Reverse Fly
Muscles worked: Rear delts.
How to do it
- Place a couple of dumbbells looking forward in front of a flat bench.
- Sit on the end of the bench with your legs together and the dumbbells behind your calves.
- Bend at the waist while keeping the back straight in order to pick up the dumbbells.
- Keeping your torso forward and stationary, and the arms slightly bent at the elbows, lift the dumbbells straight to the side until both arms are parallel to the floor.
- After a one second contraction at the top, slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
Coaching cues
The two cues IronPack shows on this exercise's card mid-workout:
- Hinge, soft elbows
- Lead with the pinkies, sweep wide
Logging it
IronPack suggests working in the 12 to 15 rep range, progressing in 1 kg jumps when you own the top of the range. Records are tracked automatically at every rep count from 1 to 12. Check your estimated 1RM from any hard set.
Related exercises
- Face Pull - rear delts
- Reverse Pec Deck - rear delts
- Band Pull-Apart - rear delts
Track the reverse fly properly
IronPack logs every set, tracks your records at every rep count, shows these form photos mid-workout, and turns the training into a card game you play with your mates.
Get IronPack free on the App StoreFree download, iPhone. Currently on the New Zealand App Store, wider rollout to follow.
Photos and steps: free-exercise-db (public domain). Cues, muscle weighting and logging guidance are IronPack's own app data. Last generated 2026-07-17.