Using too much weight
Go light enough to keep strict form for 12-20 reps; rear delts are small.
Isolation · Dumbbells
Rear Delt Fly
The rear delt fly is a bent-over dumbbell raise where you lift the arms out to the sides. It isolates the rear delts and upper back muscles that pressing neglects, and suits anyone looking for better shoulder balance and posture work.
- Primary
- Rear Delts
- Starting rep range
- 12–20 reps
- Target effort
- 1 reps in reserve
- Progression
- 1 kg jumps
Muscles worked
The rear delts pull the arms back and out, with the rhomboids and mid traps helping. Keeping the shoulder blades from fully squeezing together keeps more work on the rear delts.
How to set up
- Hold light dumbbells and hinge forward until your torso is near parallel to the floor.
- Or sit on the end of a bench and lean your chest toward your thighs.
- Let the dumbbells hang under your chest, palms facing in.
- Keep a soft bend in your elbows.
How to do each rep
- Raise the dumbbells out to the sides in a wide arc.
- Lift until your arms are about level with your torso.
- Lower slowly to the start.
- Keep the neck neutral and avoid jerking the torso up.
Common rear delt fly mistakes
Turning it into a row
Keep the elbow angle fixed so the arms move in an arc rather than pulling back.
Standing up during reps
Hold your torso angle steady or use a chest-supported incline bench.
Sets, reps, and progression
Surpass starts the rear delt fly at 12–20 reps with about 1 reps in reserve. As an isolation exercise it fits well after your main compound lifts.
Progress reps first in a 12-20 range. When dumbbell jumps become too big, add sets or switch to a reverse pec deck or cable version for finer increments.
Know what to lift next time
Surpass shows what you lifted last time beside a target for this set, and adjusts it from your reps and RIR. Free on iPhone, no account needed.
Rear Delt Fly alternatives
These train the same main muscles. Swap when the equipment is busy, something hurts, or progress has stalled for several weeks.
Programs that use it
Questions
How heavy should rear delt flys be?
Light. Most people get the most out of weights they can control for 12-20 reps with no torso swing.
Rear delt fly vs face pull?
Both train rear delts. The fly isolates them more directly; face pulls also involve the traps and external rotators.