Is it true that you shouldn't do flyes until later on for better chest shape?

[gogogo]

My friend was saying that for better shape, you should avoid decline movements and flyes until you develop enough size on your chest. Is this true?

I see some people with huge pecs, but have a gap in between them. like whole mid part is missing. It's ugly
I want nice tight looking chest. any tips?

 

[gymtime]

That is not true. You can do declines and flies all you want.

 

[Boss101]

Well it doesn't matter when you do flyes but you have to know what you want. To many times in the gym I see 120lb guys doing cable flyes for mass. Its best to get some mass on your pecs first then worry about shape don't waste your time with isolation movements spend your time on compound movements.

 

[b fold the truth]

When you are smaller, I think that you should focus on making your entire body larger. Pick an exercise like bench press, incline bench press, dips, etc...that hit several muscle groups rather than just one.

B True

 

[CytoMel]

increase your bench press=increase pec size

Dont bother with flyes and crossovers. Do heavy barbell pressing like

close grip incline
flat bench
board presses
floor presses
reverse band presses

 

[DJRAZR]

Since, when can we change shape of our muscles. Shape is genetic.

 

[gettinlarger]

very untrue. as gymtime said, do them all you want. but id wait until the end of the workout for flyes, as they are mostly a stretching exercise.

 

[Vortexx]

Heavy Dumbell presses, it's a nice marriage between pushing heavy weight and isolation.

Benches are OK if they work for you and if you don't get rotator cuff injuries.

Mind that the a big bench has to do a lot with strength in lats traps delts and triceps (that's why it can be a great overall upper body power faccillitator), but some people can't get enough pec stimulation due to weak links (delt) or even too strong links (like arms that does most of the work).

dumbell presses flat out work , in one workout TRY:

10-8-6-6 INCLINE
8-6-6-10 FLAT
8-6-6-10 DECLINE
dumbell presses in this order (incline is for most people a weaker biomechanical position, so train inclines first)

As for the flyes, people that have been training for some time can actually build MASS with heavy flyes, but i suggest you become a dumbell press expert first. Shaping is getting lacking parts up to par, maybe you dont even have to shape as your pecs blow up in a favourable shape once the mass kicks in ?


If you want you can use dumbells on chest day, 12 sets, 90 seconds rest inbetween and do a LOW VOLUME strength workout on another that, like 4 * 5 flat benchpress. It needs to be low volume, because you must be recovered before you really hit your chest again with the dumbells. it can be done with a routine that allows 5 days between hitting a muscle again:

day
01 chest (12 sets dumbell presses) - upperback - rear delt
02 front/side delts - biceps - triceps
03 traps - abs (kind ofa rest day, low volume)
04 lowerback - hamstrings - calves
05 BENCHPRESS 4* 5 - quadriceps
06 forearm - wrist - abs (kind ofa rest day, low volume)

The heavy benchpresses are meant to build strength rather than size but there will be a huge carry-over in the sence that it will allow you to push really heavy dumbells for 8 reps and that's when pecs start to raise like bread.

 

[Vortexx]

take 3-5 minuttes rest between benches on a strength day

 

[MarshallPenniford]

Actually, studies have shown the opposite to be true. Flyes will build more mass than a bench press when done by a beginner. The bench press takes more neurological coordination than a pec-deck, therefore delaying the hypertrophic effect of the excersise until greater poundages can be used (after neural adaptation has occured).