Reverse Machine Fly
Trains the Posterior Deltoid.
- Equipment
- A machine
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner

How to do it
- Set the machine's arms forward so you start with your hands together in front of you.
- Set the seat so the handles sit level with your shoulders.
- Sit with your chest against the pad and take a handle in each hand, palms facing each other or down.
- Set a small bend at the elbow and hold it.
- Draw both arms out and back in a wide arc until they are level with your body.
- Return under control until the hands are back in front of you.
Common mistakes
- Squeezing the shoulder blades together to move the handles. That is a row with straight arms — the rhomboids and middle trapezius do it, and the rear of the shoulder gets very little. The blades stay still while the arms travel.
- Setting the seat low so the arms travel upward and back. The path is horizontal at shoulder height; angling it upward brings the traps in.
- Going past the point where the arms are level with the body. Further back is the front of the shoulder being stretched under load, not the rear of it working.
- Loading it heavily enough to need a shrug. The rear deltoid is small and works through a long lever here, so the weight that works is much lighter than the machine's stack suggests.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Posterior DeltoidShoulders