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Yea - machine fly, cable fly, db fly - incline/flat/decline etc etc - they will all be added in at one point or another...
 
Db's are good, safe on the shoulder, but difficult to get a good (important) hard contraction of the pecs making the exercise a little inefficient.

cables enable you to really get a good load at the point of contraction, but the resistance falls away pretty fast as you stretch the pecs.

a machine can be real shoulder wrecker if the biomechanics of the machine is poor, if you're not sure about the machine don't use it.

but a good machine is the best movement for the pecs especially when you use a machine that has a lot of adjustment.
 
On the subject of cables, what does everyone prefer.. High, mid or low point?
I see plenty of guys trying to do a press movement on the cables, anyone see this as effective or stick to flyes on there and db/bb for pressing?
 
Have always added incline flys to my training over the 30 years of banging iron around .. Like many of the exercises available for each body part you need to mix it up to keep the pump happening anyway these work well for me .. And at times I will change the way in which I do them like only doing partials at the bottom strech and bringing them up half way to keep the tension there . Other times I will go full reps to the top and when I'm unable to do anymore will try to do a few presses to finish off.. Anyway Flys are good for me for flooding blood into the chest region .. But a warning to those not used to them , care has to be taken at the bottom stretch expecialy when doing them heavy as a tear is an easy result..
 
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.. But a warning to those not used to them , care has to be taken at the bottom stretch expecialy when doing them heavy as a tear is an easy result..

+1

I am just coming off 5 weeks of pretty much nil training as I damaged the lower part of my sternum (xyphoid process) stupidly pushing myself too hard while doing incline flyes. Seems to have tore something, and the whole part near my sternum is really swollen, and feels like I am being winded whenever I tighten my core, or do anything chest related. Had X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopy, and having a CT this week to really pinpoint it.

I'm really over doing curls, tricep stuff and calves. REALLY over it.


...............don't do super wide flyes!
 
On the subject of cables, what does everyone prefer.. High, mid or low point?
I see plenty of guys trying to do a press movement on the cables, anyone see this as effective or stick to flyes on there and db/bb for pressing?

I'll use all of them (not in the same session) - high I will do a "normal" fly, mid range I'll do more a pressing movement and low it will be somewhat like a fly but more for lower pec. Mainly I will just do the higher/normal fly though.
 
This morning i did rather large bench session, i had tight pecs, then i did some flyes and they weren't so tight.

That's why i do them
 
I wouldnt say I do them all the time, but I do throw them in when I feel like it, do them on a pec deck machine thing we have and really concentrate on squeezing through the whole ROM with a hold at full contraction, find this works the chest nicely.
 
I also do flyes as prehab, as prescribed by Boris Sheiko. As Oni explained, they are great at flushing the chest and shoulder muscles with blood. I usually do 10-15% of my bench 1RM, 5 sets of 8-12 at the end of training with minimal rest in between, sometimes supersetted with some of other accessory exercise like ab work. The first few sets are always tight and cranky, but by the end I am feeling magic. If you bench with any sort of decent volume and frequency, the pec minor in particular will get really tight and sore. During Sheiko cycles, when I was diligent with flyes (and pushups), I was always less sore and crippled than I when I neglected them.
 
50/50 between flies and cable crossovers. I have a naturally wide chest and flies seem to get the outside and shoulders pumped with blood and stretched out. Cable crossovers activate the inner chest to a greater degree, but less of a stretch.
 
Db's are good, safe on the shoulder, but difficult to get a good (important) hard contraction of the pecs making the exercise a little inefficient.

cables enable you to really get a good load at the point of contraction, but the resistance falls away pretty fast as you stretch the pecs.

a machine can be real shoulder wrecker if the biomechanics of the machine is poor, if you're not sure about the machine don't use it.

but a good machine is the best movement for the pecs especially when you use a machine that has a lot of adjustment.


um how does the resistance change with cables? tension is constant through the full range of motion

tension changes with DB's because the path is cicular and the moment arm changes with the arc

so cables > db fly
 
um how does the resistance change with cables? tension is constant through the full range of motion

tension changes with DB's because the path is cicular and the moment arm changes with the arc

so cables > db fly

I have a question for you moth boy.

Where does resistance come from?
What dictates resistance in a given exercise?

And dont say the weight.
 
I have a question for you moth boy.

Where does resistance come from?
What dictates resistance in a given exercise?

And dont say the weight.
Gravity.


But I still don't understand how a DB fly would be superior to a cable movement? Of course the bottom of a DB fly is going to have more tension, but wouldn't this make it an inferior choice if tension isn't uniform throughout the whole movement?
 
Gravity.


But I still don't understand how a DB fly would be superior to a cable movement? Of course the bottom of a DB fly is going to have more tension, but wouldn't this make it an inferior choice if tension isn't uniform throughout the whole movement?

I'm mearly pointing out the differences, if anything the DB's would be inferior in regards to full resistance at contraction position as I stated earlier.
With DB's you can automically vary the degree of resistance as you stated by adjusting the moment arm.
With a cable, you cannot, the resistance is not rotational but in a straight line away from the torso..

The limiting factor of a "pec-dec" although rotational and with the assistance of a cam to automatically vary the force thruogh the ROM will not allow the arm to cross over the mid-line of the torso because of the pads, a really well designed machine would allow the arms to move iso-laterally, but thats rare in modern machines.

At the end of the day, DB's for practicality and efficiancy.
 
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