Friday Exercise: Flies

Stickie really likes flies because they not only make her strong but also give her a great stretch at the same time.  Also, she gets to do them lying down.

To begin, she lies on her back on a bench.  She holds a dumbbell in each hand with her arms extended over her chest (not her face!).  She keeps a slight curve in her elbows, as you can see from the picture on the right, in which you are looking at her from the head end of the bench and her arms look like parentheses.  Stickie prefers to leave her feet on the bench because it feels better for her lower back, but it would be just as correct for her to place her feet on the floor.

On an inhale, she lowers the weights out to her sides, maintaining the curve of her arms (as in the lower right side picture).  As she exhales, she lifts the weights back to the starting position.  Depending on the weight she chooses, she will do a set of 10 to 12 reps. She usually does three sets.

At the end of the set, Stickie will lower the weights to her chest close to the sides of her body by bending her elbows.  Keeping the weights at her sides, she will lower them toward the floor and drop them.  Under normal circumstances, she does not need to drop them, but she is practicing for the time when the weights might be too heavy.  It is unsafe to open her arms wide and then drop the weights; she could easily tear a rotator cuff muscle in her shoulder that way.

On days when Stickie wants an extra challenge, she can perform this exercise using a stability ball.  In that case, she rolls out on the ball until her head and neck are supported by the ball and she needs to use her abdominals and gluteals to keep her body in a bench-like position.  Then she proceeds to do the flies from there.