Are the rear delts in the back of your mind when it comes to training your shoulders?
Well, they better not be, especially if you want to have healthy shoulders for a long
time to come.
What's up guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.
We're talking about the rear delt today, and, No.This isn't about specialization and trying
to bodybuild here and focus on our really small muscles.
But it is time to focus on all of our muscles, and that's what we always do, right?
We can't overlook any part of the kinetic chain.
And in the upper body, when it comes to developing upper body power, when it comes to actually
performing, whether you be an athlete or not, the rear delt is integral.
Why?
Because it integrates with other very important muscles, especially the rotator cuff through
external rotation at the shoulder.
Now, why is that important?
Because we've always talked about external rotation, balancing out with all the internal
rotation work we get, is going to help us to
maintain healthy shoulders so that even if we want to focus on those more noticeable
muscles on the front side that do internally rotate,
you're not going to be able to do it in a healthy way if you don't pay attention to
all of our muscles.
And that's why we got to take a look at the rear delt and see exactly what it does so
we can come up with a game plan for you to do this.
Now, what are the roles of the rear delt?
There's a few.
The first thing is, believe it or not, it does GH, or glenohumeral extension.
Now that is this bone right here in the upper arm extending it back behind our body.
So, as you see, when I'm demonstrating here, this straight-arm kickback.
You're probably saying to yourself, Wait.
Hold on a second.
Kickbacks.
That's a triceps exercise, right?
It is.
But, if your arm is straight and you're bending it back behind the body, eventually, the triceps
are not at an advantage to continue to do that.
And that's where the rear delt literally kicks in and helps a lot more than the tricep, but
they do work together.
So, as you can see, this is just one of the motions, and it's just one way.
I wouldn't say this is the best way to do it, but it is a way to activate the rear delt.
Next, if we look at our board here, more roles here of the rear delt.
Number 2 Transverse Abduction.
We might as well go ahead and look at Number 3 as well, Transverse Extension.
So, what does that mean?
Well, Transverse means that we are going to be doing this type of motion and again we
are going to either abduct or extend back behind us.
What is the main difference?
With abduction we are talking about external rotation at the shoulder, or in this Glenohumeral
joint again.
With extension, we are talking about internal rotation.
So now, let's take a look at some of the exercises.
As you see, during the Face Pull, as I pull the rope back towards my face, I'm getting
that upper arm extension back behind my body, right?
We're also satisfying the first criteria that we talked about.
But as I do this extension back behind my body, I'm sure to be pointing my thumbs backward,
as I've shown you guys before.
Why?
Because it gives us some external rotation at the shoulder.
That is going to kick in the rotator cuff, allow them to work together,
and allow obviously to do the role here of the posterior delt and have that be a great
option for that exercise.
When we look at the next one, though, the Transverse Extension, look at the main difference
here.
Now, the hands are actually rotated down.
My thumbs are down and in as opposed to up and out.
Ok?
So, I can demonstrate this very easily like on a TRX.
Now, I've never broken out the TRX yet, guys, but here I am doing it for you now.
As you can, this is sort of just a reverse fly, whatever you want to talk about, for
your rear delts.
Nice little added bonus, I can really work on the eccentric here and slow myself back
down to the starting position.
So, that's a great opportunity to hit that muscle group, again, with something like the
TRX if you have access to it.
But, I know you guys don't have access to all the types of equipment.
That's why we try to give you multiple options.
In ATHLEAN XERO, our bodyweight only program, we have a great exercise called the RD IRON
CROSS, Rear Delt Iron Cross.
You can see me demonstrating that right here.
Again, arms are straight.
Because they are pronated on the ground, I have internal rotation.
As I push up, I am literally trying to push my chest and body up to the sky if I could
which is going to create more extension in through the posterior delt.
This will light you up.
If you haven't tried it already, guys, try it because it's a tough, tough exercise.
Again, keep your whole back off the ground for more weight, more resistance there in
that exercise.
Finally, I left Number 4 empty here.
Why is that?
Because, guys, as you know, with ATHLEANX, you try not to isolate movements, you try
not to isolate motions.
You try to integrate everything together at every opportunity.
So, what if there was a way that we could especially focus on these last 2?
Combine our Transverse Abduction and our Transverse Extension.
How can we take a move that starts in internal rotation and ends in external rotation?
Right?
Because if we are in internal rotation here with the abduction, basically you're going
to have more tension on the muscle because you're starting from a stretch position.
Right?
If you have to understand, guys, the posterior delt starts back in through here and then
it attaches to the back here of the upper arm.
So, if we are internally rotated, we have more stretch going on here.
So, we like to use the W Raise.
The W Raise appears in ATHLEANX1, and it's a great thing you can do with just dumbbells
where as you see me demonstrating here, I start with the dumbbells down in front of
me.
Arms internally rotated, and as I come up, arms go back behind the body, we have extension.
And we also have the external rotation of the humerus.
So, we are getting all components in one.
What's another added benefit?
You can see, I'm on my feet, right?
We always like to keep you on your feet if possible because that is where athletes train.
So, as you can see guys, hitting the rear delt, everything should have a plan, and we
should have an attack plan for everything.
And of course, here with ATHLEANX, I want to show you sort of the science behind the
strength.
Why do we move the way we move?
But more importantly, what's this stuff over here?
Because these are the solutions that sort of integrate all the science.
So, if you don't even care about this stuff, at least you know how to get it.
And that's what ATHLEANX is all about, our whole 90-day Training Program, getting you
to move the way you should.
To not only to get you looking better, but to get you feeling better, to get you stronger,
and really, to keep you in the gym for a long time, right?
This is a lifetime game.
This is not about short term goals.
We want to be able to get you into the gym and getting better and better for the rest
of your life.
Healthy shoulders, guys, a big part of that.
So, I will see you guys over at ATHLEANX.COM, if you haven't already gotten our program.
In the meantime, make sure you leave your comment down below, let me know if this was
helpful, and we'll be back here in just a couple of days with yet another video.