Dumbbell Flys

[nolonger]

I tried dumbbell flys on my last push workout for some extra chest work. I got some pain on my supraspinatus? at the bottom portion of the movement. Should I just limit the range of motion to slightly above that? Or should I stop doing them and strengthen my rotator cuff muscles more?

I've had issues with my shoulders for a while. I recently stopped doing barbell bench press and its gone. I felt it slightly while doing dumbbell flys. I'm not sure if the muscle I have strained is the supraspinatus. Is that the one low-cable external rotations are supposed to hit? If not, that's the one I'm talking about.

[backspace412]

I tried dumbbell flys on my last push workout for some extra chest work. I got some pain on my supraspinatus? at the bottom portion of the movement. Should I just limit the range of motion to slightly above that? Or should I stop doing them and strengthen my rotator cuff muscles more?

I've had issues with my shoulders for a while. I recently stopped doing barbell bench press and its gone. I felt it slightly while doing dumbbell flys. I'm not sure if the muscle I have strained is the supraspinatus. Is that the one low-cable external rotations are supposed to hit? If not, that's the one I'm talking about.

I have the same issue I quit doing flys for now it causes to much irritation. My bench press suffers from this pain as well I do alot of warm up and stretches to make it go away and usually after the first set I feel fine.

and yes the cable external rotation is gonna hit it but I feel to much pain trying to do it even with 5 pounds, usually hurts the most right at the end of the ROM. Id say just give it some rest and strengthening your rotator cant hurt only help

[nolonger]

I have the same issue I quit doing flys for now it causes to much irritation. My bench press suffers from this pain as well I do alot of warm up and stretches to make it go away and usually after the first set I feel fine.

and yes the cable external rotation is gonna hit it but I feel to much pain trying to do it even with 5 pounds, usually hurts the most right at the end of the ROM. Id say just give it some rest and strengthening your rotator cant hurt only help

I'm at the point where that external rotation isn't painful. Interestingly, doing overhead pull-overs helped too. I'll see what my shoulders feel like today and update this post.

[DYTrainer]

Let common sense prevail here. If it hurts, then stay away from it. Could try some other alternatives like peck deck or stand cable cross-overs. But if those cause pain as well, then avoid also. There's nothing set in stone where you must do some sort of isolation for chest. Next step is to figure out what is causing the pain and why it caused it. I tweaked my shoulder because I went way to low on some dips, and sounds like we are having the same types of pain. What I have been doing is some rotator cuff work with super light weights. Think yesterday I used either 5 or 7.5 lbs on the cable pulley station and tried to get 15-20 reps. Felt much better after that. They are really small muscles and dont need much weight, so I would really start light. If you are still having pain, then take some time off. Give your body some time to heal itself before it results in a much more serious injury.

[KingOfLimbs]

You should be working your RC's before injury. Try cable movements instead of flys. They are way less taxing on the shoulders.

[Yodums]

I'd make sure your form is spot on. You want to make sure you are following all the steps you would take on a bench press when doing flyes. That includes arched back, shoulders pulled together, etc. The other thing is yeah, you may want to limit the ROM as well. Chest flyes for me were a huge issue due to shoulders, but it's now been corrected due to mainly form and warming up the RCs.

[nolonger]

Let common sense prevail here. If it hurts, then stay away from it. Could try some other alternatives like peck deck or stand cable cross-overs. But if those cause pain as well, then avoid also. There's nothing set in stone where you must do some sort of isolation for chest. Next step is to figure out what is causing the pain and why it caused it. I tweaked my shoulder because I went way to low on some dips, and sounds like we are having the same types of pain. What I have been doing is some rotator cuff work with super light weights. Think yesterday I used either 5 or 7.5 lbs on the cable pulley station and tried to get 15-20 reps. Felt much better after that. They are really small muscles and dont need much weight, so I would really start light. If you are still having pain, then take some time off. Give your body some time to heal itself before it results in a much more serious injury.

