Rear delt rows AND reverse flies for lagging rear delts?

[ItalynStalyn]

So I did a search and it seems like most people recommend rear delt rows or reverse flies to target the rear delt.

My rear delts are significantly lagging behind my front and side delts...to the point i looked pulled forward. So my question is would it be okay to do rear delt rows AND reverse flies...or would that be over-training them considering how small of a muscle they are?

My shoulder routine is:
Seated DB shoulder press
Standing DB lateral raises
Rear delt rows
Bent over reverse DB flies
DB shrugs

Question #2...
In doing a search I found that most are doing rear delt rows bent over (back parallel to floor) and bring the DB/BB up to neck level. Has anyone tried doing standing BB rows, w/ back bent at around 45 degree angle or less, with an underhand grip, bringing the bar up to chest level? I tried this yesterday and felt it worked my rear delts more and traps less when compared to regular rear delt rows. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance guys

-Pat

[SuicideGripMe]

To be honest, I do very low volume for rear delts. I usually do only 2-3 sets for them, sometimes twice a week. I usually do rear delt flyes, band pull aparts, or face pulls. Personally, I dont see a reason to hit them with a lot of volume. Just perform the motion super controlled and with clean form.

[ZoranM]

Just perform the motion super controlled and with clean form.

Exactly. Good form on these is vital. Knowing when to stop, so the back muscles don't take over.

OP, you can target them with as many exercises as you like, but i really don't think there's need for that.

Rear delt raises or face pulls seem to do great job for most people. Find which of these you prefer, make it your staple. Or alternate, your choice. IMO, one direct rear delt exercise preformed in the right fashion per delt session is quite enough to get the job done. Great job that is.

[Tyrbolift]

Exactly. Good form on these is vital. Knowing when to stop, so the back muscles don't take over.

OP, you can target them with as many exercises as you like, but i really don't think there's need for that.

Rear delt raises or face pulls seem to do great job for most people. Find which of these you prefer, make it your staple. Or alternate, your choice. IMO, one direct rear delt exercise preformed in the right fashion per delt session is quite enough to get the job done. Great job that is.

Z, I almost always agree with you, but imo, if lagging bad enough, I'd say sure. maybe do 3 or 4 sets of lying rd rows, and then lighten the weight and do 3 more of flyes, just sitting on the edge of the bench and leaning forward.

[ZoranM]

Z, I almost always agree with you, but imo, if lagging bad enough, I'd say sure. maybe do 3 or 4 sets of lying rd rows, and then lighten the weight and do 3 more of flyes, just sitting on the edge of the bench and leaning forward.

Yeah, Tyrbo, i can't disagree with you on this. And since we're talking about it now, to answer the OPs question - forget the 'overtraining' them.

When i was much younger, i watched Dorian do the 'shrug-like' move for rear delts. I did them religiously, and they did nothing for me. Then i learned the rear delt raises, bent over, seated or standing, and post. delt exploded.

Taking all things into consideration-good form, other exercises that hit the posterior delt, i never needed more then 1 exercise per delt day. 2, 6 or 8 sets is a different matter, but still somewhat related. So the 'IMO' in my post should probably have been 'IME'.

So,as some sort of summation, i still think that great results can be achieved with one per session no matter how big the lag, but more-cant hurt to try, or just can't hurt. I didn't, and i never would completely discard that road/possibility.

Last time I trained post. delt : seated DB raise/face pull, 4 sets.

[DiabeticLifter]

i think you can do however many exercises you want if you are lagging. when mine were having this same problem i switched from dumbell overhead press to barbell behind the head as it seemed that the further i got into the set the more it would turn into incline press.

[R389]

I like to lay on a bench and perform db flies to isolate the rear delt. When I stopped using too heavy a weight and started using a weight I could comfortably hold for a 2 count extended is when mine started growing. Although I know that I can atribute most of my shoulder growth to standing bb press in front of and behind the head.

[MrSinister]

try single arm bent over lateral raises too, i say single because i find with the normal double u tend to do a mini good morning and cheat, everyone does it dont lie of course you use a lot of back when straining too hard on these too.
With single and one arm on for support on a bench, u get some great isolation..
unless u study to the nth degree its hard to know what works best as far as TUT e.t.c, so i prefer to do both.. mix up between a real heavy weight and some momentum and then other times do a lighter weight, hold the rep at the top for a second and control it down.

[Tyciol]

So I did a search and it seems like most people recommend rear delt rows or reverse flies to target the rear delt. My rear delts are significantly lagging behind my front and side delts...to the point i looked pulled forward. So my question is would it be okay to do rear delt rows AND reverse flies

There are enough people out there combining DB flies with bench press for this to seem acceptable to balance it out.

would that be over-training them considering how small of a muscle they are?

My shoulder routine is:
Seated DB shoulder press
Standing DB lateral raises
Rear delt rows
Bent over reverse DB flies
DB shrugs

Since you're probably also doing some kind of chest press, having 2 rear delt moves doesn't seem bad.

In doing a search I found that most are doing rear delt rows bent over (back parallel to floor) and bring the DB/BB up to neck level. Has anyone tried doing standing BB rows, w/ back bent at around 45 degree angle or less, with an underhand grip, bringing the bar up to chest level? I tried this yesterday and felt it worked my rear delts more and traps less when compared to regular rear delt rows.

Both ways should hit it. I'm not sure how much variation there'd be based on anatomical differences. People do rear delt moves both on flat benches and with chest on incline benches.

The traps should be able to cheat the movement either way. Whether we're shrugging upward or backward. If you have less of a tendency to cheat when doing it at halfway in between, maybe it's because we're not used to shrugging diagonally with a combination of retraction/elevation or something like that?

Thoughts? Thanks in advance guys -Pat

You are a Rocky Joe, Pat.

i learned the rear delt raises, bent over, seated or standing, and post. delt exploded.

Pics?

i think you can do however many exercises you want if you are lagging. when mine were having this same problem i switched from dumbell overhead press to barbell behind the head as it seemed that the further i got into the set the more it would turn into incline press.

I thought overhead presses were anterior deltoid movements, and that the extra external rotation required to bring the bar behind the neck shifted the work even further onto the front delts and less off the lateral ones.

I read a good article on T-nation at one point where the guy theorized that people feeling rear delts during behind the neck presses did so because they had tight internal rotators (chest/lats/front delt) and so the rear delts, infraspinatus and teres minor were not so much lifting the weight as fighting their antagonists to keep from throwing the bar forward.

External rotators only lift the weight with overhead pressing if the wrists drop inside/in front of the elbow, not behind/outside.