Any exercises for the serratus muscles?

[bignate73]

i ran across some old rehab exercises for weakened serratus, ill have to find them. that will let me know specifically.

 

[Bong Hog]

Cool, bro.. I was hoping to get a respose from you, Nate, as you obviously know your shit.

You're on it in regard to upright rows, however with a very narrow grip, the inferior angle of the scapulae are what's protraced in the motion, causing superior rotation of the shoulder blades. This, I believe, is how the serratus is activated.

 

[bigguns7]

This may be "incline shoulder raises" but,

Sit on an incline bench with a barbell with a moderate weight, fully extend your arms, and then basically just reach for the ceiling. The movement has about a four inch range of motion, but it defintely works.

 

[bignate73]

This may be "incline shoulder raises" but,

Sit on an incline bench with a barbell with a moderate weight, fully extend your arms, and then basically just reach for the ceiling. The movement has about a four inch range of motion, but it defintely works.

mostly pec minor though. its an exercise thats used to strengthen that muscle specifically, though the serratus is used as well.

 

[Lumberg]

Well it looks like DB pullovers it is.

 

[Bong Hog]

"Well it looks like DB pullovers it is."

 

[coolcolj]

Mine seem to be getting bigger, from what I don't know

I think any sort of overhead stuff will build em up

 

[wildonsquats]

Close grip lat pulldown (I use the seated row handle and attach it to the lat pull station) or to make it even harder, just wrap the handle around a chinning bar and do it (no space in the middle of the chinning bar at my gym so I have to move my head to the left or right as i pull myself up. And of course pullovers.

 

[Bong Hog]

"Overhead compound movements such as overhead presses and upright rows, etc (any movement that would retract the shoulder blades)"

Oops, it's "protract", not "retract"..

See, the theory is that the rhomboids and the serratus are opposing muscles. One works to pull the scapula in towards the spine (rhomboids), while the other works to pull them out away from the spine (serratus). Basically, movements like cable rows, chins, and even pullovers to an extent will retract the scapuae, taking the serratus from a flexed position to a stretched one. The serratus muscles would be worked effectively trough overhead pressing, and for isolation work, the movement bigguns described would work well.

For additional info, check out http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/SerratusAnterior.html

Now why is it that pullovers working serrauts is an accepted fact in body building? I would like to hear "why" pullovers and chins work the serratus...

 

[bignate73]

[B
Now why is it that pullovers working serrauts is an accepted fact in body building? I would like to hear "why" pullovers and chins work the serratus... [/B]

the reason for pullovers is this, you are overloading the muscle in its peak contracted position by holding it at arms length similar to the exercise that was described. when bringing the dbell overhead, the inferior border of the scapula move away from midline with the serratus, when the dbell is being pulled over, the serratus have to act eccentrically to maintain the scapula's position along the ribcage, as the lats pull.