Super Fly: Your Complete Guide To Chest Flyes

New Exercise and Fitness Review

I may not be an entomologist, but I sure as heck know a lot about flyes. Don’t reach for your swatter; I’m not talking about the ones that buzz through your summer picnic. I’m talking about the single-joint exercise for chest often done as a finishing move. If you want to build a bigger chest, you definitely don’t want to shoo away this fly—or these nine variations!

Before we start flying, let’s stay on the ground and review what it means to fly. As I mentioned, flyes are a single-joint exercise, while most of the major chest exercises—bench press, incline press, and others—are multijoint.

Multijoint, or compound, exercises should form the backbone of your chest workouts; they allow you to move the most weight since they involve more than one set of joints. This allows secondary muscle groups to pitch in—the delts and triceps when it comes to chest presses, for example.

The fly puts more emphasis squarely on your pecs over supporting muscle groups.

When you take other joints and muscle groups out of the equation, you put more emphasis on your chest, which is why single-joint exercises like flyes are called “isolation” moves. They isolate a certain muscle group. Isolating the chest requires that you lock your arms in a slightly bent-arm position and hold them there throughout the exercise range of motion.

Flyes can be done with dumbbells, machines, or cables. The fly necessitates using significantly lighter weights than what you pound with presses, but it puts more emphasis squarely on your pecs over supporting muscle groups.

It’s All In The Elbows

Don’t Fall Into This Fly Trap

If you have trouble locking your elbows in the correct position when doing fly movements, do pec deck machine flyes in which you’re locked into a predetermined biomechanical pathway. Notice how your elbows can’t extend at the end of the movement. This is exactly the same form you want to carry over to the dumbbell or cable version.

The basic fly motion is akin to hugging a big tree or barrel. It follows a wide arc versus the more direct up-and-down movement of a chest press. This is most easily seen when watching the path of your hands while using a pec deck machine, during which the movement arc is locked in place. Replicating that same movement with dumbbells or cables, however, is more difficult, and is oftentimes where form breaks down.

The single-most common error when doing fly movements is turning them into presses. This fly-to-press is often seen on cable crossovers when someone is going too heavy and has to recruit other muscle groups to assist in moving the weight.

If you’re guilty of this, you can catch yourself in the mirror. If you see your elbows bend and then extend, it’s a sure tip that you’ve turned a fly variation into a press. Although you can move more weight with a sloppy press-fly like this, you won’t isolate the chest as effectively, so be sure to keep your form in check.

One final reminder: The fly typically isn’t a low-rep exercise like a chest press, because of the strain it can put on your elbow joints. I typically follow sets of 10-12 reps.

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The Finer Points of Flyes

Now that we’ve covered the basics of what it means to fly, let’s look at some specific fly variations and how each of them can affect your workout.

Cables

When doing a cable fly, you pull from the sides, but the height of the pulleys determines the specific direction or angle of your pull. You can adjust the height of the pulleys to shift the area of emphasis on your pecs.

Cables also keep tension on your chest throughout the entire exercise range of motion. Unlike with dumbbells, you can also physically cross one hand over the other, which increases the tension on your inner pecs.

Cables keep tension on your chest throughout the entire exercise range of motion.

Dumbbells

When performing dumbbell flyes, don’t overstretch your shoulder joints by allowing the weights to pull your arms too far back. With dumbbells, the force of gravity pulls the weights straight down—a key difference from cables—so keep the weight controlled at all times. Using benches with different degrees of incline and decline can affect the point on your chest where the work is focused, so dumbbells are very versatile for training chest.

Cables and a bench: When you set up a bench in the middle of a cable rack, the exercise motion is similar to the dumbbell fly, but you get the benefit of constant tension with cables. Since you’re on a bench, you can eliminate some of the rocking motion (cheating) that can occur when you’re doing standing cable flyes or crossovers.

When performing dumbbell flyes, don’t overstretch your shoulder joints by allowing the weights to pull your arms too far back.

Machine flyes

The main benefit with machine flyes is that you don’t have to worry about maintaining the bend in your elbows since you’re locked into place. If you’re having trouble locking the bend in your elbows with free weights, use machines to rehearse the biomechanical pathway.

