Lately I have been posting a lot of shoulder related training articles that had to do with overhead pressing, but today I want to address my favorite rear delt isolation exercise that I like to do for some extra volume for bigger and stronger delts. I wanted to write this article because lets face it, 99% of drug-free lifters have piss poor shoulder development and the fact that they don’t hit their rear delts too often doesn’t help either.
Although I do love rear delt fly variations, the facepull has got to me my favorite exercise for hitting the posterior delts and I actually dedicate a lot of my rear delt mass to facepull variations.
A lot of “experts” say that if you want to get bigger delts then you need more vertical pressing variations and I agree with this advice 100%, but I feel like some of these people get so carried away with their overhead pressing work that they forget to actually isolate their delts which isn’t good. The reason why it isn’t good is because neglecting your rear delt work could lead to shoulder injuries which is obviously not what we are all about on this site.
The other reason is because most overhead pressing variations don’t stimulate the rear delts optimally which is why you can’t rely on presses alone! As a bonus, rear delt work will improve your overhead pressing strength without affecting your recovery because you can’t only do vertical pressing variations with heavy weight all day long. I don’t blame people for falling into this trap because I kind of fell into it too as well by thinking to myself: “what the hell are light facepulls for high reps going to do compared to heavy vertical presses?”, but the truth is that if you want to make your rear delts stronger then they need to be hit with heavy compound lifts such as snatch grip rack pulls, but you also have to isolate them. The same thing can be said about neck work because you can’t just rely on rack pulls and shrugs to build your neck, sooner or later you will have to isolate it if you want to take it to the next level. The same thing can also be said about side delt work, the vertical presses will hit your side delts, but for optimal development you need to hit them directly.
The problem that I see with the facepull is that A LOT of people simply don’t perform the movement properly and I don’t blame them because it is a movement that is very easy to cheat on.
Today I am going to go over my biggest facepull mistakes that I see along with some technique tips and recommendations on how to make the exercise more effective!
1.DON’T NEGLECT BAND FACEPULL/BPA COMBOS
The first tip isn’t necessarily a “mistake”, but its something that should be incorporated. I believe and argue that the Band Facepull/BPA (Band pull-apart) combo is one of the best direct rear delt exercises that you could do because you get more tension at the peak contraction of the movement (which is something that the cable doesn’t offer). Another reason why I like this facepull combo is because you can actively try to pull the band apart as it gets closer to your face which works the rear delts and lateral delts even harder which is another thing that you can’t get with the conventional cable facepull alone.
The main reason as to why I like this movement so much is because you don’t need a cable stack for it and all you really need is a band that you could loop around something sturdy. I like to loop mine in my closet so that way when I wake up in the morning I could do 100 reps when I open my door which takes 2-3 minutes at the most and I got my direct rear delt work for the day (I do all of my compound rear delt related exercises in the gym). If you add that up overtime its about 700 pulls a week and close to 3000 per month which is good because the rear delts can tolerate a lot of volume and recover very fast. In fact, the rear delts and upper back are some of the muscles that recover the fastest in my opinion.
Another thing that I want to mention is that I will use different band tensions and pull from different heights which is something that I am going to address later on in this article.
2.DON’T CURL THE WEIGHT TO YOUR FACE WITH YOUR BICEPS OR WRISTS
One of the biggest facepull mistakes that I see is that people tend to curl the weight to their face so they are using more biceps/forearms than rear delts which is bad because we aren’t trying to work our arms with this movement.
The simple way to fix this is to pull a bit slower, squeeze the rear delts harder at the top while visualizing the rear delts working and also just to keep practicing. If you are feeling a skin splitting pump in your rear delts after every set then chances are that you are executing the movement with proper form.
3.STOP GOING SO HEAVY
Another mistake that I see people make is that they go way too heavy on the facepull to the point where it looks like they are doing some sort of sled pull with their whole body. A lot of strongmen competitors do facepull variations in this fashion and Elliot Hulse even talked about how he would do facepulls in this fashion as well (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tei9hXDBJXs) which is fine, but you have to remember that at the end of the day you are doing isolation work to isolate the desired muscle.
So remember that doing heavy facepull variations from time to time is fine, but for the most part you want to keep the movement as strict is possible if rear delt hypertrophy and shoulder health are the main goals.
4. STOP LEANING BACK SO MUCH
Another common mistake that I see people make when they do their facepulls is that they tend to lean back excessively which is going to put more focus on the upper and lower back along with the traps while putting less emphasis on the rear delts.
