A lot of men develop hard and massive chests as a result of their weightlifting workouts. In this video, UK Nationals winner Rob Riches shows you how do it properly by incorporating chest flyes into your workouts. These cable flyes are designed to focus on the inner fibers and portions of the chest, as part of an overall strategy to build muscle mass. Other videos have focused on the lower and upper chest area, but here, the inner fibers are targeted.
Here are some of the key points in the video:
- Before starting, make sure you stretch and warm up properly. The video doesn’t show this step, so you may inadvertently forget especially if you are a newbie.
- Make sure you are actually in the very center of the cable machine. To help you place yourself in the right spot, look for bars at the top. These bars define the spot in which you should stand. If you don’t stand in the middle, you’ll be working one side more than the other, and the results can be literally skewed.
- In the first variation of the fly, you should go forward about half a step, so that your downward pull on the cables also puts some weight on your pectorals. Make sure that your chest is lifted and that you let go of the weigh gradually. About 15 reps of this exercise are recommended, and the weights are supposed to be lighter than the ones used for the second exercise.
- The second version of the cable fly involves moving your arms as if you are hugging a tree at its base. It’s more of a 45 degree angle downward. During this exercise, you need to keep your elbows fixed, and you’re not supposed to flex those elbows at all. Take note of Rob’s form in the video, and try to copy that forward leg stance. For this exercise, heavier weights may be used, and 10 to 12 reps are prescribed.
- The third variety of the cable fly goes back to the original weight used for the first one. In this version, it’s more like a lifting up motion instead of a pulling down. It’s like you’re doing uppercuts with your fists meeting in the middle. Again, pay attention to your form, with one leg forward while the back foot has the heel up. About 10 to 12 reps for the final set are good.
You can use all of these varieties in a single session, and they can do wonders for your chest volume and thickness. But you can also do them one at a time too. You can do the first variety for your first week, and then change to the second for the next week.
Whatever you decide to do, just make sure of three things: (1) keep the reps ranging from 10 to 12, (2) make sure you are challenging yourself with heavy weights, and (3) make sure you are keeping to the proper form.
