The Forgotten Muscle: Serratus Anterior
There is more to The Forgotten Muscle: Serratus Anterior than one rule. Context determines which details deserve attention.
The body does not organize movement one muscle at a time. Joints, tissues, leverage, and coordination share the work. Small setup choices can change the experience considerably.
Important Boundaries
Keep in mind: Anatomical descriptions explain likely roles, not perfect isolation. Muscle contribution changes with joint position, load, speed, fatigue, and individual structure.
When to Modify or Stop
Exercise should be adjusted for the participant's experience, symptoms, environment, and available supervision. Stop for sharp pain, dizziness, chest discomfort, sudden weakness, or loss of control, and seek appropriate professional guidance when symptoms are persistent or concerning.
What is the serratus anterior?
The serratus anterior is a muscle located on the side of your ribcage, extending from the first eight or nine ribs to your shoulder blade. It's responsible for stabilizing the shoulder blade against your ribcage and allowing it to move away from your body in certain motions.
The serratus anterior is often referred to as the "boxer’s muscle" because it's important in the punching motion. When you punch, it's the serratus anterior that lifts your shoulder blade off your ribcage, which helps you generate power for your punch.
Because of its location, the serratus anterior is often an overlooked muscle group. However, it's a critical component of shoulder health and can be easily strengthened with a few exercises.
What does it do?
The serratus anterior is a muscle located on the lateral side of the ribcage. It has several important roles in human movement.
First, it plays an important role in stabilizing the shoulder joint and allowing for more movement. By keeping the scapula pressed against the rib cage, it helps create a stable base for shoulder movement.
Second, the serratus anterior assists in rib elevation during deep breathing and is also involved in aiding inhalation. As you take a deep breath, the serratus anterior pulls the ribs up and out which helps with airflow into the lungs.
How do I strengthen it?
Strengthening your serratus anterior muscle can be done through a variety of different exercises. Here are a few of the most popular exercises for strengthening this muscle:
- Push-Ups: Start in a push-up position and then tilt your arms outwards as you lower your body. This will put more emphasis on your serratus anterior.
- Wall Slides: Stand with your back against a wall, with your arms in a “W” position. Slowly lower your arms down, while keeping them close to the wall, and then raise them back up.
- Serratus Punch: Start in an upright position and press your arms into your rib cage. Your elbows should be bent and pointed outwards.
Why should I care?
The serratus anterior is often overlooked when it comes to strengthening your body, yet it is an essential muscle for everyday movement and activities. When you strengthen your serratus anterior, you can improve your ability to perform more advanced athletic moves, such as push-ups, pull-ups, and planks.
In addition, strengthening the serratus anterior helps maintain good posture, allowing your chest to stay lifted and your shoulders back. This helps alleviate neck and shoulder tension, as well as back pain.
Overall, strengthening the serratus anterior is important for daily movements and physical activities. It can help you increase your strength and performance, protect your shoulder joint, improve your posture, and reduce pain and tension in the neck and shoulders.
Put It Into Practice
Good coaching leaves room for feedback. If the response does not match the goal, adjust the dose, range, exercise, or expectation.
A More Useful Standard
With The Forgotten Muscle: Serratus Anterior, the same recommendation can produce different results for two people. Experience, recent workload, movement skill, available equipment, schedule, preferences, and recovery all change what is reasonable.
Review the result over several exposures rather than judging one unusually good or difficult session. Useful progress is usually visible as better control, a more appropriate workload, improved consistency, or clearer decision-making.
Use a Goal-First Framework
The Forgotten Muscle: Serratus Anterior provides a useful map, but training decisions still depend on the full movement pattern and the person performing it.
Use anatomy to explain why a movement may feel or perform differently, not to infer a condition from one sensation. Structure is only one part of the decision. Technique, fatigue, training history, workload, and the participant’s response all help determine whether the current exercise is appropriate.
What Not to Assume
- Increasing resistance before the movement is repeatable.
- Confusing a muscle’s possible action with the best training choice for a specific person.
- Ignoring how joint angle and leverage change the task.
- Forcing an exercise to look identical for every participant.
The goal is not perfect control of every variable. It is enough consistency to make an informed next decision.
The Final Planning Questions
- Do persistent symptoms require appropriate evaluation?
- What movement or task is being examined?
- How do joint position and leverage change the demand?
- Which other structures share the work?
- Can the movement be performed with repeatable control?
Use the answers as the baseline for the next decision rather than relying on a vague impression of progress.
Use the Smallest Effective Adjustment
Muscle contribution changes with joint angle, body position, leverage, external resistance, speed, range, and the need for stability.
- Compare movements by function rather than by appearance alone.
- Use controlled repetitions to observe where technique changes.
- Remember that several muscles usually share the task.
- Treat persistent symptoms as a reason for appropriate evaluation, not a cue to self-diagnose from anatomy.
A Better Way to Increase Difficulty
Progress the movement, not merely the local sensation. Begin with a range and resistance that allow the joints to remain organized. Increase demand gradually and observe whether the same movement pattern is maintained. If a change in load creates compensations elsewhere, the next step may be more practice, a different setup, or a less demanding variation rather than additional resistance.
Use Simple Evidence, Not Guesswork
A practical review includes:
- which movement pattern is being trained
- where compensation begins as fatigue rises
- whether another setup produces better control
- whether professional evaluation is appropriate for persistent symptoms
Look for a pattern across several comparable attempts. One unusually good or difficult day should not determine the entire plan.
Individual Context Still Matters
Bodies differ in structure, proportions, history, and movement strategy. A cue that improves one person’s control may be irrelevant or confusing for another. Use anatomy to create options and explain intent, then observe the actual response. Persistent pain, sudden weakness, or loss of function should not be interpreted from an article or exercise sensation alone.
