Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly
The dumbbell rear delt fly is a fly done lying face down on an incline bench, with arms sweeping wide and minimal shoulder blade squeeze. It isolates the rear delts. The chest support and quiet shoulder blades keep your traps out of it, making it stricter than the standing reverse fly.
Muscles worked
The dumbbell rear delt fly trains the shoulders.
Primary
Weekly sets for shoulders
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for shoulders, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the dumbbell rear delt fly
- 01Set a bench to a low incline and lie face down, with light dumbbells hanging below your shoulders.
- 02Turn your palms to face behind you or each other and keep a slight bend in your elbows.
- 03Sweep your arms out and back in a wide arc, leading with your pinkies.
- 04Stop when your arms reach the line of your torso, keeping your shoulder blades mostly still.
- 05Lower slowly to the start and repeat without letting the dumbbells rest.
Coaching cues
- Pinkies lead the way
- Arms wide, shoulder blades quiet
- Light weight, slow tempo
Common mistakes
- Pinching the shoulder blades together turns it into a back exercise, so move only at the shoulder joint.
- Bending the elbows more as you tire makes it a row, so keep the elbow angle constant.
- Choosing dumbbells too heavy kills the range, so go light enough to reach torso level each rep.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your dumbbell rear delt fly free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.