There are two kinds of pec deck machines: With one, your shoulder, elbow, and hand are in the same horizontal plane; with the other machine, your elbows are bent 90 degrees and your forearms are perpendicular to the floor. With the latter, the range of motion is increased since you can bring your elbows closer together.

The main benefit with machines is that you don’t have to worry about maintaining the bend in your elbows since you’re locked into place.

The Fly Family

To best target a specific region of your chest, include one of these nine variations in your workout. Each one offers a slightly different benefit based on angle of pull and implement.

The Fly Family
To Target Upper Chest	To Target Middle Chest	To Target Lower Chest
Incline-bench dumbbell fly	Pec-deck machine	Decline-bench dumbbell fly
Incline-bench cable fly	Flat-bench dumbbell fly	Decline-bench cable fly
Low-pulley cable crossover	Flat-bench cable fly	Cable crossover

Now, Fly Away

Entomologists will tell you that there are thousands of species of flies, but the only ones of concern to us are those that target the pecs. Now that you have a good understanding of the fly, fly form, and various fly variations, it’s time to spread your arms—with bent elbows, of course—and fly in the gym!

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Super Fly: Your Complete Guide To Chest Flyes

Your First Strength Phase: A Beginner's Guide To Getting Strong

New Exercise and Fitness Review

Vital Stats

Name: Todd Bumgardner, MS, CSCS
Occupation: Co-founder of Beyond Strength Performance. Strength and conditioning coach and manual therapist at Ranfone Training Systems.
Website: beyondstrength
performance.com/todd-bumgardner-m-s

The first time is always worth remembering. Whether it was the first time you benched 225 pounds, set a new PR on the squat, or even the first time you had to buy bigger jeans because your thighs got too big, the feeling of conquering new challenges propels you to keep driving for continued success in the gym.

But continued gains don’t just happen by accident; in fact, they quickly stall once you pass beginner status. And that makes this precisely the right time to begin your first strength phase. So, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get strong—Hercules, Hulk, human-crane-type strong.

Follow these simple steps to build your own surefire strength routine!

1 FIND YOUR MAX

A starting point is pivotal for setting—and achieving—measurable, realistic goals. Do you already know your current squat, bench, and deadlift one-rep maxes (1RM)? If so, write them down. If not, you’ll have to test. There are two ways to easily test your 1RM:

1. Work up to a heavy set of 3 and approximate.

You should be able to lift 90 percent of your 1RM for 3-4 reps. So if you can do 225 pounds for 3 reps, divide 225 by 0.9. Your 1RM is roughly 250 pounds.

2. Test it!

Simply test your 1RM by working up to the heaviest single that you can lift without complete form breakdown. Plan a week of testing and test each lift on a different day.

Whichever method you choose, knowing your maxes allows for two pivotal training processes: setting realistic goals and planning your training loads.

“Knowing your maxes allows for two pivotal training processes: setting realistic goals and planning your training loads.”

2 SET YOUR STRENGTH GOALS

A typical strength cycle lasts 12-16 weeks. Gaining 5-10 percent on your maxes during a cycle is typical for a beginner, so if your best bench press is currently 225 pounds, we’re looking to move the bar to 235-245. However, gains don’t continue at this rate indefinitely. As the training years accumulate, each pound added to the bar is a hard-fought victory. Consider this as you set your first round of goals: shoot to increase your lifts by 5 percent.

Maxes are also used to select training loads. Take your absolute max—the number you just acquired via testing—and decrease it by 5-10 percent. This is your training max. It’s different from the absolute max to ensure that you plan enough quality training volume without overtraining. The goals here are more quality reps without going to failure, appropriate loads that your body adapts to, and better lifting technique.

3 PRACTICE YOUR FORM

Being a newcomer to strength-specific training dictates a practice-first strategy. It may be against our nature as physically driven humans to dial back and master the basics, but that’s precisely what a lengthy training career requires. Go balls out at the beginning and you’ll have a blast—for a little while—before your training collapses face first. That’s because you won’t acquire the requisite skills to progress without ruining your body and its ability to adapt to heavier training.

Focus on learning the lifts—squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press—early on and you’ll consistently get stronger during your training career. Don’t hyperfocus on your one-rep max: it has its purpose, but it doesn’t predominate the process. Commit to growing into a skilled lifter.

Deadlift

4 SELECT A SIMPLE STRENGTH SCHEME

Thanks to the Internet, there’s an endless multitude of experts who provide programs from which you can choose. Avoid them.

