Dumbbell Flyes

Dumbbell Flyes. The best additional exercise for the chest muscles is the lying dumbbell flyes. Due to the different angles of inclination of the bench, this exercise can pump all parts of the pectoral muscles.

Muscle work and the place of exercise in training

Dumbbell flyes on a bench are one of the most popular assisted chest exercises.

The work of the muscles during its execution is as follows:

• The target muscle group is the pectoralis major or pectoralis major muscles. They account for the lion’s share of the load.
• Deltoids (front and middle beams) work as assistants.
• The biceps, triceps, and forearm muscles help keep the dumbbell arms in a fixed, slightly bent position.
• The muscles of the abdomen, legs and buttocks stabilize the core.

A correctly placed technique allows you to simultaneously load the chest and stretch it in the negative phase of the exercise.

Usually, the dumbbell routing while lying on the bench follows immediately after the bench press, sometimes several routing – at different angles. The most commonly used inclines are 30 and 45 degrees, as with the incline bench press. It makes no sense to start your workout with a wiring, even if you have an easy program that day. But to finish – sometimes you even need to.

The inclusion of wiring in the training program is also recommended for girls who want to strengthen their breasts without pumping up voluminous pectoral muscles.

Choice of weight and execution option

Experienced bodybuilders know perfectly well how to choose the right weight and at what angle to perform arm flyes with dumbbells. Therefore, this moment is dedicated to beginners and those who are still poorly oriented in the gym.

As with any resistance exercise, set-up requires a warm-up set of 10-15 reps. At the same time, you need to maintain enough strength to complete all working approaches. Therefore, the weight for warm-up should be minimal – men should take from 5-7 kg, women – 2-3. The muscles should be easy.

Warm-up should be done before horizontal routing and in front of all others (one warm-up approach each). Thanks to this, you can avoid stretching.

Next, when you have warmed up, you need to take the weight with which you can perform 10-15 repetitions. Experiment, if you run out of strength 10 times – immediately take 1–2 kg less weight. Do not try to work to failure in the first months of training – you can stretch your muscles and greatly ruin your technique. Ideally, the last 2-3 repetitions should be made with special difficulty.

Now let’s talk about the features of the program: if you are gaining weight, do 3-4 sets of 8 repetitions in divorce. If dry, 15 repetitions. We recommend that girls do 3 sets of 15 times with medium weights to strengthen their breasts. If you, ladies, are chasing mass – 3-4 sets of 8 reps with weights close to maximum.

How to choose the angle of inclination – be guided by the circumstances. Just remember which angle is swinging, and be guided by this.

• If the bench is located horizontally, you focus on the load on the middle part of the pectoral muscles.
• When the head is higher than the legs, the upper chest works more.
• The head end of the bench is lowered down – you are working on the lower pectoral area.

Most often, first there is a flyes of hands with dumbbells on a horizontal bench, then dumbbell flyes while lying on an incline bench. If you want to make 3 spreads at different angles in one day, reduce the number of approaches from 4 to 3, or even to two. Remember, incline dumbbell flyes also requires a warm-up approach.

Execution technique

Despite the fact that this exercise looks rather simple, the technique should be taken as seriously as possible. This approach will save you from injury and make your workout as effective as possible.

Flyes on a horizontal bench

Consider first flyes hands with dumbbells on a horizontal bench (another name is mixing dumbbells lying down).

If the bench is incline, align it horizontally with the floor. Prepare the necessary dumbbells in advance, immediately take a warm-up weight and a working one. Let them stand near a bench on the floor. During one of the breaks, it will be possible to return the warm-up weights back to the dumbbell rack.

1. Take dumbbells in your hands and sit on the edge of the bench.
2. Lie on a bench so that your head does not hang from it. The back of the head should touch the bench. It is best to place your own personal towel under your head and back. Spread your legs wide to provide good stability. The benches touch the shoulder blade, back, pelvis, nape. The loin is in a natural position, without excessive deflections and roundings, the chest is straightened, looking at the ceiling.
3. Lift the dumbbells in front of you at an angle of 90 degrees to the floor. The arms are extended so that the palms are facing each other (this is the classic version). Bend them slightly at the elbow and freeze them in this position – it is necessary that the angle of flexion of the elbows does not change during the exercise.
4. As you inhale, begin to spread the dumbbells to the sides so that your elbows are pointing down. If the elbows are twisted in some other way, you are doing the exercise wrong. The movement occurs only in the shoulder joint, a small angle at the elbow is fixed.
5. When you feel that the chest muscles are already beginning to stretch, lower your arms a little further, but, of course, not to painful sensations.
6. As you exhale, bring your hands back, almost touching each other with dumbbells. You should feel something like hugging a large tree.

Repeat the exercise as many times as necessary. Then sit down, place the dumbbells at the edge of the bench on the floor and rest for 45-60 seconds. It is advisable to walk during a break between approaches, do swings and shake your hands. This will improve blood circulation in the muscles.

Dumbbell flyes incline

If you want to make an angled layout, the technique is exactly the same. Most importantly, remember that the elbows should be oriented towards the floor, and the movement should be straight up. We feel weights due to the force of gravity, and its vector is always directed strictly downward. Therefore, if your elbows are not pointing down when performing an angle spread, there will be no sense from the exercise either.

Butterfly or simulator flyes

You can perform flyes while sitting in a special simulator – this exercise is called a butterfly. This is an isolated flyes option, with its help you can well load the middle part of the pectoral muscle. It is very convenient in that you do not need to take dumbbells, you do not need to walk and change them if the weights do not suit you. It is enough just to change the load right in the simulator – quickly and conveniently.

Another plus – in the simulator, the exercise is almost always performed in the correct technique, since it is very difficult to do it incorrectly. Butterfly is a simple and pleasant option for working on the chest. But its effectiveness, unfortunately, is somewhat lower in comparison with dumbbells. In addition, this is an imitation of the horizontal version. The setting of dumbbells lying on an incline bench is not imitated in the butterfly simulator.

Errors and their meaning

Of course, no one seeks to specifically perform the exercise incorrectly. We are not considering the cheat option. As a rule, violations of technique are the result of a misunderstanding of the meaning of the exercise. Let’s take a look at where the most popular errors come from:

1. Your arms bend during flyes. This means that the weight is too heavy, and you compensate for this by reducing the distance from the weight to your body. This often happens with newbies.
2. Locks look anywhere but at the floor. So you can injure your shoulders, and the load on the pectoral muscles will not be maximum. You just need to keep an eye on it, otherwise you can’t.
3. Often people confuse dumbbell press and set, combining them into one exercise. If you work with triceps and extend your arms when moving up, this is not a wiring. This is where other muscles get involved.
4. Is it necessary to flex in the chest at the lowest possible flyes? To increase the amplitude, you can. If you can do a fixed breast flyes, do it. The main thing is that the shoulder blades do not come off the bench.
5. Dumbbell flyes while lying on an incline bench requires the correct position of the lower back and back – no need to slouch or bend in the lower back, thus trying to connect additional muscles to work and use them to lift the weight.

If your goal is to gain mass, then in addition to layouts, do not forget about exercises such as bench press in different versions (it is done first), push-ups from the floor or from the uneven bars. A pullover will also be a good end to your chest workout. It can be done after dilutions.

Whatever your program, always remember that the sequence of movement towards the goal looks like this: working out the technique, and then the progression of the weights. By following this rule, you will achieve truly impressive results.