Serratus Pulldowns

Why Is This Exercise So Effective?

The serratus anterior muscles are the little tooth-like ridges that sit between your side abs and your lats, beside your pecs. They are generally not very visible until you have a fairly low level of body fat unless the serratus are very large.

This exercise is one of the few exercises that directly target the serratus muscles. Building these small muscles up can have a dramatic impact on the look of your midsection.

How To Do It

• Kneel on one leg in front of a high pulley, grasping a handle (you will be doing these one arm at a time).
  
  
• Move away from the pulley to the side a little so you pull down at an angle inward (e.g. if you are using your right arm, move a few inches to the left).

• Put your other hand over your serratus muscle while doing the exercise to make sure it is being worked and to develop a feel for how doing the movement affects the muscle. This will help you work it more efficiently as this muscle is difficult to isolate.
  
  
• Pull your shoulder down as far you can without bending your arm. You should be arching your back somewhat during the movement.
  
  
• The pull should come from the serratus muscle; you must concentrate to ensure that the lats are relaxed or they will take over the movement. For this reason, you shouldn’t use a lot of weight until you’ve learned how to isolate the muscles.
  
  
• As you get to the bottom of the shoulder-drop, rotate your hand pinky-side inward a little to fully activate the serratus. This movement is an external rotation at the shoulder. Your elbow will come in toward the midline of the body.
  
  
• Do not grip the handle strongly during the movement as this will tend to activate the lats. Keep your grip fairly loose but not so loose that the weight slips out of your hand.
  
  
• This exercise requires a lot of practice and experimentation to find the groove that works best for you. Always keep your other hand on the serratus muscle so you can feel for the proper activation of the muscle.

How to incorporate this exercise into your workouts:

The serratus pulldown is a finishing movement.

• It doesn’t require much energy and won’t fatigue you or your abdominal muscles. Because of these points, it can and should be done last in your abdominal routine.

Common Errors

1. Not feeling the muscle working

You will not get any results whatsoever by just going through the motions with this exercise. You MUST feel the muscle working.

2. Using too much or not enough weight

Using too much weight will reduce your ability to feel the muscle working. Not using enough weight will not work the muscle enough to see any results.

3. Going too fast

With this exercise, the slower you go the better you will feel the exercise. Going too fast will use primarily momentum and the lats will take over. Go slow and feel it.

Tricks

1. Using a towel

If you are doing serratus pulldowns on a pulldown machine that does not have a proper single-hand handle (such as a high pulley that has an unmovable lat bar), loop a towel around the part where the bar connects to the cable. Grasp both ends of the towel near the top and go from there.

2. Inhale on the way down

To increase the effectiveness of the movement, inhale as you pull the weight down. This will expand your rib cage and help to isolate the serratus muscles.