I’m trying to develop my rear delts a lot more. I currently do 3-4 sets of bent-over lat raises on shoulder day. (i actually lie chest down on an incline bench) I also do seated rows. does anyone have any other ways to develop the rear delts? do seated rows help or hurt with developing rear delts that are definatly defined from my back? I feel it in my rear delts when I do seated rows, but I dont’ know if it’s creating the look I want or not. should I just use more volume? I keep my reps around 10-12 thanks
Ian King gave a rear delt specialization program in issue #4 of the paper mag, it’s the shit. It goes like this… 1)retracted scapula dl: dl with ecaggerated retraction of your scapula(ie. shrug while dling) 2x6 @311 tempo w/2m rest; 2) row to chest with wide grip 2x6 @311 w/2m; 3) lying lat raise: lie on a bench on your side and lower the weight in front of you, there’s a pic of this in that article “Strong and Healthy Shoulders” and few issues back, 2x10+8(strip sets) @311 w/1m(these hurt like a bitch); 4)prone row: but only move your upper arm so as not to involve your bi’s or back too much, 2x10+8(strip sets) @311 w/2m rest.
Check out that Shoulder article, I started doing the row to chest and lying lat raise and pulls(in the article), I got sore as fuck doing two sets of each.
yeah, do all your rowing work first thing in the training cycle. also… deadlift… a lot…
You can try training rear delts on back day for a couple weeks. It made a big difference for me. My shoulders were always burnt out by the time I got to rear delts that I had to use less weight and less volume. Since moving them to back day I have made way better progress. I superset bent over laterals with reverse pec-deck and do 4-5 sets. This has helped me. Find out what works for you – like trying rear delts first on shoulder day, dropsets, deadlifts, powercleans, etc.
Try doing the pec-deck backwards. Face the machine and move the weight by pushing against the pads with your elbows.
I work each head of my shoulders on different workouts. Front delts with chest, medial delts with traps and rear delts with back/lats. Pretty much a typical push/pull type of routine though. I tend to focus on entire muscle groups. Until I started doing rear delts with my back and lats I couldn’t get them to grow. Once my rear delts started to develop the rest of my back grew as well. It’s that “weakest muscle in the group holding back the entire group” thing happening here. The body has a definite sense of whether to grow or not based on the weakest muscle in any particular group. The reverse pec dec exercise is a really good one because of the continuous loading through the entire range of motion vs. the tradition bentover raise.
I usually do the reverse pec deck flyes like jim. Except only use your fingers to grip the bars. This may be awkward at first, but once you get used to it your rear delts will be able to handle a greater percentage of the work load. Make sure that you don’t squeaze your scapula together too much so your back doesn’t get involved. The Ian King article is very good, but is a specialization program. If you just want to find a new little exercise/variation, then try the reverse pec deck finger-grip flyes I prescribed above. Good luck!