I tried doing flys today, shoulder hurt so I stopped on the second set. The reason I'm trying to get an isolation movement in is I don't feel my chest working during dumbbell bench press as much as during barbell bench press.
I have been doing wide-grip pull-ups, external cable rotations and face-pulls during my pull workout for my rotator cuff. Anything else you'd recommend? And my pains did actually start when I did dips, but its been over 6 months since I stopped. I get them every now and then from heavy barbell bench pressing.

I'd make sure your form is spot on. You want to make sure you are following all the steps you would take on a bench press when doing flyes. That includes arched back, shoulders pulled together, etc. The other thing is yeah, you may want to limit the ROM as well. Chest flyes for me were a huge issue due to shoulders, but it's now been corrected due to mainly form and warming up the RCs.

I might just drop the exercise all together. It's not worth risking a shoulder injury over. I'm pretty sure my form is good on these. I'm not using very heavy weights so I can really focus on getting the form down.

[DYTrainer]

I tried doing flys today, shoulder hurt so I stopped on the second set. The reason I'm trying to get an isolation movement in is I don't feel my chest working during dumbbell bench press as much as during barbell bench press
I have been doing wide-grip pull-ups, external cable rotations and face-pulls during my pull workout for my rotator cuff. Anything else you'd recommend? And my pains did actually start when I did dips, but its been over 6 months since I stopped. I get them every now and then from heavy barbell bench pressing.

That could be part of the problem. I've always had problems feeling it in the chest. It wasnt till I really stopped and focused on the form more than anything. So I would be lifting 1/2 the weight I was previously, but feeling it all, well mostly, in my chest.

As for rotator cuffs. I do external and internal rotations. Just google rotator cuff exercises and it will yield a bunch of results. I like doing them on a cable pulley machine, but dumbbells can be used. Just remember to use super light weights. These are small muscles that are generally underworked. If you use to heavy of a weight the shoulder muscles will take over the movement, which is not the goal. From there its just experiemting and figuring out what hurts and what doesnt. For some reason I can't do a lat pulldown. Just bothers my shoulder, no matter how good my form and how light the weight. Same movement on a hammer strength machine, and no pain at all. Who knows.

If you still have pain, and I think you know the difference between pain and discomfort, I would take a week or so off and just let it rest. During this time, and even if you dont, I would ice it. Could also take some ibuprofen for the swelling, but dont want to take those for too long as they can be hard on your stomach.

Forgot to add that flat bench pressing is pretty hard on the shoulders. Maybe give decline bench a try as it takes a lot of the stress off the shoulders.

[pivost]

I tried dumbbell flys on my last push workout for some extra chest work. I got some pain on my supraspinatus? at the bottom portion of the movement. Should I just limit the range of motion to slightly above that? Or should I stop doing them and strengthen my rotator cuff muscles more?

I've had issues with my shoulders for a while. I recently stopped doing barbell bench press and its gone. I felt it slightly while doing dumbbell flys. I'm not sure if the muscle I have strained is the supraspinatus. Is that the one low-cable external rotations are supposed to hit? If not, that's the one I'm talking about.

There is no such thing as a rotator cuff mucles, its a joint...
What supplements do you take? I have had pain in my shoulders joints as well when doing some pull exercises.
Pains started to go away when I started taking fish oil pills.. My overall health have improved as well!

Make sure to do the flyes correctly. Dont let the dumbbells go lower than parallel of your chest..

Hope this helps

[nolonger]

That could be part of the problem. I've always had problems feeling it in the chest. It wasnt till I really stopped and focused on the form more than anything. So I would be lifting 1/2 the weight I was previously, but feeling it all, well mostly, in my chest.

As for rotator cuffs. I do external and internal rotations. Just google rotator cuff exercises and it will yield a bunch of results. I like doing them on a cable pulley machine, but dumbbells can be used. Just remember to use super light weights. These are small muscles that are generally underworked. If you use to heavy of a weight the shoulder muscles will take over the movement, which is not the goal. From there its just experiemting and figuring out what hurts and what doesnt. For some reason I can't do a lat pulldown. Just bothers my shoulder, no matter how good my form and how light the weight. Same movement on a hammer strength machine, and no pain at all. Who knows.

