Lying Dumbbell Rear Delt Raise

How to do it

1. Lie face down on a flat bench, or on an incline bench set low, with a dumbbell in each hand hanging below you.
2. Let your arms hang straight down with the palms facing each other.
3. Set a small bend at the elbow and hold it.
4. Raise both arms out to the sides until they are level with your body.
5. Lead with the elbows rather than the hands, and keep them travelling outward rather than backward.
6. Lower under control until the arms hang straight again.

Common mistakes

• Squeezing the shoulder blades together to lift the weight. That is a row done with straight arms — the rhomboids and middle trapezius do it, and the rear of the shoulder gets very little. The shoulder blades stay still while the arms travel.
• Pulling the elbows back toward the hips. Back is a row; out to the side is a raise.
• Going heavy enough to need a swing. Lying face down removes every way of cheating except swinging, which is exactly why the position is worth using and why the weight has to be small.
• Lifting the chest off the bench at the top. The bench is what fixes the torso; coming off it lets the back extend and hides how far the arms actually travelled.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Posterior DeltoidShoulders