Cable Flys Exercises
If you want to sculpt your chest, there are several types of cable flys that can help you achieve this goal:
Standing Decline Cable Flys
This is the most common type of cable fly exercise. Once you choose how much weight you're going to use, you should start by standing in the middle of the crossover machine. To ensure you stay balanced while you're performing this exercise, stand with one foot in front of the other. While you want your knees to be bent, you want to keep your arms straight. Keeping your arms straight will ensure the tension created by this exercise stays focused on your chest muscles. This is also why it's important to pull the cables down with a consistent motion. Going too fast will decrease this exercise's effectiveness.
Once the cables meet in front of your body, you will want to briefly stop. The reason you should hold this position is it will eliminate any momentum that could make this exercise less challenging and effective. Finish your first rep by using the same consistent motion to return the cables to their starting position. Using the same motion for the entire exercise will ensure you work your pec muscles as much as possible.
Standing Incline Cable Flys
While you'll also stand in the middle of a crossover machine for this exercise, you'll be pulling the cables up instead of down. As a result, you need to move the cable handles to the bottom of the machine. As with the decline variation, you want to keep your arms straight throughout this exercise. You also want to use a controlled movement that fully exerts your chest. When you pull the cables up, they will eventually meet in front of you at a level between your upper chest and chin. Follow the same procedure for this exercise of briefly pausing and then slowly lowering the cables back down.
Flat Bench Cable Flys
What makes this cable fly exercise different from the other two is instead of standing in the middle of a crossover machine, you will be lying back on a flat bench in the middle of the machine. While you will still be bringing the cables in front of your body, because you'll be on your back, this will put the cables above you. You can choose one of two starting positions for this exercise. You can either begin with the cables together in the air or with them at a level that's even with your shoulders. You'll use the same motion for either option, so you can test both to see which one feels most natural for you. With either option, you will move the cables between these two points, briefly pausing when you hit the high or low point of the exercise. As you move the cables between these points, focus your attention on feeling your chest muscles contract. Staying focused is the best way to ensure you're able to fully exert them.
