lookin for some chest width... i hear flies are great

sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
the problem with me is i have this popping pain in my shoulder when i do flies. And once it pops my arms kind of give out. i may be able to get away with like a set if i warm up my shoulders for a long time but after that i'm done for. i had talked to a few people at my gym including trainers but nobody really knows. the best guess was a tendon rolling over a part of the shoulder or something like that. i most definitely need width in the chest though and all my chest lift i have a wide ass grip already cause i like it better. the only thing i can really do for flies is machines and we just have the seat straight up so it's hitting the same muscles that flat bench would. any help or suggestions?
 
LaGrange26

LaGrange26

New member
Awards
0
I really dont think it is the best idea to stay with the flies because i have a bad shoulder myself and my pt says not to do flies but allows me to do everything eles. I say stay with the other work outs and stay away from flies all together, not worth it!
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
oh ok cool. idk it's just frustrating because i'm not gaining any width... but i also stuck to DB for a while and stayed away from BB... maybe being consistant with BB will open and widen my chest more?
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
I personally love loading up the bar and incorporating wide grip(bench press), and yes flies into my chest routine. umm try not going back as far if your shoulder is hurting you!Good luck!
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
i just feel like a wuss if i dont go far back. but i'll give it a try. chest today! yaya
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
lol a wuss!! Well don't be a idiot and be one who trys to impress and injures himself.
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
ya i know. it's not really a matter of impressing for that matter although it's always nice to get a few looks when you're putting up a good amount weight. only looks i get are from old men haha. but with the flies i just feel like a wuss cause i've always been one to drive myself and my dad's hardcore so i was kinda raised to push through the pain. he's a psycho. i cant push through this pain. i know i shouldn't. i hit up chest today and set some pr's. i was pumped. my last workout of the day was gonna be flies but i pussed out and just did machine haha. even then i hit this one rep and it killed my left shoulder. i immediately dropped the weight and it felt fine. i was too scared for DB's though. next week i'll try the DB's... iff i'm up for it. (that's math terminology iff=if and only if)
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
ya i know. it's not really a matter of impressing for that matter although it's always nice to get a few looks when you're putting up a good amount weight. only looks i get are from old men haha. but with the flies i just feel like a wuss cause i've always been one to drive myself and my dad's hardcore so i was kinda raised to push through the pain. he's a psycho. i cant push through this pain. i know i shouldn't. i hit up chest today and set some pr's. i was pumped. my last workout of the day was gonna be flies but i pussed out and just did machine haha. even then i hit this one rep and it killed my left shoulder. i immediately dropped the weight and it felt fine. i was too scared for DB's though. next week i'll try the DB's... iff i'm up for it. (that's math terminology iff=if and only if)
I would highly recommend getting a weight set for your garage, you can go soo much harder and you don't have to worry about looking or impressing anyone It is Christmas time!
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
good recomendation actually but it's all good. i fuel more off of other people. idky... for instance today i was doing incline db's and i was just going for 4 sets of 8 but likely my last two sets would drop. i went from 65's - 75's and on my last set i bumped it up to 80's. i had some random spot me but because i hate getting help i pushed really hard and put that up 8 times. i just gotta learn to not be a dumbass when it comes to flies. i'm good about for the most part. i dont sacrafice form for weight... the people i see do that i just laugh at them cause well... it is fvckin funny. me doing that on flies is because i feel like a wuss to myself. i feel like i'm cheating myself haha. i'll just have to learn to deal with it rather than pushing through the pain.
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
oh **** but that's a really good call. i didn't understand what you meant by IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME lol. that's a great call. although pointless because i work at a gym so my membership is free... idk. maybe i could ask for that.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
listen actually have a hardcore workout*(every time)!IN the privacy of my own home i don't have to worry about checking some chick out or looking pretty,believe me it makes a world of difference!
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
that'd be sweet actually. that would be really convienant. sounds lame to many people but i think other people might understand. i want to lift with my shirt off for more motivation and it's not like i can do that at the gym so that'd be a bonus. that'd be a ****in huge christmas gift haha. i'll have to ask for the basics and save up for some more stuff.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
heck yea lol u gotta have the mirror set up the music pumping, and you can check yourself out whenever you please!
 
