Bodyweight Fly
Trains the Pecs.
- Equipment
- A barbell and a rack
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at about hip height, or use two low bars.
- Take the bar with both hands and walk your feet back into an inclined push-up position.
- Set a small bend at the elbows and hold it.
- Let your arms open out to the sides, lowering your chest between them.
- Go only as far as the chest can bring you back from.
- Pull the arms back together underneath you, keeping the body in one line.
Common mistakes
- Opening further than you can return from. Bodyweight through an open arm is a lot of load in a stretched position, and the bottom is where a fly is least forgiving.
- Letting the hips sag. The body holds one line; the hips dropping shortens the range and puts the lower back into it.
- Setting the bar too low to start. Height is the load setting — a higher bar is easier, and this is an exercise to work down to rather than into.
- Bending the elbows to get out of the bottom. That converts it into a press, which is the honest way to bail out and also the sign the range was too long.