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Incline Presses & Flyes - Waste of Time and Energy?
- Thread starter PoweredUp
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But by that same logic, wouldn't that also render incline presses inferior to flat bench presses? If you can't isolate different parts of the chest muscle and the incline forces you to do less weight that a flat bench, why do inclines at all? Why not stick with flat bench dumbbell and barbell presses which allow you to get the most weight up while simultaneously working the entire chest?BigboyAl said:
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BigboyAl
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your 80lb db fly is about 3times less weight then your incline press at 250.. are you activating 3x as much muscle fiber with flys than the bench? if your not than your incline bench would be more efficent..anyway everyones differnet but in realworld pratice.. flys did shit for me..
poweredup: who said you cant isloate the chest? you must not have worked out for long if you think you can only do flat bench.. do nothing but flat bench and in most people they get bitch tits.. you need to do inlcine to lift and fill the entire chest.. thats why u do them.. some people dont even do flat bench at all.. not to mention your logic is floored..some people incline more than flat bench because thats there main lift they focus on.. so your making assumptions with your statement
poweredup: who said you cant isloate the chest? you must not have worked out for long if you think you can only do flat bench.. do nothing but flat bench and in most people they get bitch tits.. you need to do inlcine to lift and fill the entire chest.. thats why u do them.. some people dont even do flat bench at all.. not to mention your logic is floored..some people incline more than flat bench because thats there main lift they focus on.. so your making assumptions with your statement
BigboyAl said:
its not that simple as my bench is 3 times the dbs i use. that is a huge oversimplification. look up charles poliquin and the mri studies on muscle activation in db flies and bb presses. the science is there. the muscle necessary to balance and move the dbs makes a huge difference on muscle activation. holding the bar requires much less muscle activation than holding the db.
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BigboyAl
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well i guess its an individual thing.. everyone needs to try it for themself and see what works..
Well first of all I have been lifting for more than 15 years, and secondly I didn't say that you can't isolate the chest (that's what a fky movement essentially is). I said that you can't isolate different parts of the chest from one another. It's all worked as one huge muscle. So people who believe that when they do incline presses that they are working on a different part of the chest than when they do flat bench are mistaken.BigboyAl said:
I have never met anyone who could do more on an incline than they could on a flat bench. I mean think about it...your strongest position will be the decline and the further up you come the less weight you can lift. When you're completely perpendicular to the floor (military press) you won't be able to lift nearly as much as when you are parrallel (bench press). Given than an incline is at a higher angle than the flat bench, there's no reason that you should be able to lift more weight. Even if someone does focus entirely on incline presses, they should still be able to lie flat and put up even more weight than normal.
My only point is that if DIFFERENT PARTS of the chest muscle can't be isolated during a lift, why bother with inclines? I have rarely done inclines and my upper chest is huge (no bitch tits).
Here is what Jeff Willet (IFBB Pro and 2003 Team Universe Overall Champion) says about flyes:
Dumbbell Flyes (incline, decline, flat)
The first thing you need to ask yourself before choosing an exercise is: Will this provide maximum overload?
Flyes are an isolation movement for the chest because they remove the triceps and shoulders out of the movement. However, isolation reduces overload. Less overload means less muscle fiber stimulation.
Another reason people mistakenly do flyes is to shape the muscle. Let me make this perfectly clear, you cannot change the genetic shape of your muscles. You can make them bigger which may appear to change the shape, but you cannot change the genetically predetermined shape of your muscles.
Flyes are basically a worthless exercise in my book. You expend a lot of energy for a little overload.
Cable Cross Over
This falls into the same category as flyes. Worthless. A lot of effort for a little overload. Cable Cross Overs do not build muscle, they do not shape the muscle. All they do is exhaust the muscle.
Pec Deck
This is the same as flyes only they have made a machine to do them on. A waste of time. Too much effort for too little overload. Leave this one to the Saturday morning fitness crowd."
Dumbbell Flyes (incline, decline, flat)
The first thing you need to ask yourself before choosing an exercise is: Will this provide maximum overload?
Flyes are an isolation movement for the chest because they remove the triceps and shoulders out of the movement. However, isolation reduces overload. Less overload means less muscle fiber stimulation.
Another reason people mistakenly do flyes is to shape the muscle. Let me make this perfectly clear, you cannot change the genetic shape of your muscles. You can make them bigger which may appear to change the shape, but you cannot change the genetically predetermined shape of your muscles.
Flyes are basically a worthless exercise in my book. You expend a lot of energy for a little overload.
Cable Cross Over
This falls into the same category as flyes. Worthless. A lot of effort for a little overload. Cable Cross Overs do not build muscle, they do not shape the muscle. All they do is exhaust the muscle.
Pec Deck
This is the same as flyes only they have made a machine to do them on. A waste of time. Too much effort for too little overload. Leave this one to the Saturday morning fitness crowd."
artificialaspirations
New member
I've always felt flyes were a waste of time and I also don't like the way flat bench makes my chest look. Although it is more fun cause you can move more weight.
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