Rear delts exercise
Reverse Pec DeckHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Rear delts
- Also works
- Upper back
- Equipment
- Machine
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Reverse Pec Deck?
- Set the seat so the handles are level with your shoulders.
- Sit facing the pad, chest against it, and hold the handles with straight arms.
- Keep a slight bend in your elbows and sweep your arms out and back.
- Stop when your arms are in line with your shoulders and pause.
- Return slowly without letting the weights touch down.
Cues
- Chest stays on the pad.
- Arms wide, at shoulder height.
- Shoulders down, elbows soft.
Common mistakes
- Leaning back off the pad: lighten the weight and keep your chest pressed in.
- Shrugging: set your shoulders down before each rep.
- Bending your elbows to pull: keep the slight bend fixed so your rear shoulders do the work.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Machine in rear-delt mode: arms set to the front-most position, seat facing the chest pad. Seat height set so the handles are level with the shoulders when the arms are straight out in front (arms parallel to the floor); the machine pivots sit directly above the shoulder joints. Sit tall with the chest and stomach against the pad, feet flat, knees about 90°. Neutral grip on the vertical handles (palms facing each other), thumbs wrapped, wrists straight. Shoulders set down, gaze ahead.
The movement
Each hand travels a flat arc at shoulder height around the shoulder joint. Only the arms move. The chest stays on the pad, the trunk and head stay still, the elbows stay at the same bend.
End position
Arms swept out and back until they are in line with the shoulders, forming a T seen from the front (up to 10° behind the shoulder line is fine). Arms still level with the shoulders, elbow bend unchanged, palms facing forward. Shoulder blades drawn together lightly. Pause 0.5 s.
Tempo
Open 1.5 s / pause 0.5 s / return 2 s, stopping just before the stack touches down.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand height | shoulder height | ±5 cm through the rep | |
| Trunk angle from vertical | 0° | 0–10° forward, no change in the rep | |
| Elbow flexion (fixed) | 15° | 10–20° | |
| Arms behind the shoulder line at the end (top view) | 0° | 0–10° | |
| Hand gap at the start | 25 cm | 20–30 cm |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Reverse Pec Deck is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