silverSurfer

silverSurfer

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
I used to have an issue with my shoulders doing BP and flys. I used to have a similar popping effect and it would hurt a lot. After a couple of years of frustration and not being able to increase my weight due to the pain I decided to change my routine and incorporated days of push-ups and rotator cuff exercises in place of weights. A few weeks later I decided to try the weights again and not only did my shoulder pain go away, but I managed to increase my weight. Just last night I managed to break into the 200 range at 205 lbs x 3, probably not a huge deal to most people here, but considering I was benching 135 lbs before I started my log in September (Start over!) it is a huge deal to me :)

I used and still use push-up bars to take the stress of the wrists - they are awesome! I hope this helps you - good luck!
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
Had the same prob with my wrist when doing barbell curls and pushups, man is that annoying!Although now i'm fine, i could never have a full workout do to this minor problem.
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
the problem with me is i have this popping pain in my shoulder when i do flies. And once it pops my arms kind of give out.
I have torn rotator cuffs and mine does the same thing. You need to get an MRI to determine what is really going on with your shoulder.

the only thing i can really do for flies is machines and we just have the seat straight up so it's hitting the same muscles that flat bench would. any help or suggestions?
Actaully, it doesn't. Pec decs or any other fly machinge with a seat straight up and down hit the inner chest where your pecs meet at your sternum. All fly movements for chest hit that area. Whoever told you that flies will bring out width doesn't know anything about exercise kinesiology.
Width will largely be determined by genetics and I would bring my hand spacing in a little if you want to prevent tearing up your shoulders. I had to learn the hard way.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
Exactly bring it on and not soo wide exactly what I said
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
i cant push through this pain. i know i shouldn't. i hit up chest today and set some pr's. i was pumped. my last workout of the day was gonna be flies but i pussed out and just did machine haha. even then i hit this one rep and it killed my left shoulder. i immediately dropped the weight and it felt fine. i was too scared for DB's though. next week i'll try the DB's... iff i'm up for it. (that's math terminology iff=if and only if)

A guy goes to the doctor and says, " hey doc everytime I raise my arm like this it hurts."
So the doctor says, "well quit doing that then."


Seriously, pain is meant to tell your body something is wrong. The pain we are supposed to work through durung a workout is lactic acid buildup, not real pain.

You can get a full chest workout in without ever doing another fly or pec dec movement again. Dips may be a good alternative, but if they hurt DON'T do them.

That doesn't make you a wuss. It makes you smart.
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
reps^^ thanks for the help. i always thought that flies hit the inner part as well. but the people i asked my have been implying that when doing db flies that eccentric contraction could open the chest up more. BS?
 

DRAKE

New member
Awards
0
to widen chest try pullovers, ull work the seratus too.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
yes lol u should have asked,i would have told you it gives you the inner chest seperation thats why I recommended wide grip bench press
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
reps^^ thanks for the help. i always thought that flies hit the inner part as well. but the people i asked my have been implying that when doing db flies that eccentric contraction could open the chest up more. BS?
That may be slightly possible, but if it is, then you can just do the stretch portion to achieve that.
What you would do is, after each group of chest exercises, lay on a flat bench with a light dumbell and stretch your pecs for about a minute (not every set, just after the whole group of that particular exercise).
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
ok for sure. i was given this stretch by one of my buds who is a trainer and it's kinda of hard to explain but you sit "criss cross" style and you but your back flat against a wall. you then try to place your elbows and back of your hands against the wall, starting at a low position and going up. it was extremely hard the first time i tried it but i'm starting and trying to get used to it. if you can picture that does it sound like a good stretch? i guess it should be just as long as i feel it in my chest but i feel it more in shoulders... i dont know if that means that it's more in my shoulders or my shoulders just need more work. what do you think?
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
ok for sure. i was given this stretch by one of my buds who is a trainer and it's kinda of hard to explain but you sit "criss cross" style and you but your back flat against a wall. you then try to place your elbows and back of your hands against the wall, starting at a low position and going up. it was extremely hard the first time i tried it but i'm starting and trying to get used to it. if you can picture that does it sound like a good stretch? i guess it should be just as long as i feel it in my chest but i feel it more in shoulders... i dont know if that means that it's more in my shoulders or my shoulders just need more work. what do you think?
hey why not give it a try?
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
ok for sure. i was given this stretch by one of my buds who is a trainer and it's kinda of hard to explain but you sit "criss cross" style and you but your back flat against a wall. you then try to place your elbows and back of your hands against the wall, starting at a low position and going up. it was extremely hard the first time i tried it but i'm starting and trying to get used to it. if you can picture that does it sound like a good stretch? i guess it should be just as long as i feel it in my chest but i feel it more in shoulders... i dont know if that means that it's more in my shoulders or my shoulders just need more work. what do you think?

