The Rib Cage Is Easy If You Know This Trick

This reel has over 2.5 million views on Instagram. It covers a real simple trick to help you sculpt the rib cage, the external oblique, and the serratus anterior area.

Most people think this area is essentially bone, but the bumps and grooves don’t line up that way. That’s because there are actually four columns of shapes that correspond to different anatomical structures.

The first column is the intercostal arch, which is made of cartilage and has more variety than you might think. For some people it flares out and upward. For other people it conforms to the egg shape of the rib cage. Everybody’s different.

The second column is the interplay between the ribs themselves, which move in one diagonal direction, and the external oblique, which is layered on top at another diagonal. In some people, the external oblique floods over the bone and covers that area, oddly enough looking more like a rib cage itself. In others, there’s more knitting of muscle and bone.

The third column is the darts of the serratus anterior. They come down and forward at an angle, creating a stair-stepping pattern with the external oblique. These are probably the easiest part to understand.

And finally, the fourth column is the latissimus dorsi as it overlaps the serratus anterior. In thinner people, the serratus anterior shows more. In more muscular people, the latissimus dorsi is its own volume of convexity.

Together, these four columns and their corresponding anatomical structures can help you make short work of a complicated area.