Bringing up the rear delts: you've got questions. We've got answers - Ask Our Experts - Letter to the Editor

Men's Fitness, April, 2002

Rear delts are among the trickiest muscles to develop. "Even though they're part of your shoulder complex, they are also muscles that transition from the back into the shoulders," says Dakota Mitchell, a personal trainer certified by the American College of Sports Medicine. To work these muscles properly, you need to learn to isolate them. That can be a challenge, as rear delts often get short shrift because a stronger muscle group takes over.

"You have to learn to perform rear-delt exercises correctly before you can think about trying to build larger rear delts by using heavier weights," says Mitchell. "Teach yourself proper form with light weights, learning to feel the contraction at the top of the movement. It's helpful to think of rear delt-training as the opposite of a chest flye. You don't involve your traps when you do a chest flye, so you want to go through a similar range of motion without using your traps when you perform rear-delt exercises."

Mitchell recommends starting with rear-delt machine flyes. "Set the machine so that your arms form 90-degree angles to your body. If you place your hands too high or too low, you're much more likely to involve other muscles. Keep a five- to 10- degree break in your elbows throughout the exercise, and keep your shoulders retracted throughout--when your shoulders roll forward, that encourages you to pull from your traps." Pull the weight back until your upper arms form one straight line through your body. Hold the weight here for a second and focus on contracting your rear delts.

As a second exercise, you can perform rear-delt dumbbell flyes while lying on an incline bench. "The bench helps you isolate your rear delts a little more while supporting your lower back," Mitchell explains. Use the same range of motion and exercise execution as you do with the rear-delt machine.

Above all, pay strict attention to form. "A lot of guys get exuberant in their movement and they pull their arms back as far as they can," Mitchell says. "Or they rotate their elbows downward. If you see your elbows starting to drift lower, then you're pulling too hard or you're pulling with the wrong muscles. Make sure to keep your elbows in a straight line through your body at the contraction point of the movement."

Placement of rear delts in your weekly training can also be tricky. "I think it's appropriate to train them after shoulders or back, whichever feels more logical to you," says Mitchell. "But I also think it's a good idea to train rear delts before traps in this situation. If you train them after your traps, you'll have a tendency to want to use your traps because you're used to moving them, so it's hard to get them out of the movement."

Try the following sample workout. Start with light weights and gradually work up to moderate weights as you get accustomed to feeling your rear delts. Keep in mind that rear delts respond better to forced contractions with lighter weights than with heavier weights.

PAIN IN THE ANKLE

Recently, my ankle has started to hurt when I begin my daily run. After a few minutes, the pain goes away, but I'd like to know if I should be concerned about it.

-- R.B., STUDIO CITY, CA

"`Ankle pain' isn't enough information to evaluate your problem," says Kevin O'Leary, D.O.C. "If the pain is on the lateral side of your ankle, if there's swelling or tenderness involved, or if there's pain when you twist your foot down, then I would suspect a sprain on the ankle ligaments. But it could be many other things as well." Whenever you feel any exercise-related pain, especially recurrent pain, you should have it evaluated by a doctor.

Understanding the history of your training protocol may help a professional diagnose what's causing the problem, O'Leary says. "I ask my patients about their training history: Did they recently increase their mileage? What surface are they running on? Have they recently increased their workout intensity by adding sprinting or running curves on a track? All of those factors place new demands on the ankles."

Once you have a specific diagnosis, O'Leary offers many types of treatments you can seek:

* Chiropractic adjustments can help mobilize restricted joints.

* Soft-tissue muscle work can help free up adhesions.

* Ultrasound and ice can help reduce inflammation.

* A rehab specialist can give you specific exercises to strengthen and increase your range of motion and improve your balance and proprioception. For instance, performing balance-board work can help intensify your body's sensory receptors, so if you step off the curb at a wrong angle, your joint receptors can keep you from twisting your ankle.

If the pain is tolerable and you decide not to seek medical attention, you can try making modifications in your training to help determine what's causing the problem. "Try running on a surface with less impact," says O'Leary. "Concrete is the worst, as it has no shock absorption, forcing your body to absorb all the impact. Grass, dirt, wood chips and cinder are better running surfaces, reducing the impact on your body.