Serratus Anterior And Trap-3 Exercises Form Check. Are They Good Or A Wreck?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPmGfztQ_o

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPmGfztQ_o

I'm trying to find my weak link on planche. I know serratus anterior and trap-3 are both common.

I'm not sure which is my wink link (or if it's both), but I'm inclined to think serratus anterior. I seem to have a difficult time feeling the position.

PROS AND CONS OF EACH EXERCISE

1) It's difficult to increase the difficulty of this exercise, bands could help, but getting the resistance and position of the bands on the body is difficult to be specific with.

2) It seems easy for the deltoids to take over on this lift. I actually did this exercise years ago in a class by Ido Portal and I lifted more than anyone else in the class (I think I was doing 20 pounds), but in retrospect, my deltoids were probably taking over and my trap-3 working little if any. Here I'm just working with 5 pounds, but it's still difficult to feel this exercise and ensure the deltoids aren't doing most of the work.

3) I'm pretty sure this exercise would work the trap-3 but correct me if I'm wrong. If it does, this is my favorite. It feels less likely for the deltoids or other muscles to take over, and it's easy to increase the difficulty of this exercise. The weight can slide, but I can adjust it to keep it centered after each rep. Just doing 5 pounds here for the video, but I can get 15 pounds for 5 reps as of now.

On exercise 2, you first lower & retract the scap, then raise the arm... I think it is good to ensure that the head of the humerus is well located in the glenoid fossa, but too much retraction reduces the acromial space and may lead to impingement.

...I think...

I also think that maybe you have scap stability issues; after retraction and lowering, after you release the lats and the teres major (?), the scap looks like it is a bit loose and moves around a bit.

Take that with a large grain of salt, I am an apprentice sorcerer...

scapular retraction, posterior tilt and upward rotation increase the subacromial space

Okay, thank you... I am not sure I understand what "posterior tilt" means...

Just working through these myself it seems like they would have more direct benefit if you kept the ribs tucked in/hollow position like you would in a handstand.  I think that would be helpful if for no other reason than to train yourself to activate in that position.  Something to play around with and see what effect you get.

Brendan Coad said:

Just working through these myself it seems like they would have more direct benefit if you kept the ribs tucked in/hollow position like you would in a handstand.  I think that would be helpful if for no other reason than to train yourself to activate in that position.  Something to play around with and see what effect you get.

They do have a  much greater effect. You also want to practice these by locking the arm in the socket, and then producing movement with the scapulo-thoracic muscles.

What you are doing right now is locking the scapula on the rib cage, and then producing movement with the scapulohumeral muscles.

What you are doing is good, but it's good to practice both as well. They are very different.

thenail01 said:

scapular retraction, posterior tilt and upward rotation increase the subacromial space

By posterior tilt, do you mean of the hips (hollow body position)?

By upward rotation, do you mean elevation of the scapula, or do you mean raising the arm, or something else?

Joshua Naterman said:

They do have a  much greater effect. You also want to practice these by locking the arm in the socket, and then producing movement with the scapulo-thoracic muscles.

 

What you are doing right now is locking the scapula on the rib cage, and then producing movement with the scapulohumeral muscles.

 

What you are doing is good, but it's good to practice both as well. They are very different.

I juast want to confirm, you're talking about the trap-3 exercise where i raise my arm, right?

jamesters said:

By posterior tilt, do you mean of the hips (hollow body position)?

By upward rotation, do you mean elevation of the scapula, or do you mean raising the arm, or something else?

Upward rotation and posterior tilt of the scapula. Google for scapula + movement or something like that. 

What Joshua means with producing movement with the scapulo-thoracic muscles is doing things like straight arm shrugs in all planes of movement: push up plus, dip shrugs, hanging shrugs, etc.