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Tonal Coach Ackeem performing a Cable Face Pull to exercise his Rear Dealts

Rear Delt Exercises: Tone Your Shoulders With 3 Exercises

Explore 3 of the best, most effective rear delt exercises. Training your delts can support posture, movement range, and help tone your entire shoulders.

The rear delts (i.e. the posterior delts) are a key piece of the deltoid muscle sitting along the back of your shoulders.

While relatively small compared to others muscles in your upper body, you're probably an (unknowing) fan: Rear delts help you do everything from pulling and reaching to stabilizing your upper back and supporting good standing and seated posture.

"We’ll often focus on a pressing movement like the bench press and forget the importance of support from the rear delts," explains Tonal Strength Coach Joe Rodonis.

Many people overlook the rear delts because they’re generally not super visible, but strong rear delts support smoother shoulder mechanics, more balanced upper-body development, and better control during pulling and rowing patterns. Not exactly things to neglect!

Below, we've selected three targeted but accessible rear delt exercises: the bent over row (using barbells or dumbbells), cable machine face pulls, and the classic rear delt fly exercise. We'll review clean, safe form for each to help ensure the focus stays on working the rear delts rather than larger surrounding muscles.

And we'll drop suggestions around what equipment can be used for each move (including Tonal system versions), or if bodyweight alone can properly work your rear delts.

Contents
  1. Rear Delt Exercises : Step by Step
  2. Rear Delt Exercises : reps & intervals
    1. Average Duration of
    2. Estimated Calories Burned
    3. Recommended Number of exercises Per Week
    4. Warmup & Cool Down Exercises
    3.
  3. Muscle Groups Targeted
  4. Equipment Used for Rear Delt Exercises
  5. Coaching Tips & Best Practices
  6. Who This Exercise is Best For
  7. Answers to FAQs about Rear Delt Exercises
  8. Concluding words on Rear Delt Exercises

Rear Delt Exercises : Step by Step

Bent-Over Row (Dumbbells or Barbell)

  1. Stand with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent.
  2. Hinge forward, pushing back your hips until your torso is titled at least 30-45 degrees.
  3. Keep a long, straight spine. Grip your dumbbells or barbell with palms facing in (dumbbells) or down (barbell). Let the weight hang down beneath your shoulders.
  4. Begin pulling your elbows up and out in a controlled but strong drive. Cue tip: Imagine creating a 90-degree angle with your arms at the top of the movement — that's proper bent-over row form for this muscle focus. Doing so helps the row better target those rear delts vs. upper traps.
  5. Pause briefly at the top of the motion. Ensure your shoulder blades feel gently pulled together.
  6. Lower the weights back to start with control, maintaining tension.

Cable Machine Face Pull

  1. Attach a rope handle and set the cable machine's to forehead-height or just slightly above.
  2. Take 1 regular-sized step back, creating steady tension in the cable while still maintaining a tall, neutral stance. Do not shrug your shoulders. Lightly clench your glutes and core.
  3. Grip the rope overhand, i.e. your thumbs facing you.
  4. Begin pulling the rope toward your face. As the rope pulls, your hands should separate and your elbows should start significantly flaring outward yet staying level (no vertical elbow movement)

    Coach Rodonis Tip: "Imagine you're putting on a pair of sunglasses, tracking the rope towards your nose for a higher pull." Your elbows should try to stay up and level with your shoulders, forearms angled toward your head.
  5. Keep your neck relaxed. Think elbows lead, wrists follow.
  6. Pause for 1-2 seconds at the top point of the motion. Here, your shoulder blades are most tightly pulling together without arching your back.
  7. Return the cable slowly to the starting position.

Rear Delt Fly (Dumbbells or Cables)

  1. Stand tall with a slight bend in your knees.
  2. Hinging forward while pushing your hips slightly back. Aim to create a 20-45 degree angle with your upper and lower body while keeping your spine long and neutral.
  3. Grip the dumbbells or cable handles with a soft bend in your elbows.

    Tip: You can play around with either a neutral grip (palms inward facing each other), overhand pronated grip (palms facing down), or an underhand supinated grip (palms facing you, like during a chin up). Choose whichever feels most comfortable and best with your equipment type.
  4. Begin pushing arms outward and slightly back in a smooth arc. Pause and hold for 1-2 seconds once you reach torso-level.
  5. Feel the movement drive from the back of the shoulder and shoulder blades, not your traps.
  6. Return the weights back to the starting position slowly, maintaining posture cues like a straight spine and slightly bent knees. Keep your gaze slightly ahead of your feet for a neutral neck.

Rear Delt Exercises : reps & intervals

Rear delt work responds well to slow, controlled movement. These ranges serve as accessible starting points.

  • Muscle growth: 6-20 reps
  • Strength endurance: 8-12 reps
  • Max strength: 4-8 reps
  • Beginner intervals: 2-3 workout sets
  • Intermediate intervals: 3-4 workout sets

Average Duration of Rear Delt Exercises

Keep a calm, even tempo during rear delt exercises. That controlled speed is essential to helping work that specific muscle rather than pulling in complementary help from other, larger ones across the upper back.

