Dana Linn Bailey Reveals Rear-Delt Workout Hack for a Shapely Upper Back

The first-ever Olympia Women’s Physique champion, Dana Linn Bailey still looks stage ready thanks to her love of finding new ways to keep her body buff. And, in a recent Instagram post, Bailey, who won her Olympia prize back in 2013, shows that she’s still using fresh training techniques to build her body better. “Want bigger rear delts? Try this,” enthused your dream personal trainer.

“Rear delts, one of those muscles that everyone, I feel like, needs to work on a little bit more,” said Bailey in an instructional video for her 2.2 million IG followers.

What Are the Rear Delts?

The rear delts, or posterior deltoids, are the muscles that sit at the back of your shoulders and help to facilitate shoulder extension and rotation. Building the rear delts is important because this muscle can help take the load off the side (lateral) and front (anterior) deltoids during movement, preventing injury while creating a shapely upper back in the process. Working the rear delts requires getting the arm behind your back while also searching for a stretch, but this is where the rear-delt fly can be limited in motion.

Dana Linn Bailey’s Reverse Fly Hack for Bigger Rear Delts

“It’s a great exercise,” noted Bailey. “However, you’re shoulder never gets into a full stretch.” This is due to the design of the pec dec machine. At the start of the reverse fly, the handles meet, and the shoulder can no longer rotate. Instead, the popular social media star performs an adaptation.

Sitting side-on to the machine, Bailey uses her outer hand to grip the handle, while using the inner hand to stabilize herself on the back of the seat rest. “We’re gonna do it single arm,” she explained. “It’s a greater range of motion,” demonstrated the detailed bodybuilder, showing that not only can her hands move further to the side when in front of her for greater rotation, but a serious stretch is also possible at the end of the fly. “This allows your shoulder blade to move more freely,” explained Bailey in her caption. “That extra stretch = tension. And tension under load = growth.”

Bailey further noted: “When you train through a greater stretch, you’re lengthening muscle fibers under resistance—one of the most powerful ways to trigger hypertrophy.”

So, do as Bailey does, and next time you’re getting ready for a reverse fly on the pec deck, “Ditch the traditional setup. Sit sideways. Control every rep. Feel that stretch and light your rear delts on fire.”

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