Reverse Pec Deck
rear deltoid
What moves the load, and what it costs
3.5MET
Rear deltoid is the prime mover, with the upper back, trapezius assisting. The most controlled rear deltoid exercise available and the easiest to take to failure without cheating.
Cue: Set the handles at shoulder height and press the chest into the pad so the torso cannot swing.
ಮೂಲ.2024 ವಯಸ್ಕರ ದೈಹಿಕ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳ ಸಂಗ್ರಹ.FILED UNDER WEIGHTS, 8–15 REPS.ಪರಿಶೀಲನೆ ಜುಲೈ 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files reverse pec deck under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 3.5, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so reverse pec deck is filed under Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance.
- Take the category's MET value — 3.5. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 3.5 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Reverse Pec Deck: 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal/min
ಮೂಲ.ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities.REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG.ಪರಿಶೀಲನೆ ಜುಲೈ 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| Rear deltoidPosterior deltoid | Prime mover | Draws the upper arm backwards and out (shoulder horizontal abduction and extension). Works with the rhomboids and mid traps on every wide-elbow row. |
| Upper backRhomboids and middle trapezius | ಸಹಾಯಕ / ಸ್ಥಿರಕಾರಿ | Draws the shoulder blades together and towards the spine (scapular retraction). Every horizontal row loads it; every pulldown loads it less. |
| TrapeziusTrapezius (upper, middle, lower) | ಸಹಾಯಕ / ಸ್ಥಿರಕಾರಿ | The upper fibres elevate the shoulder blade, the middle fibres retract it and the lower fibres depress and upwardly rotate it. All three matter for a healthy overhead position. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Machine. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
PATTERN · ISOLATION
- Set the seat so the handles are at shoulder height and your chest is firm against the pad.
- Let the handles hang below the shoulders with a small fixed bend in the elbows.
- Set the handles at shoulder height and press the chest into the pad so the torso cannot swing.
- Open the arms out and back in a wide arc, leading with the elbows.
- Stop when the upper arms reach shoulder level, hold for a beat, then lower under control.
- Think about moving the arms, not squeezing the shoulder blades together — the blades will follow, but leading with them turns this into a row.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Going too heavy and turning it into a row.
If the elbows bend and the blades crunch together, the rear delt has handed the job to the mid-back. This is a light exercise.
Swinging up with the torso.
Fix the torso against a bench if you cannot keep it still.
Skipping it entirely.
The rear deltoid gets nothing from pressing and very little from tucked-elbow rows. It needs its own work.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Nothing on this site regresses it further: this is already near the entry point of its pattern. Take load off, shorten the range, or slow the tempo — in that order.
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a single-joint movement does its best work in moderate to high reps — very low reps load the joint before the muscle.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | ವಿಶ್ರಾಂತಿ | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–4 | 6–10 | 2 ನಿಮಿ | Single-joint work responds poorly to very low reps — the joint gets the load before the muscle does. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 10–15 | 60–90 sec | This is where isolation work earns its place: cheap volume for one muscle, little systemic fatigue. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–3 | 15–25 | 30–45 sec | High reps here are genuinely useful — the load is small enough that form survives the fatigue. |
| First month | 2 | 12–15 | 60 sec | Light. Isolation work is for adding volume later, not for building a base. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance — 3.5 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 3.5 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
ಮೂಲ.2024 ವಯಸ್ಕರ ದೈಹಿಕ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳ ಸಂಗ್ರಹ.CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT.ಪರಿಶೀಲನೆ ಜುಲೈ 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the reverse pec deck work?
Reverse Pec Deck is a single-joint isolation movement in which the rear deltoid is the prime mover, assisted by the upper back, trapezius. Draws the upper arm backwards and out (shoulder horizontal abduction and extension). Works with the rhomboids and mid traps on every wide-elbow row.
Is the reverse pec deck good for beginners?
Yes. It rates 1 out of 5 for technical difficulty on this site — learnable in a single session with no coaching. Start with the lightest sensible load and two or three sets of 12–15.
What can I do instead of the reverse pec deck at home?
The dumbbell rear delt fly is the nearest home-friendly version. Where a bodyweight substitute does not exist, progress by slowing the tempo and using single-limb versions instead of adding load.
How many sets and reps of the reverse pec deck should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 10–15 with 60–90 sec rest. For strength, 3–4 sets of 6–10 with 2 min rest. In your first month, 2 sets of 12–15, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the reverse pec deck burn fat from the rear deltoid?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the rear deltoid builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the ಮೂಲಗಳು page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
ಮೂಲ.ಪ್ರಕಟಿತ ವ್ಯಾಯಾಮ ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಗಳು.MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION.ಪರಿಶೀಲನೆ ಜುಲೈ 2026
The people behind these sites
Follow the build
This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
Instagram
Geeta Patel
@geetapatelnz
Instagram
Geeta Patel
GeetaPatelYoga
Facebook
Following changes nothing here — every page stays open, with no account and no wall.
