Dumbbell fly is one of the best chest exercises for women to prevent sagging breasts. As for men, this workout is important for shaping the nice physique of chests too. This exercise is a compound workout. The main muscle being worked out is the chest. Other muscles involved are triceps and shoulders.
Steps:
- Sit down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Your palms are facing inward toward each other. Lie back, keeping the dumbbells close to your chest.
- Lift these weights over your chest by extending your arms.
- Lower the dumbbells to the sides of your body in an arc-like motion. Visualize hugging a giant tree trunk. This arc movement is gets its name because the arms “fly out” to the sides. Sustain a slight bend in your elbows while keeping your hips and shoulders flat on the bench.
- At the lowest point of the range of motion, your bent elbows should be on a horizontal plane even with the bench.
- After doing so, lift the dumbbells back in arc-like motion too in a slow and controlled fashion.
- At the peak of the movement, squeeze your pectoral muscles together for one-count if you can.
- Do 3 sets of dumbbell fly with each set of 8 to 12 repetitions.
Tips:
- The bend in your elbows should be maintained throughout the exercise. However, do not bend your elbows too much to prevent cheating.
- You do not have to bang the dumbbells together at the top of the movement.
- For beginner, if you find it hard to stabilize your upper body, use lighter weight. Alternatively, you can do the workout seated with Butterfly machine (also known as Peck Deck machine). Everything is supported and you are sitting while doing it, so you just have to move the weight. This exercise is known as Butterfly or Pec Deck Fly. In fact, I personally prefer seated Butterfly with machine because it targets more on the chest muscle. But, that is me. Try both, the free weight version and this seated version with the machine and see which one fits you the most.
Category: Chest 
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Related Posts
- Chest Workout (3) – Incline Dumbbell Press
- Chest Workout (4) – Decline Bench Press
- Back Workout (2) – One Arm Dumbbell Row Loading
- Legs Workout (5) – Dumbbell or Barbell Forward Lunge
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The Yoga Instructor // Apr 22, 2008 at 9:44 PM
This particular workout is my secret too.
Secret to staying fit, I mean :)
Nick Irons // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:20 PM
Great post.
I just want to make one comment…the chest fly is not considered a compound movement. It is an isolation chest exercise. The arms are kept straight (or close to it), so there is no triceps involvement and the shoulders remain at a constant angle, so the shoulders are not used either.
Nick
Allan // Oct 30, 2008 at 2:49 AM
One of the best excercises and Arnold´s favourite!