The Pain-Free Chest Exercise Your Workout Needs

We have little doubt that you’ve done a set (or a hundred) of dumbbell flyes before and have probably heard of the floor press, too. Both are basic chest moves. The former is meant to stretch your muscle fibers and exhaust the pecs, while the latter move limits your range of motion so you can use heavier weight.

Well, trainer and owner of Iron House Designs, Jim Ryno, has gone ahead and combined the moves to bring you a unique variation of the flye—the one-arm floor chest flye.

You’ll be able to better focus on one side of your chest by doing the flye unilaterally, and lying on the floor will allow you to use a heavier bell for a greater muscular overload. (Also, it’ll spare your shoulder joint, since you won’t be able to extend the joint past the 90-degree mark, which can be dangerous.)

Give these a try with light weight before your workout to warm up your shoulders and chest, or end your training session with four sets of 10 reps each to finish off your chest.

How to Do the One-Arm Floor Chest Flye

1. Lie down on the floor, legs bent and your feet on the floor, holding a dumbbell in one hand with the other arm extended out to your side.
2. Extend the weighted arm up over your chest, then lower it down as you would during a dumbbell flye. Touch the back of your upper arm to the floor on every rep without letting it rest at the bottom.
3. Maintain a slight bend in the elbow and keep the motion slow and controlled as you raise the dumbbell back up until it’s directly above your shoulder, arm straight.