Decline Dumbbell Fly

How to do it

1. Set a decline bench and hook your legs under the pads before you take the dumbbells.
2. Sit up, rest the dumbbells on your thighs, and lie back bringing them with you.
3. Press them up over your lower chest with your palms facing each other.
4. Set a small bend at the elbow and hold it for the whole set.
5. Open your arms out to the sides in a wide arc until you feel a stretch across the chest.
6. Bring them back together along the same arc, stopping where the tension goes.

Common mistakes

• Letting the elbows straighten and re-bend. The fixed elbow is what makes it a fly rather than an awkward press; once it opens and closes, the triceps have joined in.
• Lowering until the dumbbells are level with the bench. The end of the range is the stretch, not the floor, and on a decline the shoulder reaches its limit sooner than it looks.
• Loading it like a decline press. The elbow is open, which makes the lever long and the usable weight a fraction of a press.
• Getting into position with the dumbbells already overhead. Rolling back with them on the thighs is the setup, and on a decline it is the only version that works.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Abdominal HeadPecs