focus on your serratus anterior by keeping your forearms in a parallel position to stop your elbows from winging out.
4 - Boxing
If you want to improve your cardiovascular health while also working on your serratus anterior, boxing will do both. The action of punching forward and protracting your shoulders repeatedly will work your serratus anterior more than most other movements. Check our range of Boxing Gym Equipment for punch bags, gloves and mitts.
5 - Single Arm Cable Chest Press
A single-arm chest press mimics a similar movement to punching. The additional load from using a cable pulley machine makes it easier to progressively overload and get stronger over time.
6 - Dumbbell Pullovers
This is a great upper body movement that uses a Dumbbell Set to work the serratus anterior, alongside the chest, latissimus dorsi and core muscles.
Now you know exactly what the serratus anterior is and why you need it, it’s time to put this muscle to use. Start incorporating some of these exercises into your training routine to build upper body strength and improve your shoulder stability.
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Tags: Exercise Type > Strength
