Seated Rear Delt Raise

How to do it

1. Sit on the end of a flat bench with a light dumbbell in each hand.
2. Lean forward until your chest is close to your thighs, letting the dumbbells hang below your knees with your palms facing each other.
3. Set a soft bend in your elbows and keep it for the whole set.
4. Raise both dumbbells out to your sides in a wide arc, leading with the elbows, until your arms are level with your shoulders.
5. Pause briefly, then lower under control back below your knees.

Common mistakes

• Sitting too upright, so the dumbbells travel forward rather than out. The forward lean is what puts the arc in the plane the rear deltoid works in.
• Turning it into a row by pulling the elbows toward the hips. The arms should travel out sideways, not back along the ribs.
• Going heavy and using the torso to swing. This is a small muscle at the end of a long lever; the weight will look trivial and that is normal.
• Rushing the lowering half. Half the available work is on the way down, and it is easy to just drop the arms when your chest is on your thighs.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Posterior DeltoidShoulders