Serratus Anterior Exercises: 7 Moves to Train It Properly

The best serratus anterior exercises are the ones that push your shoulder blade forward around your ribcage while it rotates upward: the push-up plus, the serratus punch, the wall slide, the scap push-up, the landmine press and the bear crawl. To train it well, you do those movements with a deliberate reach at the end of each rep. Here's what the muscle does, seven exercises with cues, a routine you can run twice a week and the errors that waste the effort.

What the serratus anterior does

The serratus anterior is a fan of muscle slips running from the top eight or nine ribs to the inner edge of your shoulder blade. It does three jobs. It protracts the scapula, meaning it slides the blade forward around the ribcage (the "reach" at the top of a push-up). It rotates the scapula upward so your arm can go overhead without jamming. And it holds the blade flat against the ribs so it doesn't wing.

That upward rotation matters more than most people realise. When you raise your arm, the shoulder blade has to tilt up to give the humerus room, and the serratus is the main driver, working with the upper and lower trapezius. If it's sluggish, you get a pinchy shoulder in the top half of a press or pull-up.

What the research says

Two EMG studies give us a good map. Decker and colleagues recorded 20 healthy people across eight exercises below shoulder height. The serratus anterior punch, scaption, dynamic hug, knee push-up plus and push-up plus all pushed serratus activity above 20% of maximal voluntary contraction, and the moves that kept the scapula upwardly rotated while stressing protraction, like the push-up plus, lit it up most (Decker et al., 1999, Am J Sports Med).

The catch with those exercises is that they work best near 90 degrees of arm elevation. Hardwick's group tested the wall slide, which keeps working above 90 degrees. Serratus activity rose as the arm went higher, and it matched scapular plane elevation and the wall push-up plus (Hardwick et al., 2006, JOSPT). Both studies used healthy volunteers and surface EMG, so treat them as a guide to which moves recruit the muscle, not proof of how much it'll grow.

7 serratus anterior exercises

1. Push-up plus

The gold standard, based on the Decker data above. Start in a normal push-up top position and do a full rep. At the top, keep pushing the floor away until your upper back rounds slightly and your shoulder blades spread apart. Hold for a second.

• Cue: "Push the floor away" after your elbows are already straight.
• Dose: 3 sets of 8 to 12. Drop to your knees if you can't get the extra reach at the end.
• Related: our push-ups guide covers the base movement.

2. Scap push-up

This is the plus phase on its own. Hold a plank with locked elbows, let your chest sink between your shoulder blades, then push the floor away until your upper back is rounded and the blades are wide. Elbows never bend.

• Cue: Move only your shoulder blades.
• Dose: 3 sets of 10 to 15. It's the easiest to learn, and a fine warm-up.

3. Wall slide with a foam roller

Face a wall with your forearms on a foam roller, elbows at about shoulder height. Press the roller into the wall, then slide it up the wall as you reach long, finishing with your arms nearly overhead and your shoulder blades rotating up. Lower slowly.

• Cue: Reach up and slightly forward. Don't shrug.
• Dose: 2 to 3 sets of 10. Based on the Hardwick findings, this is how you train the serratus overhead without needing a heavy load.

4. Serratus punch (band or cable)

Set a cable or a band at chest height behind you. Stand in a split stance holding the handle at chest height, elbow straight, then punch forward and keep reaching by protracting the shoulder blade. Return slowly. This is the "serratus anterior punch" from the Decker study.

• Cue: The punch ends with your shoulder blade, not your arm.
• Dose: 3 sets of 10 to 12 per side. Our best resistance bands guide and cable machine workouts page cover the kit.

5. Landmine press

A single-arm landmine press follows the arc of your shoulder blade, so protraction and upward rotation come naturally at the top. Press up and forward, and finish with a slight reach so the blade glides around the ribs. Follow the setup in our landmine press guide.

• Cue: Finish tall, and don't lean back.
• Dose: 3 sets of 8 to 10 per side, with a weight you can control.

6. Dumbbell pullover

Lying across a bench, lower a dumbbell back overhead, then pull it over your chest. The serratus helps hold the ribcage and the scapula as the arm travels overhead, and it's a decent loaded option once you've got the control. Details in the dumbbell pullover guide.

• Cue: Keep the ribs down and the elbows slightly bent.
• Dose: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 with a light to moderate weight.

7. Bear crawl

Knees hover two inches off the floor, hands under shoulders. Crawl forward while pushing the floor away through your palms so your shoulder blades stay wide. It's a bodyweight finisher that trains the serratus in a long isometric hold. Learn it with our bear crawl guide.

• Cue: Keep the upper back slightly rounded and the floor pushed away.
• Dose: 3 rounds of 20 to 30 seconds.

Sample serratus routine

Run this twice a week, either as a warm-up or at the end of an upper-body session. It takes about 15 minutes.

1. Wall slide with foam roller: 2 sets of 10
2. Scap push-up: 3 sets of 12
3. Push-up plus (or knee version): 3 sets of 8 to 10
4. Band or cable serratus punch: 3 sets of 10 per side
5. Landmine press: 3 sets of 8 per side

Rest about 45 to 60 seconds between sets. When you hit the top of the rep range on every set, make it harder: slow the tempo, move from knees to toes or use a heavier band. Swap the bear crawl in as a finisher on one of the two days.

Common mistakes

• Shrugging. If your traps take over, the serratus doesn't get the work. Keep the shoulders away from the ears.
• Bending the elbows in scap push-ups. The movement lives in the shoulder blades. Bent elbows turn it into a bad push-up.
• Rushing the last inch. The protraction phase is the whole point, so pause for a second at the end.
• Going too heavy too soon. The serratus is small. Heavy load makes bigger muscles take over.
• Arching the lower back. It hides the reach. Brace your abs and keep the ribs down.

For more shoulder work, our shoulder exercises page is a good next step, and the workouts hub has more routines.

If you've got shoulder pain that persists, a physio should assess it. Exercises won't fix every cause.

Recommended reads

• Landmine press
• Dumbbell pullover
• Bear crawl
• Push-ups
• Shoulder exercises