I think you just answered your own question. If it is a good stretch for pecs, you will feel it there more than anywhere else. Try the stretch I suggested. You can try to keep lowering your hands toward the floor to keep the stretch going.
On the other hand, this could also be an indicator of a muscle imbalance in your delts. It sounds like your front delts could be overdeveloped from the wide grip presses you do and you may need more direct rear delt work to even out your development.
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
good call dragonrider. when i hit shoulders i do lat raises week one and bent lat raises week two. i'll find a way to hit bent lat raises or another exercise to hit the rear delts every week now. i've never really done any other rear delt exercises though. besides maybe bent cable lat raises. you guys got anything? i'll probably think of one tomorrow but for now i'm exhausted and am not functioning properly. got any good rear delt exercises?
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
Are you doing any type of bent rows for your back? Even though they are primarily a back movement, they also hit your rear delts.
 
pistonpump

pistonpump

Banned
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
do you have hammer strength equipment where you workout? they have one that is called wide chest, it targets the outer pecs pretty good.

If you have good pec development then width will come along with it imo.
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
my back workout usually consists of pull ups (weight and non weighted, strict form), BB rows, one arm rows, lat pull down. For BB rows, if i cant find a t bar or something with a wider grip i'll hit cable rows with a wider grip. I tend to vary my grips on every exercise now to try and hit different parts of the back. I dont do bent rows very often because i dont feel it in my back very well. when i first started doing them i was doing entirely too much weight but even when i drop the weight down a lot i tend to still not feel them as much as other workouts. You think i should spend more time on bent rows?
 
sreed11

sreed11

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
do you have hammer strength equipment where you workout? they have one that is called wide chest, it targets the outer pecs pretty good.

If you have good pec development then width will come along with it imo.
I dont think i've ever come across anything like that in my gym. i'll go try and look up a picture of it and see if there's one in any of the gyms i go to.
 
rippednKY

rippednKY

New member
Awards
0
try flat benching using a grip where ur pointer finger on the outter ring.I just started doing this and im stronger that way and I also do inclines similiar, just with my middle finger on the outter ring.....
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
try flat benching using a grip where ur pointer finger on the outter ring.I just started doing this and im stronger that way and I also do inclines similiar, just with my middle finger on the outter ring.....
yea thats called wide grip except i place my index finger on the outer ring instead of my middle
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
yea thats called wide grip except i place my index finger on the outer ring instead of my middle
I'm 6 foot tall with long arms. That is not a wide grip for me. In that position my forearms are straight up and down when the bar touches my chest.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
I'm 6 foot tall with long arms. That is not a wide grip for me. In that position my forearms are straight up and down when the bar touches my chest.
I was referring to what rippednky stated no need to try and start controversy
 

DragonRider

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
I was referring to what rippednky stated no need to try and start controversy
I'm not sure why you think I was trying to start controversy. I was simply stating that for my body type, what you described as a wide grip is my normal grip.

Help me understand.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
I'm not sure why you think I was trying to start controversy. I was simply stating that for my body type, what you described as a wide grip is my normal grip.

Help me understand.
I was being sarcastic chill lol
 
thesinner

thesinner

Recovering AXoholic
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Wide Grip Weighted Dips. Nuff said. There is no better exercise for chest development.
 
boxmeman

boxmeman

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
yep widegrip anything involving chest is killer I love the pump!
 

Similar threads


Top