
Stop when your arms are fully spread out, pause for a 1-count, then inhale as you push inward once more.
Focus on moving slowly through the eccentric phase of the fly.
Control the movement of the machine as you allow it to swing outward once more. Push until your fingers just touch, which increases focus on the inner chest. Exhale as you push the handles toward each other in front of your chest. Allow for a slight bend in your elbows, and lift your elbows in line with your arm to maximize engagement of the chest and shoulders. Grip the handles with your arms nearly straight. Set the handles to your desired height, and adjust the weight as desired. You’ve got options that let you specifically target certain aspects of your chest muscles and engage your shoulders and triceps most effectively and safely. The beauty of the machine pec fly is that you can do it with the exact same form as cable crossovers (arms fully extended), or you can bend your elbows to focus more on the inner chest. They require a specific pec fly machine (which is typically available in most gyms) and allow you to focus on your inner chest muscles (particularly at the end of the movement, when you squeeze your arms together). Machine pec flys are virtually identical to cable crossovers in all the ways that matter. Pause at the top for a 1-count, and inhale as you lower. Push until your arms are almost fully extended-stop before locking out your elbows. Lower until your nose nearly touches the floor. Keep your body in a tight, straight line. Resist the urge to dip your head or let your hips droop. Bend your elbows to lower your entire body toward the floor. Extend your legs out behind you into “Plank” position, with your body parallel to the ground, butt tucked in, and core tight. They also recruit the most amount of muscle, making them the best for building real mass and strength. Push ups – no cable machine or gym membership required. Granted, they’re less focused on the inner chest and more on the outer chest muscles, but that’s easily fixed by sliding your hands closer together (to do, for example, diamond push-ups). Push-ups utilize your body weight and work the exact same muscles as cable crossovers. Let’s be honest: you had to know this was coming, because nothing is quite as effective for building chest muscles as push-ups! Luckily for you, there are a lot of excellent exercises similar enough to cable crossovers that make wonderful alternatives.īest Cable Crossover Alternatives 1. Work your right and left arms together yet independent of each other. Recruit your triceps and shoulders in the same range of motion as cable crossovers. Engage your chest muscles as effectively, including the sternal heads and inner chest. When looking for cable crossover alternatives, your goal is to find exercises that: What this means is that cable crossovers are a truly effective solution for building powerful chest muscles. Really, the only exercises that recruit more of your chest musculature are bench presses and dumbbell flys. They also lead to some shoulder, back, and ab engagement throughout the range of motion. The cable crossover engages the sternal (lower) heads of your pectoral muscles, and specifically targets the inner chest muscles. To understand what makes a good cable crossover alternative, we have to first understand what, exactly, a cable crossover does. What Makes a Good Cable Crossover Alternative? Read the entire page to the end for some useful answers to commonly asked questions that will give you greater insight into how you can maximize the effectiveness of your workout even if you can’t do cable crossovers. #Single arm cable crossover how to#
In this article, I’ll talk about cable crossover alternatives, explaining what to look for in suitable replacement exercises and how to nail each one for a truly kickass chest workout. That’s what we’re going to find out below! They’re incredibly beginner-friendly, too, and they’re an easy exercise to master.īut what if you don’t have a cable machine in your home gym, or the cable machine at your gym is occupied (which, let’s be honest, it often is)? How can you get a proper chest workout without being able to do cable crossovers? Not only do they increase time under tension for your chest muscles, but they allow you to target your inner pectoral muscles more effectively while still allowing for greater freedom of movement in your shoulder and elbow joints. Cable crossovers are one of the all-time BEST exercises you can incorporate into your cable chest workout.