The FORGOTTEN Core Muscles Workout - Serratus Shredders!

SHREDDED SERRATUS. No, guys, not a breakfast cereal but mandatory if you want a shredded core, and today I am going to show you exactly how to do it. Music Intro What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, AthleanX.com. The Serratus Anterior. That's what we are talking about today. For some of you, you might not even know what that is. Ok. I can guarantee you that it is muscle, and it is actually one of the core muscles of our core. And I think right off the bat, we have to clarify what that really means, because I think most of the time when we hear the word core, yes, it is a buzzword, but what it should mean to us is just much more than just the abs. The core should be looked at as every muscle that really falls between your shoulders and your hips, and more so, those muscles that have attachments to either one of those places, because the core is actually going to be controlled and all the motions of the core are going to be controlled through the muscles that are situated between those two points. So when we talk about the serratus, that's the muscle that falls right in here. You can see it right here on my ribcage. It actually attaches to the upper ribs here, and it goes underneath my lat, underneath my shoulder blade, and actually attaches back on the medial side, the inside of my shoulder blade right up near my spine. The job of the serratus, well it depends on what your function is. It's actually called 'the puncher's muscle,' because it is going to protract the scapula, ok, meaning move it forward and around and away from my back, directly opposite of what the rhomboids would do. Now there is some time when they actually work in concert together but for the most part, when we are talking about the serratus and developing it, it's doing this protraction. So, when we look at it, it actually can form a bit of a visual. You know, framing of the abs, with the obliques, so it comes down and in, and it is going to frame out everything in through here and even under the chest. So, when we talk about the importance of this muscle, we have to understand that there are going to be aesthetic reasons why you want to develop it and there's also going to be athletic reasons why you want to develop it. So what I want to do today is show you three different ways, and we can cover it again. So, regardless of what your focus is, because I know guys on AthleanX are using it for both aesthetics and athletics, so why don't we cover first one of the simplest ways that you can actually do this. While you are training, you adjust, and it is just do a real simple variation, we include this in the AthleanX program. We have our regular push-up position, which is here, and straight up, ok, down and up. To activate the serratus though is really simple, we just add one additional component to it, and we call it the push-up plus. So we come to the top and at the top we then reach further. We try to push further through the ground, basically taking our shoulder blades which are right about here stable, and then rotating them even more around front protracting them. So, here down, push, down, push, down, push. Ok? The push-up plus. Again, every push working more into that serratus in here to again, give you that visual effect. Next, a direct one that we can use, to now tie in the serratus with the abdominals together. Remember guys, AthleanX is not about isolation exercises. This is always about trying to work muscles together that prefer to work together. That's why the guys that follow the program get the fast results, because they are working muscles the way that they want. So when we do this, we're going to shift the focus away from chest and triceps into the serratus and now more into our, I don't want to say core, but our abs specifically, into our serratus. So, what we do here is get into a plank position here. Ok and we know that that engages the abs, and will actually allow ourselves to collapse, right? Because the rhomboids are going to kind of pull together, squeeze together, giving our shoulder blades a pinch, and then come up and out. Ok, I am pushing through my elbows here to get that kind of action, to get this (demonstration) going on, to get that going on...the protraction of the shoulder blades. So into our plank, let it collapse, up and push through, down and push through, down and push through. I can really feel that I am actually fatiguing, even more so than before, because I have a lot more body weight being managed here through my forearms than I did with the help of my hands and my shoulders. So it is more of a body weight, more intense exercise than it was before. Finally, athletics. I mentioned it before as the punching muscle. So what we do is we get our band that we can set up over here, and we think like a boxer. Boxers will punch and rotate, again if you punch straight to here (demo) you're going to get a little bit, but we want to punch through, ok? Through, It's that extra push and rotation that's going to get the serratus here. Now you can keep the exercise right and tight which is going to work the core, you're controlling rotation. Remember, if you're not doing standing, rotary ab work in your current workout, guys, you're missing out on a major function of the abs. Ok, so we know that this is necessary, but now I'm showing you a way that you can tie in the serratus at the same time, by reaching around. Ok? You can do it more dynamically here, reach around, here and reach, here we go full, all the way around. Really reach out in front of me. Alright. So, again, I know that there are guys watching today that are in it for the aesthetics, for the looks. We know summer is around the corner, you want the core because you want to go out to the beach and be able to show it off. Perfectly fine guys. I can tell you, even the elite pro athletes that I work with, guys are guys, They still want to look good. I understand that. But, it's always nice to know that when you are training that way, you can do so with a purpose and become athletic at the same point, and much more functional. And that really is what AthleanX is all about. Whether it is aesthetics and athletics you guys are all building for the same purpose and that is to be better tomorrow than you are today, It's my job to get you there. If you haven't already guys, as I said, summer is right around the corner, there is no better time than now to start AthleanX because we can incorporate exercises like these and get results faster by working muscles together. You can start seeing results in time for the warm weather so that you are looking good by then. And again you can go grab the program right now over at Athleanx.com. In the meantime I'll be back here in seven days. Make sure you leave a comment, or a thumbs up, hello, if you find the attention here to the small little serratus to be very big and worthwhile to you in your future workouts.. See you guys back here in seven days.