the reason i ask is because i saw my ART guy yesterday.
I've been doing subscapularis work (my weakest point) and scapular work since Xmas. my scapular mobility is much better.
when he ran me through all of the shoulder tests, i passed all but the rear deltoid one. (it clicked, and he pushed my arm down very easily).
he worked on it a ton, and now there's no clicking. but today, it feels like I've thrown 100 pitches. It feels exactly like how it felt after a start when my mechanics got redone about 4 years ago. Same soreness, same spot. I'm guessing because most of the stuff he did to it was on the same general lines as a throwing motion.
So, now for the question that I alluded to in the subject: Is there anything I can do specifically for my rear deltoid?
if it helps, I do face pulls, overhead shrugs, pushups, DB bench press (arms only to parallel) rows and chinups. So they are already in my repertoire.
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Muscles are often sore after doing ART on them. Though it's good trauma, breaking the adhesions it's still traumatic to the muscle and can cause some soreness - very similar to DOMS.
My favorite rear delt exercise is (what I call) rear delt flyes on a high pulley. I'll explain how to do the right side. Grasp the cable on the left set with the pulley higher than your head. Starting position will be with your right arm going up and across your body (sort of across your face) at about a 45 degree angle. Execution: making sure to use just your rear delt (hence, not allowing scapula to retract), extend the humerus (sort of "pulling" with the rear delt) such that your arm (hand) goes down and back. So you'll finish with your arm about 30-45 degrees below parallel, arm just slightly behind the plane of your torso. Note: your arm will stay staight (elbow extended) the entire time, thus keeping the triceps out of the movement.
Geez, that's hard to explain. I'll try to post a vid or it within a few days.
Dr. Clay, Is this the movement you're describing? You're calling it high cable rear delt flyes and I call it high cable PNF diagonals, but I think this is the same movement.
Wow, Lisa! I feel like a VIP. Thanks for the warm welcome!!
Yes, the exercise you posted (with the guy in yellow) is exactly it; however, I like to take the D-handle off and grab the cable (using the ball on the end as sort of a grip). This keeps the hand in pronation, which I've found to be a key to rear delt exercises. Just like the "T" depicted above, I do that with my thumbs down to isolate the rear delts. Again, I keep the scapula stable during both of these, or else it ends up hitting the mid-traps and rhomboids more than the rear delts.
Here are the YTWLs. The written descriptions Ian posted coordinate well with these pictures.
Y
T
W
L
Lisa, I think I've been doing these wrong. I gather from your posted pics that you go from left to right through each move, such that the second pic of the Y (on the right side) moves to the first pic of the T (on the left side), etc. I haven't been going back to the starting position - rather moving directly from the Y to the T. Am I understanding your pics correctly?
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Welcome Clay. Lisa's credibility has been pretty well established hereabouts, so though I'm not familiar with you or your work, if her enthusiasm is any indication, we all have something to look forward to.
Thanks for your comments about stabilizing the scaps and using a pronated grip on the "PNF diagonal" mentioned above. That's the way I've been doing them and I appreciate my assumption being confirmed.
Rob, I do all the Ys, moving up and down for all the reps, then I do all my Ts, then all the Ws, then all the Ls which have more than just up and down. The Ls move up, rotate, rotate back, then move down. Each line of pictures stands alone like it's one exercise all it's own. You just don't rest between them. I guess it'd be fine to do them in sequence though, lol.
If you move your hands from the elevated Y position around to the T then all the way behind your back like you're being handcuffed, now you're doing Dynamic Blackburns (like from I/O). It's all good. The whole idea is to move your scapulae. Each movement offers something a little bit different, but it's all about scapular mobility.
Like Dr. Clay said, if working your rear delts is your main focus (and that was Nick's original question), then you'd choose a pronated grip Y and a pronated or even thumbs down T rather than the thumbs up Y and T which changes the focus to the muscles around the scapulae.
Just be aware that if you have any impingement issues then a thumbs down position offers the least space around the acromion and might irritate the tendons there. The thumbs up position, while there's less emphasis on the rear delt, is considered a safer position for shoulder health. So your choice would depend on your desired focus and your shoulder health.
Spankdat, I've never met Dr. Clay personally, but I've learned a lot from reading Dr. Clay's articles. I have a lot of respect for him. I hope he decides to hang around a lot!
Thanks so much, Lisa. I don't know where I got the idea that you were supposed to do them sequentially. D'oh. Your explanation is really helpful.
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
Here's an interesting one I read about in a bb mag (don't pick on me!)
PullsTo The Nose. You start off directly beneath a Lat Pulldown bar (not slightly behind it liek you would be for a Pulldown.) I actually do these standing (I'm short, though!) Grab the bar at the ends, look straight up, and then pull the bar to your nose. As you pulldown, you also are isometrically pulling outward, as if you are trying to rip the bar in half. It's a little bit weird at first, but if you do them right, you will feel it mostly in your rear delts.
I'm not sure how safe these would be if you're having shoulder issues, though.
I don't do YTWLs, I do YWTLs! The T will hit your rear delts the most of these (as well as your traps/rhomboids.) You could also do them face down on a flat or low incline bench.
As others have mentioned, facepuulls, rear delt laterals, and using cables would also be good.
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I tried the cable ones today. Arm felt so much better afterwards.
ETA: the reason that it was sore was that it was nice outside finally, so I played catch. And of course, tried to throw the ball 100 mph about 20 times in a row.
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Rear deltoid exercises?
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