Dumbbell Seated Rear Delt Fly

What you'll gain

• Builds the rear shoulders for visible 3D shoulder shape.

• Balances out heavy pressing volume in any push program.

• Improves posture by strengthening the upper-back stabilizers.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Sit on the edge of a bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your feet planted shoulder-width apart.

2. 2

   Hinge forward from the hips until your chest is close to your thighs and your arms hang straight down.

3. 3

   Keep a small bend in the elbows and palms facing each other, with the dumbbells underneath your shoulders.

4. 4

   Raise both dumbbells out to the sides in a wide arc until your upper arms are parallel to the floor.

5. 5

   Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top and feel the rear shoulders working.

6. 6

   Lower the dumbbells under control along the same arc and reset before the next rep.

Common Mistakes

• Using too much weight and swinging the torso, which turns the lift into a row instead of a fly.

• Bending the elbows and pulling instead of keeping a fixed angle and lifting from the rear shoulders.

• Shrugging the shoulders up at the top, which transfers the work to the upper traps.

• Sitting upright instead of hinging forward, which lets gravity bypass the rear shoulders entirely.

About This Exercise

The dumbbell seated rear delt fly trains one of the most neglected muscle groups in lifting — the back of the shoulders. Sitting on the edge of a bench and bending forward isolates the rear shoulders by removing momentum and lower-back drive, leaving a clean fly motion that builds the rear-delt detail that balances out heavy pressing work. For app and program builders, this is a must-include in any postural-correction track and a steady accessory in shoulder or pull-day flows. It's the small, repeatable lift that coaches prescribe to desk workers and lifters with overdeveloped front shoulders, so it earns a spot in the library next to face pulls and band pull-aparts.

Looking for an exercise animation collection for your app, coaching platform, or content workflow? MoveKit gives you consistent quality across every movement so your product feels cohesive from first launch through scale.

Build faster with related MoveKit resources