The serratus anterior muscles are a group of four muscles that run down the sides of your rib cage. These muscles help you lift your shoulder blades, which makes them important for good posture and athletic performance. Strengthening your serratus anterior muscles can also improve stability in the shoulder joint by preventing injuries like rotator cuff tendinitis, bursitis, and AC joint sprains.
What are the serratus anterior muscles?
Serratus anterior muscles are located on the side of your rib cage. They connect to your upper 8 ribs and help move your shoulder blades. The serratus anterior muscles play an important role in posture, breathing, and stabilization of the shoulder joint.
Why is it important to strengthen these muscles?
The serratus anterior muscles are important for shoulder stability, as they help in scapular protraction and upward rotation. They can also be weakened by poor posture and bad habits such as sitting at a desk all day. Strengthening these muscles will help improve your overall shoulder function, leading to better posture and less pain!
What exercises help build the serratus anterior muscles?
- Serratus anterior is a muscle that helps with shoulder stability.
- Serratus anterior is part of the trapezius muscle group, which runs along your neck, upper back, and shoulders.
- The serratus anterior muscles are located on either side of your rib cage underneath your armpit; these four muscles work together to lift your arms towards your ears when you breathe in deeply or shrug your shoulders upwards (as opposed to just up).
- This small but powerful muscle can be strengthened by doing exercises like push-ups and planks--or better yet--working with weights!
How can you tell if you're doing these exercises correctly?
- Shoulders should be retracted and depressed.
- Shoulders should be down and back (if you can't feel this, ensure you're not just dropping your chest).
- Shoulders should be externally rotated or turned outwards (the opposite of how they normally are).
- Finally, if you have trouble feeling any of these positions in isolation, try it with your arms at your sides: the muscles that attach to your scapula should be working hard to keep them from falling forward or inward on each side of your body.
Strengthen your serratus with these exercises.
The serratus anterior muscles are a group of muscles that run along your ribcage and help with shoulder stability, posture, and scapular protraction. They can also reduce the risk of shoulder pain and injury by helping you to lift heavy objects or carry them while keeping good form.
The serratus anterior involves scapular protraction (moving your arm forward) and upward rotation (turning your hand palm up).
- Scapular Retraction with Resistance Band - 20 Reps
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms extended in front of you in a "T" position.
- Hold a resistance band between your hands, pulling it slightly out in front of you and keeping your elbows bent at about 90 degrees (the same as if you were holding an apple).
- Pull the band back toward your chest as far as possible without arching or leaning forward; hold for 1 minute and repeat 5 times on each side.
- Scapular Protraction-Retraction Exercise - 10 Reps Per Side
- This exercise is a great way to strengthen the serratus anterior muscles.
- Lie on your back with your arms straight above your head, palms facing down.
- With control, slowly bring both elbows together by drawing them toward each other as if trying to touch them in front of you. Then slowly move away from each other until they are fully extended again (they should be about two inches apart). Repeat this motion 10 times per side.* If done correctly, you should feel a pull in between and just below each shoulder blade.* It's important not to arch or round out through any part of this movement; keep everything TIGHT!
- Chest Stretch - 10 Reps Per Side
How to perform the chest stretch:
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent, then raise your arms straight out in front of your body with palms facing down.
- Pull both shoulders back as far as they will go without arching or rounding them up toward the ears (this is called "scapular retraction"). If you're not sure whether or not you're doing this correctly, have a friend check by looking at how far forward their elbows are from their spine while they pull their shoulders back; ideally, they should be no further than where they were originally standing before beginning this exercise! It may also help if someone else can gently push against those retracted scapulae so that there's no doubt about what position they should be in during this stretch--if it feels like too much pressure, then just relax until it feels comfortable again before continuing with step 3 below...
Strengthening your serratus anterior muscles can help improve posture and reduce your risk of shoulder pain and injury.
The serratus anterior muscle is a muscle that pulls the shoulder blade forward. It's one of three muscles that make up your rotator cuff, along with the infraspinatus, teres minor, and supraspinatus. The rotator cuff helps stabilize your shoulder joint by supporting its tendons as they pass through various bony tunnels in the shoulder blade.
Serratus anterior muscles are important for good posture because they help keep our shoulders back and prevent them from slouching forward--which can lead to neck problems like headaches or soreness around the base of your skull (cervical spine). In addition to improving posture and reducing the risk of pain or injury when sitting or standing for long periods at work or school each day, strengthening these muscles will also help relieve stress on other parts of your body, such as neck muscles which may become fatigued if used too much throughout an average day's activities.
Conclusion
Strengthening your serratus anterior muscles can help improve posture and reduce your risk of shoulder pain and injury. Try some of these exercises if you can access resistance bands and a bench. If not, no worries! You can still get in some good work at home or even at work if there's enough space available for movement.
