Reverse Pec Deck

Coached by Justin

Also called: Rear Delt Machine · Reverse Fly Machine

Primary: shoulders
Equipment: machine
Mechanic: isolation
Force: pull
Category: strength

Combination (rear delt) — appears on Back and Shoulder day.

Execution

Chest on the pad — I like to lean into the pad with a slight forward lean, about 10–30° past a straight-up standing position (roughly a 60–80° angle measured from the floor), whenever the machine lets you set up that way. Slight bend in the elbows held constant, open the arms out and back. The rear delt is horizontal-pulling musculature, so it lives on back day too — the bro split's free indirect work. I did kind of a little drop set here. I'm sitting down on the seat with my palms facing each other to start, which is kind of a weaker position, at least for me. Then I go to failure there, and immediately after failure I'll stand up and lean into the pad at like a 70 or 80-degree angle with the floor, and grab with my palms down. That's a much stronger position for me, so I'm able to get almost 2 sets in one. I used to do this a lot for rear delts. I kind of got away from it. Not really sure why, but it felt good today, so I think I'll bring it back in occasionally.

The cue that matters

Full contraction, no momentum — lead with the rear delt, not the traps. Don't shrug the shoulders back; hold them forward the entire rep — that's what deepens the contraction the rear delt makes across the rep.

Common mistake

Heaving the weight with the upper back so the traps and rhomboids take it; keep it light enough that the rear delt owns the rep. From a physique standpoint, rear delts are really where it's at as far as delts. If you want to look wide, if you want to look thick, it's rear delts — everyone's got front delts. If you want that 3-dimensional look standing from the side, you want a really thick rear delt. And if you want to look really wide from the front, it's actually your rear delt that sticks out the farthest to the side, not your side delt; your side delt actually points towards the front a little bit when you're relaxed. Rear delts especially are very important, and you can get a lot of rear delt growth from rear delt isolation.

Power Bodybuilding Bro Split — Day 2 (Back) & Day 3 (Shoulders).