How to Do the Rear Delt Row: Benefits, Form, & Alternatives

An upper-body workout known as the rear delt row focuses primarily on strengthening your upper back and shoulder muscles.

It specifically works your rear delts, a small group of muscles on the back of your shoulders that are underdeveloped in many upper-body workouts.

Correct Form to Do the Rear Delt Row

The rear delt row is known by many different names, such as the barbell rear delt row, standing rear delt row, and bent-over rear delt row.

Breaking the exercise up into its three components—setup, row, and descent—will help you learn the proper rear delt row form.

Here’s how to do it:

• Place a loaded barbell in front of you on the floor, squat, and grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Your feet should be roughly shoulder-width apart, your back should be flat to the ground, and your arms should be hanging straight down.
• Maintaining a straight spine and a back parallel to the floor, pull the bar straight up until it meets your mid-chest.
• Give your elbows a 60-degree angle with respect to your torso.
• Reverse the motion, then take up your initial posture.

Benefits of Rear Delt Row

Your front and side delts should have no issue getting bigger and stronger if you stick to a strength training program that is at least moderately effective and includes lots of pushing exercises.

However, the back delts are frequently ignored, so if you want them to expand, it's important to train them with additional workouts.

The rear delt row is an excellent exercise for ensuring that your shoulders grow proportionately since it efficiently trains the rear delts (thus the name).

However, developing your back delts is essential for shoulder stability and health as well as for aesthetic reasons.

The rear delt row is a great exercise for strengthening the rear delts, which makes it perfect for correcting this imbalance and developing strong, stable shoulders.

Alternatives of Rear Delt Row

Although rear delt rows are a very effective workout for the posterior shoulder and upper back, you don't necessarily need to perform them every day. To make your workouts more effective and fascinating, you can employ a variety of variants and substitutes:

1) Wide grip seated cable row

Wide-grip sitting cable rows are simpler to perform than dumbbell rear-delt rows because they are done in a comfier seated position.

Here’s how to do it:

• To a low cable rowing machine, attach a long, straight bar. Grasp the bar with a broad, overhand grip while seated at the machine.
• Sit up straight, bring your shoulders back and down, and engage your core while maintaining a tiny bend in your knees.
• Pull the bar's center into your chest at or above sternum height by bending your arms without utilizing your legs or slouching back.
• Keep your elbows raised, tuck your shoulders, and hold the pose for a few seconds.
• Repeat while extending your arms.

2) Wide grip bent-over row

One may say that bent-over rows are a traditional bodybuilding workout. They are viewed as being overly traditional by some trainers. Bent-over rows are still a fantastic back builder, even if they are a less popular exercise.

Here’s how to do it:

• Use an overhand grip that is wider than shoulder width to hold the barbell. Brace your core, lower your shoulders, and slightly flex your knees.
• When your upper body is virtually parallel to the floor, lean forward from the hips. Allow your arms to hang freely from your shoulders.
• Curl your arms and row the bar up and into your chest without moving your legs or back. Keep your elbows in line with your shoulders while pulling your shoulders back.
• Repeat by spreading your arms out.

3) Face pulls

Face pulls are also known as standing cable rear delt rows. This variation works the required muscle groups using a cable gym machine, as the name implies.

Here’s how to do it:

• The cable machine should be adjusted with the proper weights and a rope attached so that it is at or just above shoulder height.
• Step away from the machine after grabbing the rope by both ends with your hands.
• Draw the rope towards your chest, allow it to slowly return to its original position, and then pull it once more.

Conclusion

The rear delt row is among the best of the many rear deltoid workouts available. You can do it when working out your shoulders or when working out your back.

Regardless of when you perform this exercise, it should be a part of your workout regimen because it will assist strengthen and improve your undeveloped, underutilized posterior deltoids.