If you really have to lean back so much on each rep then chances are that you are using too much weight and that’s fine if you have to reduce the weights from time to time because nobody cares about how much weight you can facepuill so you might as well do it right from the start for the most part.
5. STOP PULLING TO THE SAME PART OF THE FACE EACH TIME
If you want to take your rear delts to the next level then you have to remember that the whole minimalist approach is not going to work. You need to hit those rear delts from all kinds of different angles if you really want them to grow.
This is why it is called a FACEPULL, it means that you could pull to eye-level, mouth-level, forehead-level and I even like to pull to my throat from time to time. Heck, you can even pull the band slightly over your face (Alphadestiny style).
6. STOP PULLING FROM THE SAME HEIGHT EACH TIME
Another thing that you should know is that you don’t always have to pull from the same height. I usually set up my bands at about mouth level, but sometimes I will set them up so that they are about 6 inches higher than me. To say that only one height works is ignorant because we all have bodies of different shapes so you may get better contractions from a higher height while I might get better contractions at a lower height.
Although I must say that I personally feel the best contractions when the band is at the same height as my upper chest and when I pull to my upper nose/lower-eye level.
7. STOP GOING SO FAST ON THE CONCENTRIC, PAUSE AND ECCENTRIC
I am not going to give you that crap on how you need to lift 2 seconds on the concentric, 2 second pause and a 2 second concentric, but if you really want to get the most of of the band facepull then you need to start doing it in a more controlled fashion. You have to understand that time under tension is still an important factor for building muscle so try not to rush your sets so much. Doing this movement in a really controlled matter with hard squeezes will help you get more out of less reps so instead of doing 100 sloppy reps and being tired, you will feel tired after maybe your 30th strict rep but instead you will be getting more out of the movement in about the same amount of time.
As another bonus, when you have your hands in front of you during facepulls for a longer period of time it kind of makes the exercise a bit more like a front raise iso-hold which is good because that means that you will be getting some additional front delt work in there which basically means that all heads of the delts will be getting some stimulation! Its also good for lazy guys like me who are too lazy to do any direct front delt isolation work as well.
8. STOP LIMITING FACE-PULLS TO ONCE PER WEEK
Another mistake thing that I see with people who do facepulls is that they only do them once per week. I know that I’ve said this countless times, but if you want to get good at ANYTHING then you need to do it more than once per week! The good thing about the rear delts and upper back is that they can tolerate a lot of volume which is good because that means that we could amp up the frequency to several times per week and the best thing of all is that you won’t even have to go to the gym each time because if you use bands then you could do your rear delt work at home, problem solved!
The other good thing is that it doesn’t take long and isn’t really taxing on the body so you can do 100 reps and you most likely won’t even sweat so its not like you have to do this annoying mini workout everyday where you get sweaty and have to take a shower after. All you have to do is a set of 100 or 4 sets of 25 and then you can go about your day!
9. REVERSE THE MOTION
A common mistake that I see people make is that they will pull the band to their face and hold for a second or 2, but then they will just let the band snap back into the starting position which is not an effective way to do the eccentric part of the lift in my opinion. I think that the better way would be to simply reverse the facepull motion so that you actually reap the benefits of the negative which is also important for muscle growth. Remember that you don’t have to go super slow, but just stay upright and try to keep the movement as controlled as possible.
10. WATCH OUT FOR FORWARD HEAD POSTURE
Forward head posture is the path of the least resistance when doing facepulls because your head will be in front of you which obviously lessens the range of motion to a great degree. The truth is that when you do this you are missing the most important part of the movement which is when the band gets closer to your face because that’s where the contraction and band tension are at their peak.
The funny thing is that a lot of people launch their head forward without even noticing it and it is usually a sign that they are using too much weight. If you find that you are still doing this with light weights then a little cue that I could give you is to focus on pulling your chin into your neck and holding an isometric contraction there so that your head will be less likely to go forward.
CONCLUSION
I hope that you have learned something new today because the facepull is a very important movement for packing some size on those rear delts while keeping your shoulders healthy so just remember to make them a staple. Kalle Beck actually mentioned in one of his videos that he does at least 200 face-pulls per week and I agree that you should too so do them and do them often. If you do them with good form and enough consistency then you will be rewarded with some bigger delts, I can promise you that. Not to say that the side and front delts are not a big deal, but if you have lagging rear delts then your delts will look like crap as a whole and if your delts look like crap then you will look narrow which basically means that you will look small!