How To: Do dumbbell alternating chest flys

Learn how to do dumbbell alternating chest flys. Presented by Real Jock Gay Fitness Health & Life.

Benefits
The classic dumbbell fly works your chest and your inner chest muscles in particular. The one-armed alternating variation has you do one side at a time, increasing the difficulty of the exercise and isolating each side of your chest individually.

Starting Position
Lie on a flat bench with your feet on the floor and dumbbells held in each hand at the bottom of the dumbbell fly position, with the dumbbells out to the sides so that your palms are facing up, your elbows slightly bent and level with your back, and your palms facing inward with a firm, yet relaxed grip. Keep your shoulders retracted and your chest high. Engage your abdominals to prevent your back from arching.

Exercise
1. From the starting position, keep one arm in place and use the chest muscles to lift the other arm and dumbbell up above your shoulder, keeping the moving arm held in the same slightly bent position as you lift. Bring the dumbbell up until it is straight up above your shoulder. Keep your shoulders back and your chest flexed throughout the movement; note that in order to keep this flexion, you may not be able to lift the dumbbell as high up as you might expect.
2. From the top of the one-armed fly, reverse direction and return the dumbbell to the starting position.
3. As soon as both arms are back down in the starting position, lift the other arm in a dumbbell fly, using your chest to bring the dumbbell up above you.
4. Alternate arms throughout the set.
Stability Ball Variation
To increase the level of difficulty of this exercise, perform the alternating dumbbell flys while lying back on a stability ball.