Westside is alluring and Smolov squat cycles have a challenging attraction. But they’re complicated, requiring a huge training base—fitness and skill—and you don’t need them right now. These are, of course, only two examples of many, many complicated programs out there.

The current mandate is simplicity. Sets of 5 in the 70-85 percent range and sets of 3 in the 75-90 percent range are perfect for your main lifts. Assistance lifts employ sets in the 5-8-rep range, keeping a few reps left in the tank at the end of each set. Since this is not bodybuilding, you’re not going to muscle failure.

5 SELECT YOUR EXERCISES

Multijoint lifts are done with barbells, dumbbell, and kettlebells. There’s no place for machine training and very little room for single-joint training in absolute strength development. It’s simply wasted training volume.

Focus on:

1. The deadlift and its variations: rack pulls, Romanian deadlifts, and sumo deadlifts.


2. The bench press and its variations: incline bench presses, floor presses, and dumbbell bench presses.


3. The squat and its variations: front squats, box squats, goblet squats.


4. The overhead press and its variations: seated military presses, dumbbell overhead presses, kettlebell overhead presses.

Putting together a routine should be fairly simple. Use a full-range deadlift, bench press, or squat as your main lift, doing sets of 3 or 5, and select a variation of each as your assistance exercise (e.g., rack pulls with deadlifts, floor presses with bench press, front squats with the squat, and so on).

6 AVOID BODYBUILDING GOALS

Many new to absolute strength training mistakenly apply their general fitness or bodybuilding habits to their strength regimens—and that means they plan too many exercises and too much volume.

Strength development is increasingly nervous-system intensive, unlike its bodybuilding counterpart that mostly taxes the musculoskeletal system. This means you must plan less volume for strength development; if you try to match volume with a bodybuilding program, you’ll short-change recovery and could eventually regress.

Bench Press

There’s no magic formula for determining the exact number of exercises, but it lies somewhere in the 3-6 range. There’s variation because it depends on several factors: for one, whether you’re planning an upper-body session, a lower-body session, or a full-body session. You must also consider the intensity, or percentage of 1RM, you’re training at during a session. Heavier sessions—that is, those with higher intensities—require reduced volume.

Lighter sessions and upper-body sessions can contain more volume. The load on the nervous system isn’t as great, making recovery less of an issue. As a general rule, pack more volume on upper-body days than lower-body days. When in doubt, however, choose lower volume.

7 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

The program below is predicated on a four-day split, but the actual number of days you train may well be determined by your schedule. The four-day split works well because it follows an upper-body/lower-body schedule.

Before you begin lifting, remember your goals: Shoot for numbers 5 percent above your current maxes. Once you’ve penned your goals, plan backward from the date you’ll achieve them—it should be about 12 weeks from your program start date—and progress through sets of 5 and 3, increasing overall intensity—using heavier weighs for fewer reps—as the weeks progress.

“Before you begin lifting, remember your goals: Shoot for numbers 5 percent above your current maxes.”

A month’s worth of 5-rep sets on your main lifts is a solid place to start. Month 2 intensifies with sets of 3 reps. Month 3 finishes with sets of 3 on Week 1, 5s on Week 2, heavier 3s on Week 3, and then Week 4 is a test week.

Remember that starting light is never a mistake, and enhancing your skills (technique!) is your current focus. Choose the big lifts, set goals, plan, and get to work. You’ll take a strong first step in a lengthy strength journey!

MONTH 1

• Main Lift – Deadlift
  4 sets of 5 using 70-85 percent of your 1RM


• Assistance Lift – Rack Pull
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 8-10RM Alternate Options:
  Romanian Deadlift or Sumo Deadlift


• Other Exercises – Choose 1-2 more
  multi-joint exercises
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 8-10RM

• Main Lift – Bench Press
  4 sets of 5 using 70-85 percent of your 1RM


• Assistance Lift – Incline Bench Press
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 10RM Alternate Options:
  Floor Press or Dumbbell Bench Press


• Other Exercises – Choose 2-4 more
  multijoint exercises
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 8-10RM

• Main Lift – Squat
  4 sets of 5 using 70-85 percent of your 1RM


• Assistance Lift – Front Squat
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 10RM Alternate Options:
  Box Squat or Goblet Squat


• Other Exercises – Choose 1-2 more
  multijoint exercises
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 8-10RM

• Main Lift – Military Press
  4 sets of 5 using 70-85 percent of your 1RM


• Assistance Lift – Seated Military Press
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 10RM Alternate Options:
  Overhead Dumbbell Press or Overhead Kettlebell Press


• Other Exercises – Choose 2-4 more
  multijoint exercises
  3 sets of 5-8 reps using your 8-10RM

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Iron And Ink: Your Guide To Tattoos And Training!

