# Any advice on rear delts?



## Mythos (Apr 16, 2016)

I've recently come to the realization that my rear delts are lacking. I'm looking for something light that seriously isolates rear delts with the intention of doing hundreds of reps, or modifications to heavier lifts that hit more rear. Thanks


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## Megatron28 (Apr 16, 2016)

I like Cable Face Pulls.


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## NbleSavage (Apr 16, 2016)

If the gym you train in has the infamous "pec deck", you might find that many are reversible - eg. you sit facing the seat and collapse the arms together - so as to hit rear lats.

Good non-taxing, high volume exercise or a 'finisher' after a compound movement like bent rows.


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## BiologicalChemist (Apr 16, 2016)

Not too many things you can do for rears but there's enough workouts to isolate them....you gotta crush the rear delts frequently, heavy and light weight until failure, drop sets, etc...I love to do 

Seated bent over flys (on bench) using dumbells under the legs arms slightly bent do 4-6 sets of these for 12-16 reps. 

Standing rear cable flys..stand between two cables cross them (opposite side in opposite arm) and extend to squeeze the rear delts and hold them there do a bunch. 

Seated reverse cable fly machine ("peck deck" using chest fly machine but seated w/chest facing the upright bench) Go heavy on this one, at least 3 sets heavy for 6-12 reps, then drop set down until failure, make sure to squeeze and hold each contraction. 

This last one is my least favorite u gotta work with it to find that rear delt u will also be hitting medial delt but you can do standing leaning cable lateral raises behind the back..do quick google search if you don't know what it is. (btw idk if i name all these exercises correctly but thats what I call em).


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## saltylifter (Apr 16, 2016)

I do all kinds if rear delts 
Bent over db Flys
Bend over cable Flys
Reverse pec deck
The cable faceing rope pulls savage mentioned.
Lots more but u need to isolate them like anything else


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## BigGameHunter (Apr 16, 2016)

BiologicalChemist said:


> Seated bent over flys (on bench) using dumbells under the legs arms slightly bent do 4-6 sets of these for 12-16 reps.



My favorite by far.  Its been effective for me.


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## ECKSRATED (Apr 16, 2016)

Too many people do delt flies totally wrong. They row and use their back muscles. No. Your back muscles shouldn't even move. I like to bend over with NY head resting against a bench and do delt flies.  Keep arms straight and locked. Use light weight. When u do the movement try to keep the weight as close to the floor as possible thru the entire range of motion. Kinda like you're reaching as far out and down as u can. Again your delt should do all the work. Not your back.


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## stonetag (Apr 16, 2016)

Like the incline bench at about 30 deg., one knee on the seat, chest into the back of the bench and pull the db's up to my ears. I have long gorilla arms so I can reach the db's from the floor, instead of mounting the bench with the db's.


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## Mythos (Apr 16, 2016)

ECKSRATED said:


> Too many people do delt flies totally wrong. They row and use their back muscles. No. Your back muscles shouldn't even move. I like to bend over with NY head resting against a bench and do delt flies.  Keep arms straight and locked. Use light weight. When u do the movement try to keep the weight as close to the floor as possible thru the entire range of motion. Kinda like you're reaching as far out and down as u can. Again your delt should do all the work. Not your back.



This; I have always avoided trying these out because whenever I see people doing them it looks like a weak back/trap exercise more than anything.


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## Schredder (Apr 17, 2016)

Every rear delt exercise will get the job done.  The trick is to perform the exercise correctly and the majority of people I see do them incorrectly and in turn work their traps as opposed to their rear delts.  

This goes for any set up, standing, seated, bent over even face pulls (which I really like as well).  You want your shoulders to protract to eliminate scapula movement during the movement.  And you want your arms bent at the elbow at roughly 45 degrees, or whatever feels comfortable and natural.  Your arms should NOT be straight or locked out.  That is incorrect.

With you shoulders protruded start the movement and KEEP your shoulder in that position.  DO NOT retract your shoulders as you move the weight back.  You do this and cause the scapula to move, like I said before, your traps come into play-not productive.  You will notice that the range of motion is very short.  That is the way it is supposed to be.

Id also hit them on shoulder day as well as back day if the are lagging.  High reps, low reps, hit them every way possible....just make sure to hit them correctly!


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## PillarofBalance (Apr 17, 2016)

Hit your lats to exhaustion then do the rear delts. If you do one of those dumbass bb splits do them on back day and shoulder day.  This helps take some of the cheat out. Focus on the muscle. Don't let the traps do the work.


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## ECKSRATED (Apr 17, 2016)

Schredder said:


> Every rear delt exercise will get the job done.  The trick is to perform the exercise correctly and the majority of people I see do them incorrectly and in turn work their traps as opposed to their rear delts.
> 
> This goes for any set up, standing, seated, bent over even face pulls (which I really like as well).  You want your shoulders to protract to eliminate scapula movement during the movement.  And you want your arms bent at the elbow at roughly 45 degrees, or whatever feels comfortable and natural.  Your arms should NOT be straight or locked out.  That is incorrect.
> 
> ...



Keeping your arms locked and straight make it easier to target the delt especially during rear delt flies. Having your elbow locked puts more tension on the delt and that's what u want. Having your arm bents also shortens the range of motion. 

Saying one way or the other is incorrect is pretty biased. Both work but for me I've found that straight arms work the best for me and I have some decent rear delts.


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## ECKSRATED (Apr 17, 2016)

Another tip to try is is flex your lats like your doing a lat spread and hold that the entire time you do the rear delt flies. Doing so will make it almost impossible to use any trap or back muscles during the movement.


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## Schredder (Apr 17, 2016)

ECKSRATED said:


> Keeping your arms locked and straight make it easier to target the delt especially during rear delt flies. Having your elbow locked puts more tension on the delt and that's what u want. Having your arm bents also shortens the range of motion.
> 
> Saying one way or the other is incorrect is pretty biased. Both work but for me I've found that straight arms work the best for me and I have some decent rear delts.



Fair enough.  Maybe me saying its incorrect might not have been the best word or statement to use.  The issue I have with arms straight/locked out is that there is a lot of tension put on the tricep and I find the triceps comes into play theough the whole movement.  A bent arm take tension off the tricep.  And we dont neccessarily need to increase range of motion as a muscle only has a certain active range of motion anyways.  

I dont even like the term full range of motion.  Its a deceptive term.  Optimal range of motion is what people should be thinking of. 

If straight arm is what someone finds to be optimal for them then hey, go for it.  I just dont find that to be the best way to position the arm.


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## bvs (Apr 17, 2016)

I like supersetting rope face pulls and standing bent over rows. I don't go very heavy but focus on quality reps because it is easy to use too much of your back muscles when working rear delts


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## Mythos (Apr 17, 2016)

Thanks everybody, great advice. Want to respond to a few of these later, short on time.


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## Go Away (Apr 18, 2016)

ECKSRATED said:


> Keeping your arms locked and straight make it easier to target the delt especially during rear delt flies. Having your elbow locked puts more tension on the delt and that's what u want. Having your arm bents also shortens the range of motion.
> 
> Saying one way or the other is incorrect is pretty biased. Both work but for me I've found that straight arms work the best for me and I have some decent rear delts.



Ben Pakulski has some videos in this that agree with the straightened arm technique. Flexing your triceps is his cue for good rear delt activation.


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