Activation Cues for the Serratus Anterior

Question

I suffer from a mild winged scapula and I wanted to train my serratus anterior to try to fix it.

There are lots exercises I've found for it. For instance:

1. Serratus Jabs

2. Wall Slides

These two exercises are taken from here, but I've found others elsewhere like:

3. The Hollow Body Crunch

4. The Hollow Body Plank

My problem is that I can't activate it very well. I had a similar problem with my glutes (also called gluteal amnesia) that I've fixed by performing lots of glutes bridge with the cue of pre-posteriorly tilting my pelvis before exercising and then mantaining such a posture whilst pressing with my glutes.

Well, I think I need some activation cues for my Serratus Anterior. I can't feel it very well and I often confuse it with my lats as it is very small and very "asleep".

I've also found this picture with an activation cue for the Overhead Press:

Do you find it useful? But shouldn't the shoulder blades be retracted whilst overhead pressing?

Answer 1

Your scapula should be in a neutral position.

Your scapula and GH joint is responsible to bring your arms upwards. If you keep it retracted, your shoulder blades can’t rotate upwards.

Upward rotation performed by upper traps, serratus anterior and lower traps. This force couple is important. During an overhead press, the shrug will come last, so imagine you’re bringing your elbow up towards the ceiling during the concentric phase of the press, without an early contribution from your levator scap (which is responsible for the shrug).

You should try the wall slide. Imagine you are trying to move your fingers through your hair / comb your hair. Check that your neck is not elevated (do not want levator scapula involvement) during the exercise.