Confused on proper form....

[marret]

Cathe, can you please help me on proper form for both rear delt flys and deadlifts. I see the rear delt fly being done many different ways that I'm not sure how to do them correctly. Some people, when they lift their arms up and out bend their elbows quite a bit, 90 degrees almost, others keep their arms straight with only a slight elbow bent, and sometimes the exercise is done with momentum during metabolic workouts. Also, when the arms are up and back are you suppose squeeze the shoulder blades together or stop just before reaching that point. Are there a variety of "correct" ways to do a rear delt???

I'm also confused on deadlifts. It seems like I only feel them in the very high hamstring, (where the hamstring meets the butt), the rest of my hamstring just comes along for the ride so to speak. Are you suppose to be feeling a deadlift in the belly of the hamstring? If so, what may I be doing wrong. My knees are always slightly bent.

Any helpful suggestions?

 

[Braille]

I'm not Cathe, but my understanding of the rear delt fly is that one should mentally think "out" rather than "back" to focus more on the delts. When one thinks "back" during the movement, it still works the delts, but it also brings the rhomboids and traps into play (more compound than isolation). I don't believe the bend or lack of bend in the elbow affects the isolation of the delts. Whatever style you're using to do the exercise, just make sure you're not "shrugging" your shoulders. Doing rear delt flies with momentum isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't really "count" as strength training. So, if they are part of a metabolic workout, I consider that workout to be cardio with a strength component. I still do my separate strength workouts, where I'm focusing on form, no momentum, etc. I also go substantially lighter on weights for most moves during a metabolic workout (than I do for strength training), because the focus isn't on strength, and I don't want to develop bad form habits due to the speed that one usually performs the moves during those types of workouts. The guy in this video explains things much better than I can regarding rear delts:

I imagine others on the site will have even more suggestions.

On the deadlifts... thanks for asking this question. I cannot, for the life of me, get anything out of a deadlift. As a result, I go really light with my weights. I'm sure that I'm not doing them right, and I don't want to strengthen the wrong muscles. I have watched video after video and read numerous descriptions, and I still don't "get it". Cathe is excellent with her form pointers, but all I get out of them is a nice hamstring stretch. So, I'm hoping someone answers your question in a way that gets through to me. Something just isn't "clicking" in my head about the deadlift. I'm missing something.

 

[firemedic]

Cathe, can you please help me on proper form for both rear delt flys and deadlifts. I see the rear delt fly being done many different ways that I'm not sure how to do them correctly. Some people, when they lift their arms up and out bend their elbows quite a bit, 90 degrees almost, others keep their arms straight with only a slight elbow bent, and sometimes the exercise is done with momentum during metabolic workouts. Also, when the arms are up and back are you suppose squeeze the shoulder blades together or stop just before reaching that point. Are there a variety of "correct" ways to do a rear delt???

I'm also confused on deadlifts. It seems like I only feel them in the very high hamstring, (where the hamstring meets the butt), the rest of my hamstring just comes along for the ride so to speak. Are you suppose to be feeling a deadlift in the belly of the hamstring? If so, what may I be doing wrong. My knees are always slightly bent.

Any helpful suggestions?

I always do mine slow no matter how Cathe is doing hers. I find that the bonus Rear Delt from XTRAIN is excellent in form. I do that one a lot because I've had issues with my shoulders in the past. I think in general, XTRAIN works the rear delt extremely well. I also like the one arm version Cathe started doing in Ramped Up Upper Body from Strong and Sweaty. I sometimes do that as an alternative. Just make sure you pick what is right for your body. Best of luck.

 

[Hazlady]

Definitely for rear delts you want to focus on outwards rather than upwards, and if you do this right you won't be able to lift your arms as high and will feel the squeeze in your delts more. Imagine you have a cord attached to each arm and the side walls of the room that are pulling your arms outwards towards the walls. You shouldn't have your arms so straight that your elbows are locked or hyperextended. I like to pause at the top. I usually do rear delts with 10lb weights, but I go lighter to 8 or even 5 lb if the workout is more metabolic and the reps are faster. Also, keep your abs engaged.

