Floor Y-raise (prone Y-raise)

Rear-delt work with no equipment at all: lying face down on the floor, you raise your arms into a “Y”. It also trains the lower traps, key for shoulder health when your routine piles up pressing.

• Isolation
• Bodyweight
• Beginner

How to do it

• Face down, forehead resting, arms straight out on a diagonal forming a Y
• Thumbs to the ceiling; raise the arms lifting the chest as little as possible
• Squeeze for 1 s pulling the shoulder blades together and down, without shrugging
• Lower slowly; the range is short and that's normal

Sets, reps and tempo

Ranges: 12–20 reps · 0–1 RIR

Tempo: Up in 1–2 s, squeeze at the top for 1 s and lower in 2 s under control

Common mistakes

• Shrugging the shoulders towards the ears instead of depressing the shoulder blade
• Lifting the whole torso, turning it into a lower-back extension
• Going so fast that momentum does the work

Muscles worked

Primary

• Rear delt

Secondary

• Traps

Alternatives

• Rear Delt Fly / Reverse Pec Deck
• High Banded Face Pull
• Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly