How to Do Standing Cable Flyes

Medically Reviewed by Dany Paul Baby, MD on July 08, 2022
Written by Parang Mehta
5 min read

Flyes are exercises to strengthen the muscles of your upper body. The hand and arm move through an arc against resistance with the elbow at a fixed angle. Flyes are strength training exercises, and you can do them with dumbbells at home lying on a bench. Standing cable flyes work your core as well as your upper body. Standing cable flyes build strength in your arm, shoulder, and chest muscles. 

This exercise is done with a cable machine at the gym. Raising and lowering the desired weight by pulling on cables works your arm, shoulder, and chest muscles. Doing this upper body exercise while standing engages your core to provide stability. 

This exercise is an intermediate-level one. When you begin, you should have a trainer teach you the move. Proper form is vital to avoid mistakes that could injure you. Start with the minimum weight and move to heavier weights once you've mastered the move.

What do cable flyes work? Chiefly the muscles of the arms, shoulders, and chest — but these are multijoint exercises. They work on many joints, and several muscles provide the force to make the movement possible. Other muscles are also used to stabilize the nonmoving joints. Your core is worked when you do flyes standing up. The most-worked muscles are the triceps, pectorals, and deltoids.

Pectoralis major. This is a large muscle lying on the front of your chest. Arising from the clavicle and the upper seven ribs, it attaches to the humerus. The pectoralis major provides the power to move your arm forward at the shoulder. It also brings the arm toward the chest, like when you move your hand towards the opposite shoulder.

Standing cable flyes are one of the best exercises for working the pectoralis major. Changing the angle of arm movement works different parts of this large muscle.

Deltoid. This muscle covers the front and back of the shoulder joint. It arises from the scapula and clavicle (collarbone). It attaches to the humerus. The deltoid provides power for lifting the arm away from the body but also for moving the arm forward or backward at the shoulder joint. It's part of the shoulder girdle muscles together with the trapezius, triceps, latissimus dorsi, pectorals, and rotator cuff muscles. All these muscles work together to stabilize and perform movements at the shoulder.

Triceps brachii. This is the muscle at the back of your arm that provides the power for straightening your elbow. It's a muscle with three heads (hence the name), arising from the scapula (shoulder blade) and the humerus (arm bone). The triceps attaches to the ulna, one of the two bones in your forearm. The part arising from the scapula helps in backward movement of the arm at the shoulder joint.

The triceps muscle provides most of the bulk of the arm. Strengthening this muscle is essential if you want to have big arms. 

Standing cable flyes should be done with a coach or trainer to get you started. It's an exercise of moderate difficulty and not suited for beginners. Some guidance when starting out will help you achieve the proper form.

These steps will guide you toward an effective and safe workout:

  1. Start with the cable handles between your hips and knees. Grasp the handles and engage your core (stiffen your abdominal muscles and keep your spine straight).
  2. Bring both arms down in front of your body, making your elbows straight.
  3. Move one leg forward to stabilize yourself. Align your body vertically.
  4. Move your arms outward, keeping your elbows slightly bent. Your wrists should be in line with your forearms (the neutral position for wrists). 
  5. Exhale and use your chest muscles to pull your arms forward until your hands meet in the midline. Your trunk should be vertical, and your spine must not arch. Keep your wrists in the neutral position.
  6. Let your arms return up and out slowly in a controlled manner, not letting the momentum of the weights dictate the movement. Keep your elbows slightly bent and your wrists neutral. 

Repeat as many times as you can. You should increase the weight so that you can do between 8 and 12 repetitions.

You can increase the difficulty level by adding more weights to the gym machine. 

Keeping both feet together increases the need to stabilize your core.

You can do this exercise on an exercise ball or standing on one foot. 

Doing it one arm at a time without trunk rotation is a challenging variant. You can bring your hand across the midline to maximize effort from the pectoralis major.

The decline standing cable fly is a variant that places the pulley of the gym machine high. You perform the fly by bringing your hands downward to the midline.

All adults should do muscle-strengthening exercises at least two days a week. These exercises should work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). Standing flyes exercise and build strength in several of the major muscle groups of the upper body: 

  • Strong chest muscles. Strong pectorals give you an impressive chest.
  • Strengthen your shoulders and arms. Your triceps and deltoids are worked, giving you big arms and strong shoulders.
  • Core strengthening. The advantage of standing flyes over those on a bench is the involvement of your core. Doing this exercise standing up activates your abdominal and spine muscles.
  • Improved general health. Regular physical activity helps improve and maintain heart, lung, and circulatory health. It reduces your risk of illness. Exercise also enhances your mental health and well-being and helps you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

Always pay attention to securing the weights. The weights on both sides should be equal. 

Make sure your grip on the cable handles is secure. Dry your palms and the handles if needed.

Don't start the exercise until you're sure about your balance.

Don't let your wrists roll back during the fly. Allowing your wrists to bend back can injure them.

Always start slowly. Use weights and repetitions that feel comfortable and allow you to sustain proper form. Build up to more intense effort by increasing the weights as you master the move.