What muscles does the cable fly work?

The chest. The front of the shoulders assists, but with the elbows fixed the chest does most of the work, which is the point of a fly.

Cable fly or dumbbell fly?

Both work. Dumbbells load the chest most in the stretch and almost nothing at the top; cables keep tension through the whole movement, including the squeeze. Many people prefer cables for that reason.

Should I do flies before or after presses?

Usually after. Presses let you lift heavier and progress the chest most; flies add volume afterwards without needing much weight.

Do cable flies build the inner chest?

You cannot train one strip of a muscle on its own. Flies train the whole chest, and the squeeze at the end feels strong in the middle, which is where the idea comes from.

Cable Fly: Muscles Worked and How to Do It

Cable fly: muscles worked and how to do it

The cable fly trains your chest. It is an isolation exercise: your arms sweep together in a wide hug with the elbows slightly bent, so the chest does the work without the triceps taking over as it does in a press.

Standing between two cable pulleys, you bring the handles together in front of you and let them back out under control. Cables keep tension on the chest through the whole movement, including the squeeze at the end, where a dumbbell fly goes slack.

At a glance

Main muscles: Chest
Movement: Bring the arms together (fly)
Equipment: Cable machine
Type: Isolation (one joint)

Front

Back

How to do a cable fly

Set both pulleys at about shoulder height and hold a handle in each hand. Step forward into a split stance until there is tension on the cables and your arms are out to the sides.
Bend your elbows slightly and keep that bend for the whole set. Lean forward a little from the hips, chest up.
Bring your hands together in front of your chest in a wide arc, as if hugging a large tree.
Squeeze your chest for a moment when your hands meet.
Let your arms open slowly until you feel a stretch across your chest, then start the next rep.

Cues that help

"Hug the tree": a wide arc, not a straight-line push.
"Fixed elbows": the bend stays the same from start to finish; if it changes, it becomes a press.
"Lead with the biceps": think of bringing your upper arms together, not your hands.
"Stretch, don’t yank": open only as far as your shoulders feel comfortable.

Common mistakes

Bending and straightening the elbows, which turns the fly into a press and hands work to the triceps.
Too much weight, so the cables pull your arms back further than your shoulders like.
Rounding the shoulders forward at the end. Keep the chest up and the shoulders down.
Letting the handles fly back. The opening phase is half of the stretch and half of the exercise.

High, middle or low pulleys?

The angle changes which part of the chest works hardest. Pulleys high, pulling down and across (a high-to-low fly), favour the lower and middle chest. Pulleys low, pulling up towards your face (a low-to-high fly), bring in more of the upper chest. Shoulder height sits in between.

All three train the chest. Pick the one that fits the rest of your programme, or rotate them over the weeks.

Sets, reps and weight

For muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps.
Rest about 1 to 1.5 minutes between sets.
Use a weight you can control on the way out; the stretch is where you lose form first.
It works well after a heavier press, like the bench press or incline dumbbell press.

Variations and alternatives

Low-to-high cable fly: pulleys low, hands finish at chin height.
High-to-low cable fly: pulleys high, hands finish at hip height.
Single-arm cable fly: one arm at a time, holding on with the other hand.
Pec deck: the machine version, with a fixed path.
Dumbbell fly: on a bench, hardest in the stretch and easy at the top.

Tracking your cable flies

PushBeyond logs the weight and reps of each set and charts the history of the exercise. Its muscle map counts the cable fly for your chest.