The main function of the pectoralis major is adduction of the shoulder. This is the movement by which the arms approach the plane of symmetry of the body. That is, the pectoral works when we perform frontal push exercises and when we perform the typical opening movement, or what is the same, a hug movement.
Therefore, our chest routine should not only include front-pushing movements like bench presses or push-ups, but should also contain exercises like flyes. The dumbbell flyes they are not the only possibility (nor the best) that we can find when training this movement.
Dumbbell Fly
If you like the world of fitness and have seen videos of bodybuilders, you will have seen Arnold Schwarzenegger always perform dumbbell flyes to train his huge pecs.
It is clear that the exercise itself helps the development of hypertrophy in the pectoral, what happens is that you probably do not have shoulders as strong as Arnold had and it is most likely that if you have already tried this exercise you have finished with discomfort.
The problem with this exercise is that it puts too much stress on the shoulder joint and if we work with loads that bring us close to muscle failure during the series, we may end up suffering an injury.
When we work the openings it is dangerous to reach muscular failure due to the risk of injury, so if you do not master the technique perfectly or feel that you are wasting time when you do not train with a load that brings you closer to muscular failure, it is best to swap dumbbell flyes for a safer alternative.
wired opening
Pulley flyes, despite not limiting the risk of injury as much as the Pec-Deck machine, are usually the preferred option for bodybuilding lovers to work on flyes. On the one hand, not lying on a bench allows you to take a few steps back and stop the exercise at any time if the load is excessive and you feel discomfort (which is complicated when you are lying down and have the weights in the lowest position).
On the other hand, the pulleys offer great freedom when choosing the plane in which you want to train to focus more on the upper, central or lower part of the chest, at the same time that the exercise becomes much more comfortable.
Finally, the mechanism of the pulley itself means that the tension on the pectoral is constant throughout the range of motion, which is not the case with free weights with which you can fix the elbow joint in the starting position and eliminate all tension on the chest. the chest.
Pec Deck
Another option that is also valid for exercising the opening movement with the pecs is using the Pec-Deck machine. With this alternative you will be able to work with weights that lead to muscle failure since the machine is designed not to force the shoulder joint in case of failure, being the maximum range of movement that allows our shoulders 180º with respect to the trunk. That is, the elbow will never exceed (backward) the height of the trunk, so the shoulder joint will not be compromised.
Therefore, when making your routine, what you can do is include the Pec-Deck to work through openings the middle area of the pectoral and openings with both high pulley and low pulley to train the upper and lower section of it.