Cable Reverse Fly: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Variations

The cable reverse fly is a standing rear delt exercise where you pull two crossed cables apart at shoulder height, and it's one of the best ways to load the back of your shoulders. Set both pulleys at about shoulder height, cross the cables, step back and sweep your arms out wide until they're in line with your body. Because the cable pulls across your body rather than straight down, tension stays on your rear delts at the start of the rep, which is exactly where a dumbbell version goes slack. Below is how to set it up on a crossover or a single cable, the cues that matter, and how to programme it.

How to set up a cable reverse fly

Your setup decides whether this hits your rear delts or turns into a sloppy row. There are three choices to make.

Cable height. For the standard standing version, set both pulleys at shoulder height or one or two notches above. The cable should run roughly parallel to the floor as you pull. Too low and you end up doing a raise; too high and it drifts towards a face pull.

Crossover or single cable. On a cable crossover, use both stacks at once: grab the left cable with your right hand and the right cable with your left, so the cables cross in front of your chest. If you only have a single cable column or a home pulley, do it one arm at a time, standing side-on with your working arm reaching across your body to the cable.

Handles or no handles. You can clip on single D-handles, but plenty of lifters take them off and hold the cable end or the stopper ball. Without handles, your hand sits directly in line with the cable, your grip relaxes and the pull comes from your shoulder. Try both and keep whichever lets you feel the back of the shoulder more.

How to do it: step by step

1. Grab and step back. Take the cables crossed (left hand to right pulley, right hand to left pulley) and step back one or two paces until there's tension with your arms straight out in front of your chest.
2. Set your stance. Stand tall with feet hip-width apart, or use a split stance if you find yourself rocking. Brace your abs lightly and keep your ribs down.
3. Lock in the elbows. Put a soft bend in your elbows and keep that angle fixed for the whole set. Your elbows shouldn't open and close.
4. Sweep out. Pull your hands out and back in a wide arc, leading with the back of your hands or your elbows, until your arms are roughly level with your torso. Keep them at shoulder height.
5. Squeeze briefly. Pause for about a second at the end range. Don't force your arms further back than your body; going past that point just lets the traps and lower back take over.
6. Return slowly. Take two to three seconds to let the cables pull your arms back to the crossed start. Stop just before the plates touch so the tension never disappears.

Muscles worked

The reverse fly is a horizontal abduction movement: your upper arm moves out and back at shoulder height. That's the main job of the rear delts.

• Posterior deltoid. The prime mover. An EMG study of 12 trained men found the reverse pec deck, which uses the same arm path as a cable reverse fly, produced greater rear delt activation than both the seated row and the inclined lat pulldown (J Sports Med Phys Fitness, deltoid activation across exercises). Rows help, but they're not a substitute.
• Middle trapezius and rhomboids. These pull your shoulder blades towards your spine as your arms reach the end of the arc. They work more if you finish with a deliberate squeeze.
• Infraspinatus and teres minor. Two of the rotator cuff muscles assist the movement and get useful work from it.
• Middle deltoid. It helps a little, more so if your arms drift up above shoulder height.

Grip matters more than you'd think. In a study of 19 resistance-trained men on a reverse fly machine, a neutral grip produced significantly higher posterior deltoid and infraspinatus activity than a palms-down grip (J Strength Cond Res, hand position and posterior shoulder EMG). On a cable, holding the ends with your thumbs pointing up or slightly forward gets you close to that neutral position.

Benefits

Constant tension where dumbbells fall short. With a bent-over dumbbell fly, there's next to no load at the bottom because the weight hangs straight down. The cable pulls across your body, so the rear delts are working from the first inch of the rep.

Balances out all the pressing. Bench press, push-ups and overhead work load the front of the shoulder heavily, and desk work rounds you forward further. Direct rear delt work is the simplest counterweight, and it's the piece most programmes skip.

Easy to adjust. Changing the pulley height by a notch or two shifts the emphasis between rear delts and upper back without changing the exercise. You can also go one arm at a time to fix a side-to-side imbalance.

Fuller-looking shoulders. If your shoulders look strong from the front but flat from the side, underdeveloped rear delts are usually why. Two or three hard sets a few times a week make a visible difference over a few months.

Common mistakes

Going too heavy. This is the big one. The rear delt is a small muscle, and when the stack is too heavy your traps, lower back and momentum do the lifting. If you're leaning back or rocking to finish reps, drop a plate or two.

Bending and straightening the elbows. If your elbows open and close, the movement becomes a row and your lats and biceps take the load. Fix the elbow angle and keep it fixed.

Shrugging. Shoulders creeping towards your ears means your upper traps have taken over. Keep your shoulders down and your neck long, and lower the weight if you can't.

Pulling too far back. Driving your arms well behind your body doesn't add rear delt work. It mainly lets you arch your back and squeeze your shoulder blades. Stop when your arms are level with your torso.

Rushing the return. Letting the stack yank your arms back throws away half the set. Control the return over two to three seconds.

Variations

• Single-arm cable reverse fly. Set one pulley at shoulder height, stand side-on and reach across your body with the far arm. Sweep out to the side. You can brace with your free hand on the frame, and it's the only option on a single cable column or a home pulley.
• Kneeling cable reverse fly. Kneel between the stacks with the pulleys at about head height when you're kneeling. Taking your legs out of it removes most of the urge to rock, which makes cheating harder.
• Bent-over cable reverse fly. Set the pulleys at the bottom, hinge forward until your torso is near parallel to the floor and pull the cables out and up. It mimics the dumbbell rear delt fly but keeps tension at the bottom. It's harder on your lower back, so keep the load modest.
• Band reverse fly. Anchor a light resistance band at chest height, or hold it with both hands and pull it apart. It's a good option for home training or warm-ups. The band pull-apart is the simplest version.
• Reverse pec deck. The machine version. It's more stable and easier to load progressively, so it suits beginners and people who struggle to stay still on cables. If your gym doesn't have one, our reverse pec deck alternatives cover the best swaps.

If you train at home, a squat rack or pull-up bar plus a loading-pin pulley is enough for single-arm reverse flys. The FASPUP cable pulley system is around £26 at the time of writing and includes a pulley, steel cable, loading pin, strap and a tricep rope, with the pin rated to 300lb (about 136kg). Plates aren't included and there's no single D-handle in the box, so either hold the cable end or add a handle.

Check the FASPUP cable pulley on Amazon

For a proper two-stack setup, our GYM MASTER cable crossover review looks at one of the more affordable home crossovers.

Sets and reps

The rear delts respond well to moderate loads, higher reps and frequent training. A simple plan:

• Muscle and shape: 3 to 4 sets of 12 to 20 reps, two or three times a week. Rest 45 to 75 seconds.
• Posture and shoulder health: 2 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps with a light weight, as a warm-up before pressing or at the end of any upper-body session.
• Learning the move: 2 to 3 sets of 12 slow reps with a three-second return, using the lightest plate on the stack.

Add weight only once you can complete the top of your rep range on every set with a one-second pause and no body English. Cable stacks often jump in big increments, so it's often easier to add two or three reps first than to add a plate. Pair the reverse fly with a pulling movement such as the rear delt row or face pulls, and you've covered the back of the shoulder from two angles.

Recommended reads

• Rear delt row: how to do it and common mistakes
• Face pull alternatives for bands, dumbbells and the gym
• Reverse pec deck alternatives
• Cable shoulder exercises for front, side and rear delts
• GYM MASTER cable crossover review
• More workout guides