If you still have pain, and I think you know the difference between pain and discomfort, I would take a week or so off and just let it rest. During this time, and even if you dont, I would ice it. Could also take some ibuprofen for the swelling, but dont want to take those for too long as they can be hard on your stomach.

Forgot to add that flat bench pressing is pretty hard on the shoulders. Maybe give decline bench a try as it takes a lot of the stress off the shoulders.

I'm not saying I don't feel my chest being worked, but I feel like it's more triceps than chest with dumbbells.

I'll add an internal rotation exercise and I think that should wrap it all up.

Some advice: try dumbbell pullovers. They helped strengthen my shoulders enough that I can now do wide-grip pull-ups no problem (they used to cause huge discomfort on my rear delts). I'll try doing a couple sets of decline barbell bench press as the last exercise next workout. Thanks for the suggestion!

There is no such thing as a rotator cuff mucles, its a joint...
What supplements do you take? I have had pain in my shoulders joints as well when doing some pull exercises.
Pains started to go away when I started taking fish oil pills.. My overall health have improved as well!

Make sure to do the flyes correctly. Dont let the dumbbells go lower than parallel of your chest..

Hope this helps

Umm..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotator_cuff

I don't take any fish oils. Currently I use Creatine and Whey Protein. Cellucor C4, Beta Alanine and Caffeine sporadically. I don't let the dumbbells get that low, but I feel like it's more of an issue of how wide I go. It feels like if I bent my elbows more it would hurt less, but that would just make it a dumbbell bench press. Ah well, guess I'll forget these for a while.

[DYTrainer]

Some advice: try dumbbell pullovers. They helped strengthen my shoulders enough that I can now do wide-grip pull-ups no problem (they used to cause huge discomfort on my rear delts). I'll try doing a couple sets of decline barbell bench press as the last exercise next workout. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hope everything will work out. Just try not to rush it, I know easier said then done. I used to actually really like db pullovers, till I strained my rhomboid. So that exercise moves into the column of exercises that I shouldnt do, which is every growing lol.

[DYTrainer]

There is no such thing as a rotator cuff mucles, ...

Hope this helps

If by helps you mean provide very inaccurate information, then yeah, it helped a lot!

[nolonger]

Hope everything will work out. Just try not to rush it, I know easier said then done. I used to actually really like db pullovers, till I strained my rhomboid. So that exercise moves into the column of exercises that I shouldnt do, which is every growing lol.

Yup, easier said than done, but I've been pretty patient so far. Slowly learning to accept that changes don't happen overnight and it's a turtle race. It's too bad you can't do those, I believe they're a great stepping stone for stronger rear delts.

[k9pit]

Not to give an excuse, but I think body mechanics play a lot into many moves as far as what feels comfortable (beyond stressing the target muscle). I never got into DB flys no matter how many times I've tried.

I've watched people in the gym, countless youtube videos, varied hand gripping styles, incline/flat/decline, etc and my shoulders always seem to take the brunt of the stress. This is unless I perform the move laying on the floor with my back and shoulders fully supported, or using cables which apply a different stress at the start of the move. But on the bench using DB with my shoulders hanging off of the sides, I feel like the weight is transferred straight back there.

[nolonger]

Not to give an excuse, but I think body mechanics play a lot into many moves as far as what feels comfortable (beyond stressing the target muscle). I never got into DB flys no matter how many times I've tried.

I've watched people in the gym, countless youtube videos, varied hand gripping styles, incline/flat/decline, etc and my shoulders always seem to take the brunt of the stress. This is unless I perform the move laying on the floor with my back and shoulders fully supported, or using cables which apply a different stress at the start of the move. But on the bench using DB with my shoulders hanging off of the sides, I feel like the weight is transferred straight back there.

I guess so. Ah well...

[mikakarppanen]

I have no real advice on the subject but man, i do love my DB flyes! Gotta love that strain and slight burn when you get down deep with the dumbells on a good fly set.


I can see that it's a delicate exercise though, i always have the thought of properly warming up etc in the back of my head when doing DB flyes.


But staying on topic i suppose the best thing is to stay away from a particular exercise if you feel any sort of pain when executing it (as has already been stated above).