Serratus Anterior muscle exercise therapy

mattcoop

Serratus muscle exercises- These exercises will strengthen and tone your serratus anterior muscle and nearly every muscle that connects to your arms - from your forearms to your upper pecs and lats. Some day I will make a youtube video of these exercises, but for now... please be patient and read this lengthy set of paragraphs.

These reaching and pushing exercises force you to hold a small amount of weight out and far away from your center of gravity…. This necessitates so many muscle groups to work together to hold and position the small weight at a large lateral distance away from your center of gravity. The beauty of it is that you are safely distributing the stress through many muscles rather than just one muscle… This saves time by working so many muscles with only three exercises. for the first month, do two sets of each. after you progess to slightly heavier weights during the following months, reduce to one set per session.

#1 bowling ball one-armed shoulder shrugs from a stationary . Get on your knees and place one arm palm down on the bowling ball (hold your arm vertically straight -do not bend your elbow) Do as many upward shoulder shrugs as you can (move your head and neck gently up while keeping them horizontal). Two sets per arm (at least one or two minutes apart)... do not jerk your neck

#2 Forward Elbow, Thumbs up Reaching High (two sets - 12 reps): Take a small weight or small dumbbell in your right hand. Place your right arm to your side. Make a “thumb up” gesture with your right hand and move your right arm and right elbow up in the direction of your upward/slightly left pointing thumb. Move your arm up and forward as if you are going to place the dumbbell (on its end) on a shelf in front of you. Imagine you are placing it on a high shelf in line with your left shoulder. Make sure in the direction of your slightly left pointing thumb). During the whole movement, concentrate on pushing your elbow as far away from your chest as possible. Obviously, do the same movement with your left arm, only as a mirror image.

#3. This exercise is similar to #2 above, only in horizontal fashion. Lay down on your back. Place a dumbbell in your right hand. Remember how your arm was positioned in the last move on #2 above (your elbow will be about 5 or so inches vertically above your face with your hand and dumbbell to your left - keep your arm in a “cross over face” position. Now reach back as much as you can without bending your elbow. (Like you are doing a shoulder shrug). Reach as far as you can. In other words, you won’t be moving your arm much - just your shoulder muscles and serratus muscle. CAUTION: PROTECT YOUR FACE. Use you left hand as a back up to “spot/catch” the dumbbell if your weight bearing arm gets weak.
Do two sets, 12 to 15 reps. Chose your dumbbell weight wisely for safety.- you don’t want to crush your face!

#4. There is one more exercise for the serratus that is in P90x and on a youtube.com demonstration. It is meant for a person that does not have a damaged serratus muscle or that is in the final stages of recovery. Do a youtube.com search with the words “military march getfitreedman”. Make one alteration to this exercise to get the full benefit. Make sure the inside of your elbows brush close to your ears as you “march”.

I alternate between jumping jacks and this “funky” marching exercise nowadays when I don’t have time to go to the gym or don’t want to do P90x DVD’s. Alternating between these two exercises is a good alternative to a treadmill or elliptical (the jumping jacks ensure that your heart rate is high enough compared to the lower impact military march). Watch TV while you do it and before you know it, you’ve done it for 45 minutes and reaping some good benefits for your heart, many skeletal muscles, tendons and ligaments.

(Optional exercises) purchase a Dynaflex ball and use it 5 to 40 minutes every other day. Hold it in place at the highest position as experienced in exercise #2. When your arm gets tired, switch arms. Do this for 5 minutes …or up to 40 minutes while watching TV. Before you try this specific exercise position, you will probably need to get used to the Dynaflex by practicing with the included CD video guide. I use the slightly more advanced Dynaflex Grip-pro, which has a handle connected to this gyroscope-type ball.

If you suspect your serratus anterior muscle is damaged, please see a doctor who is a shoulder specialist.