Incline Presses & Flyes - Waste of Time and Energy?

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Do any of you buy into the theory that chest exercises such as the incline press or dunbbell flyes are a waste of time? I have always included dumbbell flyes and bb/db incline presses into my chest routine, but I have read a lot of opinions as of late that these exercises can be outright scrapped.

The basic premise is that the more weight you put up, the bigger your muscle grows (obviously). So with flyes you have to drop the weight dramatically, and the actual movement makes the exercise an isolation movement (therefore eliminating other muscle groups that would help in getting more weight up). I always thought that the flyes were for shaping the outer chest, however its now generally accepted that you can not change the shape of your muscles - you can only make then bigger. Wouldn't that then pretty much make flyes worthless or am I missing something?

As for the incline presses, it again requires that you decrease the amount of weight that you use. The popular opinion here (myself included) was that this exercise increased the size of your upper chest, but I have read in many places that you can not isolate one part of the chest from the other. It's all one large muscle. If that is a fact, then it seems that incline presses would be reduced to nothing more than a waste of energy and that we should focus entirely on flat bench presses, decline presses, and dips.

Thoughts?

 

[goldie123]

its true that you cant "isoltae" a specific area of the chest. incline presses will work the whole chest but just more the upper

 

[PoweredUp]

its true that you cant "isoltae" a specific area of the chest. incline presses will work the whole chest but just more the upper

That actually brings up another question or two. Can emphasizing an area of a muscle (like the upper chest) result in more growth in that particular area, or will the entire muscle grow evenly regardless of the focal point?

And is it even necessarily more beneficial to use less weight to emphasize the upper chest versus putting up more weight on a flat bench where you hit the chest more evenly?

 

[goldie123]

well in bodybuilding terms im a bit of a beginner having only been training 3 and seriously for 2 years so dnt take what i say as gospel but i dont mind helping you if i can. i too have been trying to build my upper chest as in comparison to the rest of it it is lagging behind. i used to do 3 sets flat presses, 2 sets incline db presses and 2 sets incline db flies and a few x-overs depending on how i feel. but i added in another set on both incline presses and incline flies and this seems to have done the trick as my upper chest is deffinatly starting to grow so for me targeting the upper chest has worked but as a rule for everyone im not sure that it works as my friend hardly does anything to target his upper chest but yet its his best part of his chest, my advice to use is to just mix it up and see what works.

 

[needtogetaas]

if you do inclines for a wile and notice your upper chest is getting bigger then it dont matter what any one says it worked for you.

 

[ukkared]

I personally think fly's are a better exercise for my chest than presses. But I don't drop weight, I go as heavy as I can and then vary the range of motion. Works wonders for me.

 

[PoweredUp]

if you do inclines for a wile and notice your upper chest is getting bigger then it dont matter what any one says it worked for you.

Well I've done incline presses throughout my entire lifting career and have never noticed and increase in my upper chest versus the middle or lower portion. I guess I'll ditch them and just stick to the flat bench/decline presses and weighted dips from now on.

Still curious to hear some theories on what benefits the flyes might offer (if any).

 

[timtim]

I personally think fly's are a better exercise for my chest than presses. But I don't drop weight, I go as heavy as I can and then vary the range of motion. Works wonders for me.

the fly movement mimics the exact manner in which the pec muscle contracts, as a fan. think of a fan the oriental woman use to fan their faces (hope that isnt too sterotypical). but that movement (as stated by charles poliquin) is the most mass building exercise you can do for the chest. presses do not mimic the natural contraction of the chest and utilize the front delt, triceps, and back as stabilizers and auxillary movers.

by keeping the form correct, slightly bent elbows, weight over the wrist, on the inside of the elbow,and elbow stabilization on the inside of the ac joint, you can move a large amount of weight in fly movements. i can easily move 80s and 90s for 10 reps without feeling any joint stress. the whole thing here lies in form. took me awhile to learn to do the movement right. going for an excessively deep stretch is not a good idea as it relies more on strecth reflex after you pass the midline of the chest. this hampers ligament and tendon safety.

 

[Hybridtheory2o]

Ive read the opposite and ive always done dips compared to decline presses. Ive done a lot of reading and a lot of ppl say decline presses are a wasted movement and dont do a whole lot so i choose to dips over those.

As for incline i like them and flyes are a scuplting movement. The flat and incline are just the basic compound heavier movements and then you should be doing the flyes with lighter weight obviously and as you are performing the rep try to squeeze the muscle for even more intense burning.

 

[PoweredUp]

Ive read the opposite and ive always done dips compared to decline presses. Ive done a lot of reading and a lot of ppl say decline presses are a wasted movement and dont do a whole lot so i choose to dips over those.

As for incline i like them and flyes are a scuplting movement. The flat and incline are just the basic compound heavier movements and then you should be doing the flyes with lighter weight obviously and as you are performing the rep try to squeeze the muscle for even more intense burning.

There hasn't been any discussion about the effectiveness of dips. Those are obviously an outstanding compound movement. And I don't really know if dips are more effective than the decline barbell press (or vice versa) so I alternate them every other chest day.