Reverse Fly For Shoulders

Lots of people make the mistake of just doing their favorite exercises rather than doing a well rounded workout.  For example, lets take the bench press  people, you can spot them easily they walk around like this.  Their chests are so out-of proportion strong that it seems to pull their shoulders forward like a dry leaf.  Dont let this happen to you! 

Its really important for the health of your shoulders and knees that all the muscles, even the small ones, are strong and in balance.  With shoulders many people just like doing the pressing exercises because you can do a lot of weight with presses but as I mentioned before its important to keep things in balance.  The reverse fly is one of those important exercises, it works the back of the shoulders, the traps, the upper back,  and can help with posture.

The right way to do this exercise is to bend over so the back is horizontal and motionless, you can lightly touch your head to a table or bench to give tactile feedback that you are remaining motionless.  From this position, we slowly raise the dumbbells up with straight arms till the dumbbells are as high as our shoulders, we hold in this position for a second, then slowly let the weight down.  When the weights are in the up position, your body should look like a "T" when viewed from above , your arms should be in a line with each other not swept back like a 747 ready for takeoff.

There are some alternative ways to do this exercise.  If you are concerned about your lower back, you can also do these laying face down on a bench with your head hanging out over the end of the bench.  The bench needs to be tall enough that your hands dont hit the ground when you do this.   If you belong to a gym a great way to do this exercise is to use pec dec machine in reverse. 

Lots of ways to do this exercise incorrectly:

arch back like a hissing cat
sag your back like a banana
going too fast
bobbing your head up and down
too heavy, can't get dumbbells up to shoulder height
go too high up risking shoulder injury
swinging weights up
using legs
arms swept back like a 747 ready for takeoff