Workouts

Target Your Shoulders and Upper back with the Dumbbell Reverse Fly

There is no better exercise than dumbbell reverse flyes to strengthen your upper back and the posterior delts. It also develops your thoracic spinal muscles and helps to improve overall upper body posture. However, the correct technique is very important, incorporated with the correct weight so that you can effectively target the rear delts.

While shoulder workouts aren’t the most pleasant, you simply can’t ignore doing it, especially when they are a common weak point.

So, here is the proper technique to do a dumbbell reverse fly and thus target your rear deltoids, rhomboids, and the mid trapezius.

How to Perform Rear Delt Flyes

To start with the exercise, you need an incline bench, positioned at 45-degree angle. Grab two dumbbells of your desired weight and place one at each side of the bench.

Now, lie down on the incline bench with your stomach against the back support. Grab the dumbbells with your palms facing towards each other. Keep a neutral grip. This will be your starting position. Make sure that your arms are extended in front of you, perpendicular to the bench and your legs remain stationary throughout.

Slightly bend your elbows, and move the dumbbells away from each other while you exhale. Keep the motion smooth and simultaneous throughout. For a tighter contraction, squeeze your shoulder blades together. Keep on elevating the arms until they are parallel to the floor. While it’s pretty hard to hold the position, try to feel the contraction and gradually lower the weights without rumbling.

Aim for at least 3 sets of 8-12 reps each. Throughout the exercise, keep the support against the floor using your feet.

Benefits of Dumbbell Reverse Fly Exercise

Improves Stability: Because most of your bodyweight is now towards your stomach and feet, you’ll naturally learn to improve your stability. It activates the core stabilizing muscles, strengthens them and as a result boosts the instability.
Improves Posture: With a proper balance of strength in between the muscles of the shoulders and back, this exercise helps to improve your posture and overall functional movement. With better body posture, you’ll be able to perform better in your workouts and your daily routine.
Prevents Injury: Because this workout also hits your rotator cuff muscles, strengthens the core muscles around these areas and ultimately helps to prevent the risk of an injury. Not to mention that the muscles around these areas are commonly injured and when strengthened, they’ll tend to absorb any such risks. You should vary this exercise time to time for better and effective results.
Development of Multiple Muscle Areas: Last but not least, dumbbell reverse flyes strengthens the posterior deltoids and work on the supraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor. These are the posterior muscles in the rotator cuff. The exercise pulls the entire shoulder blade towards each other thus resulting in multiple muscle area development.

Mistakes to Avoid

1. Using The Biceps

If you feel like there is more tension on your biceps and not on the elbows and shoulders, you need to reduce the weight in order to target the right muscle area.

2. Not Taking Enough Rest

After successfully completing three sets, your deltoids should be screaming. You must give them enough rest before starting the next workout. It helps to prevent the delayed onset muscle soreness.

3. Arching the Back

If you are performing the exercise without the incline bench, try to prevent arching your back. This may result in a severe back injury.