Rear delt strength - db's too heavy or too light, grr

[SteelWeaver]

Having a tiny argument with my rear delts - they've come up a lot in strength over the past couple of years - basically doubled the weights I can use on them (unlike friggin' side delts, but that's another issue), but I always seem to hit a little bump with them: my form breaks down every time I try to raise the weight, but the weight I'm currently lifting with perfect form gives me about 12 reps. Is this normal for rear delt flyes?

Of course they don't have in between db weights - gotta jump from 14 - 16kgs - you can't micro-weight a db.

I did face pulls for rear delts for a while, but have the same problem there, and don't like cables anyway.

Any thoughts?

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

I always go light on the dbs with rear delt raises and 12 reps sounds about right to me.

 

[Gladiola]

You could try bands for this too - sit, step on the band - pull across in the opposite directions (like doing them on the cable).

Otherwise you could try to find wrist weights to add an extra 1KG. I have a similar problem but find that I can still do 6 with decent form when I jump to the next DB. I just do 1 or 2 sets of 6 reps, then 1 or 2 sets of 12.

 

[HardIron]

Ever try sitting on the pec deck and doing it backwards??? Great for rear delts.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll just do a few sets of say, 2-3 or 4 reps, or whatever I can crank out with the heavier weight, then some higher reps.

HardIron - I've never actually done that, although I know about it. It's probably stupid, but I'm a bit suspicious of machines, especially for shoulder work - I figure if there's ever a time I need my stabilisers to be working, it's on shoulders, but I guess using the pec deck for pre-exhaustion could be a good idea.

Do they actually make heavier dbs in 1kg increments? The ones at my gym go in 1kg inc's up to 10, then jump in 2's after that.

 

[The Shadow]

try doing rear delts with upper arms pointed away from you at a 90 degree angle - go with the heavier ones.....