This exercise setup is laser-targets the rear delts with multliple forms of resistance to maximize tension.
To do this one, you'll need a band (small/medium is good), a couple of dumbbells and a small weight plate or kettlebell...and a bench to stand on so that the plate doesn't hit the ground.
You'll be doing dumbbell bent-over laterals with the band looped around the dumbbell handles and a plate hanging down from the center of the band.
The band gives you lateral resistance on the exercise as you stretch the band out, while the plate hanging down gives the band something to "stretch against," so to speak, because it's pulling downwards on the band. This stretch is in addition to the added resistance of the plate itself as it gets leveraged up.
I'm using 10 lbs dumbbells and a 5 lb plate here. The band is from Vector Athletics (use code FITPOWER20 to get 20% off).
Grab the dumbbbells, stand on the bench then bend over at the waist (knees bent is fine).
Now do a rear delt lateral raise, bringing the dumbbells up and back. This stretches the band and raises the barbell plate.
Bring the dumbbells up until your upper arms are horizontal... no need to go higher as that brings in other muscles. The weight plate will be right up at your chest.
Now, it IS true that this makes the exercise harder as you come to the top... but the benefit of this setup is you start getting tension on the rear delts SOONER in the exercise so that you can get more out of it. The contraction at the top is very strong.
There are exercises (like cable rear delt laterals) that will give you more stretch at the bottom. This one targets directional resistance and, I find, really digs into the rear delts nicely. Also, not everybody has cables if they train at home.
It's definitely worth messing around with if rear delts are a tough one for you. This one works GREAT for me for rear delts.
When you watch the video, you'll notice I have a bit of body movement on some of the reps.
Having the plate on a bouncy band allows you to use a little body movement to self spot and get the weight up a little higher for a stronger contraction, especially as you fatigue. Start as strict as you can, then you can move to a bit more body movement to push the rear delts harder.
Set the bands on the FRONT part of the dumbbell handles. The posterior delts also perform external rotation of the arm (like going from a thumbs down to a thumbs up).
This setup will give you a bit of resistance in THAT function as well because the plate weight will be pulling down to tip the dumbbells forward, and your rear delts will have to act to resist that.
It's subtle, but it means we really hit everything the rear delts do.
Here's the Lateral Raise version of the exercise for targeting the side delts.
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