New Exercise and Fitness Review

Vital Stats

Name: Danny Kavadlo
From: New York, NY
Occupation: Trainer, author, progressive calisthenics specialist
Website: www.dannythetrainer.com

For many of us, tattoos and strength training go hand in hand. They conjure images of the classic strongman, the badass—the warrior. They can both be brutal and demanding, but each one of these physical manifestations ultimately serves as a means to the same goal: making your body look the way you want it to!

However, this transformation transcends just the physical aesthetic. When you’re working out and sporting ink, there is always more than meets the eye. A powerful, muscular body may broadcast health, strength, and attractiveness to someone looking at it, but many of us see the hidden meanings of determination, struggle, and dedication. The tattooed body showcases those same qualities, as well as other meanings. Whether you’re getting tattooed or getting diesel, you wear your results like a badge of pride. You have to earn it!

Oh yeah, there’s one more big similarity: There’s a lot of questionable information floating around about training and tattoos. As someone with extensive ties in each community, it’s not surprising that I’m often asked tattoo-related workout questions. Here are my answers to the ones I get the most.

QI want a tattoo on my arm, but I’m about to get huge! Won’t the tattoo get stretched out?

The short answer is no. You see, when skin stretches, there are only certain areas from which the stretching occurs. The biceps/triceps area is not one of them. When your arms grow, it’s the skin around the armpit that shows the evidence. For proof, take a look at the location of stretch marks on people who have had rapid changes in their weight. They’re almost always around the pits. (And, unless you’re me, it’s unlikely you will get tattooed there!)

Even with substantial muscular growth, there is only so much your tattoo can realistically enlarge. A difference of a few inches in circumference would be astronomical on your arm’s appearance, yet would be virtually unnoticeable to the actual look of the tattoo. Hell, whether you work out or not, skin changes over the years. That’s just life. So if you want that biceps piece, just get it!

I heard tattoos need to heal. Do I have to stop training if I get one?

Not necessarily—though you do have to allow it to heal. Think back to your last intense, heavy leg workout. Remember how you felt the next day? Well, just as your muscles require recovery after trauma, so does your skin.

In fact, the way you take care of a new tattoo the first 10-15 days is more important than the way you take care of it for the next 10-15 years. Just as your physique is not guaranteed when you leave the gym, that new piece is not guaranteed when you leave the studio. Keep it clean and moisturized, and stay out of the sun.

“The way you take care of a new tattoo the first 10-15 days is more important than the way you take care of it for the next 10-15 years.”

I also recommend not training the freshly inked area for at least 2-3 days. This doesn’t mean you need to stop working out altogether; just be smart about it. If a sleeve is healing on your arm, train your legs. If you just tattooed your thigh, work on your abs and do some pull-ups.

That said, regardless of any new tattoos, if you feel particularly debilitated, drained or tired, then I encourage you to listen to your body. You are a better judge of your own recovery time than anything you read, including what you’re reading right now. Sure, I encourage you to push yourself if you want to achieve great things, but respecting your instincts in the present moment is generally more conducive to results than ignoring them.

I’ve been making great gains in the gym. If I get a tattoo, will it obscure my physique?

Clearly, none of us who train hard want our tattoo work to outshine our work in the gym. Thankfully, the two make a perfect pair! One need look no farther than real-life examples like Dave Bautista, Christmas Abbott, or Jim Stoppani to see that bold, strong tattoos fit a bold strong body like a proverbial glove.

When your tattoos conform to your own musculature in terms of shape, flow and size, it will enhance your hard work, not hinder it—in most cases. I don’t recommend getting a tiny piece on a big body part.

If you have any further tattoo-related training questions or advice, let me know in the comments section below. In the meantime, keep America beautiful. Work out and get tattooed!

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Iron And Ink: Your Guide To Tattoos And Training!