The prone Y raise is a light raise done face-down on an incline bench. With the chest on the pad and a dumbbell in each hand, or nothing at all, you pinch the shoulder blades together and lift straight arms up and out, so that from above your arms and body make a Y. It is a lower-trapezius exercise, done light and slowly.
Nobody is credited with inventing or naming it. The Y describes the shape; The Strength House calls it a lower trap raise, and Cosnett Training Systems calls the same movement a trap three raise. Brolic lists it as Y Raise (Dumbbell), with “Dumbbell Y Raise”, “Prone Y Raise” and “Incline Y Raise (Dumbbell)” as aliases, and logs it as a two-sided exercise in reps.
Muscles worked
Brolic tags the posterior deltoids as primary and the upper back as secondary. The Strength House names the lower trapezius, in the middle of the back between the shoulder blades: it rotates the shoulder blades upward when the arms go overhead, and in pressing and the back-squat setup it keeps the front of the shoulder from diving forward. Cosnett Training Systems calls the target the lower traps and the scapular retractors, which it says are weak in many people whose upper traps are overactive.
One laboratory study backs the choice. Ekstrom, Donatelli and Soderberg (2003) recorded surface EMG from the trapezius and serratus anterior in 30 healthy subjects during 10 exercises; the prone overhead arm raise in line with the lower trapezius fibres, the Y lying flat, produced the most lower-trapezius activity of the ten. The incline version was not tested; a PubMed search on October 7, 2026 for “Y raise” found six later studies, read by title only, none specific to it.
Set the bench and the chest
Set an incline bench low. The Strength House uses an incline bench at its lowest setting, or goes fully prone off a table or box; Cosnett lies on a bench at about 30 to 45°.
Lie face-down with the head off the end and make a double chin. The Strength House puts the head over the far end so the lifter can be cued into a double chin, which sets the rib cage; slumped with the head poked forward, the shoulder blades do not move well. The chest comes up just enough to lift the collarbones off the pad.
Start with no weight, or very little. The Strength House starts with none and adds gradually; Cosnett’s benchmark before progressing is 3 to 4 kg.
Pinch, then raise up and out
Pinch the shoulder blades first. The Strength House takes a little retraction so the arms are not simply hanging; Cosnett squeezes the shoulder blades before every rep.
Lift up and out at about 45°. Neither straight ahead nor straight to the side: The Strength House splits the difference, and Cosnett’s angle is 45° out to the side.
Feel it in the middle of the back, just below where the shoulder blades sit when relaxed. That is The Strength House’s check: too relaxed and lifting to the front, you feel it in the upper traps; arching and pulling the arms backward, you feel it in the lats and cannot get the arms all the way up.
Hold, then lower slowly. Cosnett starts people on six reps with a 6-second hold at the top, and once that is comfortable with 3 to 4 kg moves them to 10 to 12 reps with a 1-second hold; the shoulders relax fully at the bottom before the next squeeze. The Strength House lowers nice and slow.
How it differs from the T raise and front raise
| Prone Y raise | Rear-delt fly (prone T) | Prone front raise (I) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arm path | Up and out, about 45° from the body | Straight out to the sides | Straight ahead |
| Shape from above | Y | T | I |
The Strength House rules out both other paths because they are different exercises; the Y splits the difference. No study here compares the three.
Logging
Brolic logs Y Raise (Dumbbell) in reps. Enter the weight of one dumbbell (zero when unloaded) and note the bench angle, the hold at the top and one or two arms (one arm, says The Strength House, with the free hand holding the bench so the body does not shift): six reps with a 6-second hold and twelve with a 1-second hold are different sets. The free workout log has room for the notes, and the weekly set tally shows these light sets beside your rowing and pressing.
Common questions
How heavy, and how often? Light. The Strength House starts with nothing; Cosnett treats 3 to 4 kg as the progression point; Paul Carter’s T Nation tip is four sets of 12, two or three times a week.
Thumbs up or down? Neither coach here specifies a hand position. Pick one and record it.
I feel it in my upper traps or lats. Upper traps means too relaxed and too far forward, says The Strength House; lats means arching and pulling back.
It hurts. Stop. Pain is not a cue, and nothing here is advice for a shoulder problem.
Sources and method
- The Strength House: Prone Y’s off incline bench — the lower trapezius, the bench, the double chin, the pinch, the 45° path, where to feel it; automatic captions.
- Cosnett Training Systems: Prone Y raise — the 30 to 45° bench, the two protocols, the 3 to 4 kg benchmark; automatic captions and description.
- Ekstrom, Donatelli and Soderberg (2003) — surface EMG of 10 trapezius exercises.
- Paul Carter, T Nation: Tip: Prone trap raise — four sets of 12, two or three times a week, light.
- Brolic catalog — name, aliases, logging mode and muscle tags.
Neither video names its coach on screen, so both are cited by channel. Angles and hold times are the coaches’ starting points, not optima from a trial.