  • One rear delt exercise rep: ~3-4 seconds
  • One rear delt exercise set: ~30-45 seconds

Estimated Calories Burned

Calories burned during rear delt exercises will depend. Your tempo, load, hinge angle shift, and body size — plus the actual combo of exercises performed — all influence total energy exertion.

Here, we've calculated these estimates according to an average adult in each weight range performing 3 sets of their chosen rear delt move, 10-12 reps each.

  • Women (140-180 lbs): ~10-20 calories
  • Men (170-210 lbs): ~15-25 calories
  • Adults 225+ lbs: ~20-30 calories

Recommended Number of exercises Per Week

Most people train rear delt exercises 1-2x/week, especially as part of upper-back or pulling-focused days.

Mix and match according to your goals. What works for someone else when developing their delts may not be the perfect set of reps, sets, or even workout split types for you, and that's okay.


Warmup & Cool Down Exercises

Warm-Up (choose 1-3):

  • Resistance band pull-aparts (30 sec)
  • Light rowing motions or rowing machine warmup (60-120 sec)
  • External rotation band work (30-60 sec)

Cool-Down (also choose 1-3, done at the end of your full workout)

  • Cross-body shoulder stretch (30 sec each side)
  • Triceps stretch (30 sec each side)
  • Gentle neck circles (30-60 sec)

Muscle Groups Targeted

As the name suggests, this guide offers resistance-based exercises to help develop the rear delts. All three of these exercises are designed to do just that.

You should also feel parts of your upper back and shoulder blades active during certain portions of these movements, as well as some stabilizers located around your spine.

As Coach Rodonis explains, properly targeting the rear delts often comes down to simple cues, like grip choice.

"Standard grips are usually in a neutral position to support big lifts such as the bench press, a seated row or bent-over row. To target the rear delts we need to change grip to a wide grip or overhand, and the arm slot changes to a higher pull. So they have to be intentionally targeted."

Because the rear delts are smaller and can be easily overshadowed by more dominant muscles, movements like reverse flies, bent-over rows, and cable face pulls help you isolate and feel them more clearly. Training this area supports shoulder comfort and balance — particularly if your regular workout routine includes a lot of pressing.

Equipment Used for Rear Delt Exercises

To perform these rear delt exercises, you'll need:

  • Dumbbells or barbell (for bent-over rows)
  • Cable machine and rope/D-handle attachments
  • Optional bench for chest-supported flies

Optional:

Coaching Tips & Best Practices

Q: What actionable cues can help people actually feel their rear delts working? "Staying too low on your pull or engaging in a neutral grip will hit the traps and lats. To hit the rear delt we need to change the arm angle and let the elbows flare out wide."
Tonal Coach Joe Rodonis

Who This Workout is Most Effective For
  • Lifters whose training veers more heavily into press-based movements, needing rear delt support to balance shoulder mechanics and avoid overtraining front shoulder muscles.
  • Desk workers and professionals who notice their shoulders stay rounded or scrunched during long work hours.
  • Beginners who struggle to “feel” their back during row variations and would benefit from targeted rear delt patterns that teach clearer mind-muscle connection.
  • Recreational athletes like climbers, swimmers, or rec league sports participants who rely on comfortable but repeatable arm motions to safely play.
  • Anyone who uses strength training to improve day-to-day lifting and carrying tasks, like hoisting a toddler, moving boxes, or pulling open heavy doors, where the rear delts quietly help stabilize the upper back.

Answers to FAQs about Rear Delt Exercises

Generally, you'll want practice similar mindfulness with rear delt exercises like you would training other muscles. That means tips like:

  • Starting light (in reps and set numbers, load amount, etc.)
  • Focusing on posture and proper form for your body.
  • Keeping your neck relaxed and avoiding shrugging into your traps.
  • Slowing down the tempo as needing to better allow rear delt activation and minimize relying on pure momentum.

They can contribute to posture improvements, but that's not always a direct result of performing these exercises.

Stronger rear delts do help support the upper back and can counterbalance front-heavy movements. Overall, "better" posture involves many muscles, but rear delt work may improve things like your shoulder awareness, especially helping you spot how much you tense, hunch, or round your shoulders during the day.

Some lifters say rear delts felt trickier to make progress on because they’re smaller in size and often overshadowed by larger back muscles kicking into gear during exercise. That's not the case for everyone, though.

Tonal coaches recommend focusing on form, as well as maintaining relatively consistent moderate-load work and intentional volume across your workouts, all part of seeing positive physical changes outside of just weight.

They’re the same movement with two common names. Both describe the arm-opening motion that targets the rear delts in a forward hinge or in a chest-supported position.

For more details and differences, check out our exercise tutorial breaking down reverse cable flies.

Concluding words on Rear Delt Exercises

Rear delt training doesn't have to be so overlooked. With bent-over rows, cable face pulls, and rear delt flies, you have options to strengthen and support shoulder movements from the back, not just the front. Each of these 3 moves teaches a different piece of that coordination puzzle.

If you enjoy building strength and supporting your posture through clear, thoughtful technique, Tonal’s full resource library of exercise guides offers many more options. Continue with shoulder and back tutorials, or add other dedicated upper-body movements into the mix.

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