The bench press. Anyone who has even used weights once in their life has done this exercise. It is one of the most basic of movements but is still one of the best and an infinite number of repetitions has been done on it by all of us gym rats. But after hammering out sets on the flat, incline and decline bench, you’re still missing the cherry on top of the iron sundae.
And that’s where dumbbell flyes come in.
After blasting your pecs with the different variations of presses, getting a deep stretch with a flye movement is the perfect finisher and will really get the blood rushing into the muscles. The most common way to do them is on a flat bench, but you can improvise a little and use an incline or a decline bench, too.
In this article we'll take a close look at the flat dumbbell fly.
muscles targeted: pectoralis major
starting position
- Grasp two dumbbells using a closed grip.
- Assume a supine position on a bench.
- Press the dumbbells to an extended elbow, parallel arm position above the chest.
- Rotate the dumbbells to a neutral grip.
- Slightly flex the elbows and point them out to the sides.
This is the starting point for all repetitions.
downward movement
- Allow the dumbbells to lower in a wide arc until they are level with the shoulders or chest.
- Keep the dumbbell bars parallel to each other as the elbows move downward.
- Keep the wrists rigid and the elbows held in a slightly flexed position.
- Keep the dumbbells in line with the elbows and shoulders.
upward movement
- Pull the dumbbells up toward each other in a wide arc back to the starting position.
- Keep the wrists rigid and the elbows held in a slightly flexed position.
- Keep the dumbbells in line with the elbows and shoulders.
Repeat or finish set.