Dumbbell fly: how to do it
Main muscles: Middle chest. Helpers: Lower chest, Front delts (anterior deltoid). Below: step-by-step form, common mistakes, a muscle map, reps and rest, and what to swap it for.
Equipment
Dumbbells
Reps
10–15
Rest
75 s
Muscle group
Chest
How to do it
- Keep the elbows slightly bent and hold that angle through the whole movement.
- Open the arms along a wide arc until the chest stretches — there is no need to go below bench level.
- Bring them back the same way, as if hugging a barrel.
Common mistakes
Turning the fly into a press, using too much weight.
Muscles worked
primary·secondary
- Primary
- Middle chest
- Secondary
- Lower chest, Front delts (anterior deltoid)
A secondary muscle gets roughly half the stimulus of a set — that is also how the log’s stats count it.
Alternatives: similar exercises
Log your sets — the app suggests the next weight
GymAssist tracks the load on each of 40 muscles, paints it on a body map and uses double progression to tell you when to add weight.
Free forever for the first 500