Workouts for muscles in your ribs can make you look and feel stronger. You may increase the size of your rib muscles by performing weightlifting exercises, which exhaust your muscles with four to six repetitions per set. Endurance athletes may benefit from exercises that exhaust rib muscles in 20 to 25 reps, which builds muscular endurance. Young women may also wish to stick with high repetitions for aesthetic purposes, and avoid excessive rib cage expansion during growth years.
Breathing
Breathing stimulates muscles in your ribs by strengthening your intercostals. Workouts that require deeper and more forceful breathing active your intercostals the most. Your intercostals, the muscles between your ribs, extend your thorax each time you inhale. The intercostals also pull your ribs down during forced exhalation when breathing heavily. Breathing workouts for muscles in your ribs may involve taking deep breaths during the slow eccentric phase of weightlifting exercises.
Abdominal
Abdominal workouts work the muscles in your ribs in addition to your ab muscles. Standard crunch exercises hit the muscles in your ribs, and your upper abdominal muscles. Adding twists to different variations of crunch exercises develops muscles in your ribs, says Bodybuilding.com. Twisting crunches involve resting your hand behind your head and bringing your elbow to the opposite knee in a slow, controlled movement. Seated twists and bent-over twists are other examples of twisting ab exercises, which develop the muscles in your ribs.
Upper Body
Your serratus anterior forms the muscular structure at the top of your rib cage. You can target muscles in your ribs with upper body workouts, which activate your serratus anterior. Movements that abduct, or rotate your shoulder blades upward, activate the serratus anterior muscles. Incline shoulder raises primarily activate your serratus anterior, according to ExRx.net. Upper body exercises, such as the barbell pullover, behind-the-neck shoulder press, front shoulder press and front barbell raise also activate your serratus anterior.
Benefits
The muscles in your ribs help control your breathing, especially during heavy exertion. Workouts for your rib muscles help you take deeper and more efficient breaths, which maximize oxygen delivery to your working muscles. Developing the muscles in your ribs can also enlarge your rib cage, particularly during your growth years. A larger rib cage increases the protective barrier around soft organs, and improves the appearance of the male torso.
References
- T-Nation: Thibaudeau's Words of Wisdom; T-Nation Editors; July 2007
- T-Nation: Breathe, Stupid, Breathe!; Marc Spataro; Sept. 2010
- Bodybuilding: Champion Ab Development -- Building Fully Developed Abdominal Muscles
- T-Nation: More Quick Fixes For Problem Muscles; Lee Boyce; Oct. 2010
- ExRx: Chest Exercises -- Serratus Anterior
- Bodybuilding: What Is The Best Barbell Workout?; Workout Of The Week
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