As for deadlifts I don't know what your hamstring flexibility is like but I have very tight hamstrings and I really feel these in my hamstrings, lower back, and glutes. I keep my weights lighter, 15lb dumbbells max, lighter if the reps are faster, and/or more than 12 reps. I can only go down to my knees. The things to focus on here are not rounding your shoulders, keeping your back straight, keeping your core engaged, and pushing through your heels when you come up. It is a common mistake to round your shoulders at the bottom of the move especially with heavier weight. I suggest recording yourself to make sure you are not rounding your back and shoulders as you may not even realize you're doing this. I have to really focus on not doing this. I also imagine that I have a line pulling me from the crown of my head in one direction and my tailbone in the opposite direction to keep my back straight, especially at the bottom of the move. I keep my knees slightly bent. At the bottom of my deadlift I am in a more diagonal position rather than parallel to the ground due to my tight hamstrings. I can't go lower than my knees without rounding my back and shoulders. Then I push through my heels to come up which engages my glutes. The whole time I am keeping my abs tight. If I don't engage my abs properly I get a sore lower back.

Hope this helps.

 

[marret]

Your comments are much appreciated! I will try to keep them all in mind while I work with my form. Thanks for the input.

 

[marret]

I'm not Cathe, but my understanding of the rear delt fly is that one should mentally think "out" rather than "back" to focus more on the delts. When one thinks "back" during the movement, it still works the delts, but it also brings the rhomboids and traps into play (more compound than isolation). I don't believe the bend or lack of bend in the elbow affects the isolation of the delts. Whatever style you're using to do the exercise, just make sure you're not "shrugging" your shoulders. Doing rear delt flies with momentum isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't really "count" as strength training. So, if they are part of a metabolic workout, I consider that workout to be cardio with a strength component. I still do my separate strength workouts, where I'm focusing on form, no momentum, etc. I also go substantially lighter on weights for most moves during a metabolic workout (than I do for strength training), because the focus isn't on strength, and I don't want to develop bad form habits due to the speed that one usually performs the moves during those types of workouts. The guy in this video explains things much better than I can regarding rear delts:

I imagine others on the site will have even more suggestions.

On the deadlifts... thanks for asking this question. I cannot, for the life of me, get anything out of a deadlift. As a result, I go really light with my weights. I'm sure that I'm not doing them right, and I don't want to strengthen the wrong muscles. I have watched video after video and read numerous descriptions, and I still don't "get it". Cathe is excellent with her form pointers, but all I get out of them is a nice hamstring stretch. So, I'm hoping someone answers your question in a way that gets through to me. Something just isn't "clicking" in my head about the deadlift. I'm missing something.

Thanks for your helpful

I'm not Cathe, but my understanding of the rear delt fly is that one should mentally think "out" rather than "back" to focus more on the delts. When one thinks "back" during the movement, it still works the delts, but it also brings the rhomboids and traps into play (more compound than isolation). I don't believe the bend or lack of bend in the elbow affects the isolation of the delts. Whatever style you're using to do the exercise, just make sure you're not "shrugging" your shoulders. Doing rear delt flies with momentum isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't really "count" as strength training. So, if they are part of a metabolic workout, I consider that workout to be cardio with a strength component. I still do my separate strength workouts, where I'm focusing on form, no momentum, etc. I also go substantially lighter on weights for most moves during a metabolic workout (than I do for strength training), because the focus isn't on strength, and I don't want to develop bad form habits due to the speed that one usually performs the moves during those types of workouts. The guy in this video explains things much better than I can regarding rear delts:

I imagine others on the site will have even more suggestions.

On the deadlifts... thanks for asking this question. I cannot, for the life of me, get anything out of a deadlift. As a result, I go really light with my weights. I'm sure that I'm not doing them right, and I don't want to strengthen the wrong muscles. I have watched video after video and read numerous descriptions, and I still don't "get it". Cathe is excellent with her form pointers, but all I get out of them is a nice hamstring stretch. So, I'm hoping someone answers your question in a way that gets through to me. Something just isn't "clicking" in my head about the deadlift. I'm missing something.

Thanks for your input. Helpful. The video is really good as well.