How to do it
- Lie face down on an incline bench with very light dumbbells hanging down.
- Raise your arms overhead into a Y shape with the thumbs pointing up.
- Lower slowly, keeping the neck relaxed.
Cues that matter
- Almost no weight is needed — 2-5 kg is plenty.
- Think about pulling your shoulder blades down into your back pockets.
Common mistakes
- Shrugging the upper traps to lift the arms.
- Arching the lower back off the bench.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Traps
- Lower traps
Also works
- Rear delts
- Rhomboids
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Prone Y-Raise in a session, with 75 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 6–8 reps
- Build muscle
- 10–15 reps
- Endurance
- 15–25 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the traps with different equipment — for a day the dumbbell is taken, or a gym that does not have one.