How To: Sculpt your chest with single arm pec decks

Learn how to do single arm pec decks. Presented by Real Jock Gay Fitness Health & Life.

Benefits
This variation of the standard pec deck asks you to do the exercise one arm at a time—helping you further isolate and focus on the center valley of your chest while still working the full pectorals.

Muscles Worked
Chest

Starting Position
Sit at a pec deck machine (the accompanying photos show a grip handle machine, but you can do this exercise on the pad-style machine if the grip handle is not available). Set the bench height such that your hands, when gripping the handles (or forearms when on the pad machine), will be at the level of your chest. Grasp the handle to your left with your left hand, leaving your right arm at your side. Keep your shoulders back throughout. This will generate a slight arch in your back, which is fine provided you support by engaging your abs.

Exercise
1. From the starting position, bring your left arm and the machine's corresponding arm in a straight arc just past the center line of your chest. Control this movement so that it is continuous; avoid starting with a jerking motion. On the grip handle machine, the lower portion of your hand should have the most pressure; for a pad machine, your elbow will carry more pressure than your hand.
2. From the flexed position, reverse direction and bring your arm back to the starting position. Be very careful to control this movement; your arm should not come further back than straight to the side, and as you near full extension you should be careful to go slowly and keep your chest muscle flexed to protect your shoulders and prevent injury.
3. After a full set with the left arm, switch to the other side and repeat with the right.