Flat Cable Fly
Flat cable flys are an excellent exercise for anyone who wants to improve their upper body. Because this exercise isolates your pectoral muscles, it's ideal for adding more definition to your chest.
How to Do a Flat Cable Fly
Setting up for this exercise is easy to do. First, attach a standard handle to the bottom of each side of a crossover machine. Second, choose the amount of weight you want to use for each side of the machine. In addition to choosing the same weight for each side, the rule of thumb is to pick a weight that allows you to fully complete 2 sets of eight reps but not every rep of the last set. If you're able to do every rep of the last set, you need to increase the amount of weight you're using. Finally, place a flat bench in the middle of the machine.
Now that everything is set up, begin the exercise by sitting down on the bench. Reach over and grab one handle, then do the same with the other. Once you have the handles, you can lie back on the bench. Before you start doing reps, you want to bring the cables up above you. Your starting position should be with your knuckles together in your line of sight. To do your first rep, start lowering the cables down to your sides. As you lower the cables, make sure you're doing it at a controlled pace. If you simply let the momentum of the cables do the work, you're not going to help your chest muscles. Make a conscious effort to focus the cables' tension on your chest. You also don't want to lower the cables as far as your arms will allow. The reason is this can put a lot of strain on your shoulders. Instead, you want to lower the cables to a point that's even with your chest and shoulders. Once you hit this point, briefly pause. After you pause to eliminate any momentum created by the cables, lift them back up over your body with the same controlled pace.
How Often Should You Do Cable Flys?
A common problem with people who are working out for the first time is that they're actually too eager. While it's important to be consistent, this doesn't mean you should work out your chest 5 days a week. In fact, you shouldn't even try to work out 5 days a week at first. Instead, you want to focus on making time for 3 to 4 quality workouts a week. With either option, you don't want to work out your chest more than twice a week. The reason you want to avoid working out any muscle groups more than twice a week is because in order to get stronger and more defined, they need time to recover from being torn down during a workout. This is why it's so important to allow for enough recovery time by alternating the muscle groups you target during your workouts.
