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Anonymous
What does /fit/ think of pectoral flies and of isolation exercises in general?

I've been getting far better size on my pecs since I added chest flies. (Yes, I do care a small bit about appearance as well as strength, but I'm not a bodybuilder.)

I know /fit/ is knee-jerk against isolation exercises as an initial impulse, but it is fucking working better than years of benching and dips. Results count. I'm thinking of adding other isolation exercises in other muscle groups now, always after a compound, though.

Pic related somehow. See the one on the left? I'd hit that.
>> Anonymous
Sure, it's making your pecs bigger, but all your stabilizer muscles are suffering. If you just want big pecs, then do flies. If you want to be stronger at pushing things off your chest, do bench press. It all depends what you mean by "results".
>> Anonymous
>>198964
So isolation exercises can actually hurt you? So if I'm doing the Stronglifts 5x5 and add some curlz and flyes with a rep number aiming for hypertrophy would it actually fuck with the strength part of my training?
>> Anonymous
Nothing wrong with isolations, so long as you're not doing them exclusively.
>> Anonymous
I think the problem with isolated exercises is that many people think they can walk into a BB split with all isolation stuff and get results. If you have a base first, accessory work including isolation exercises are great. Just, not for beginners.
>> Anonymous
>>198964
>>198982

> It all depends what you mean by "results".

As I said, appearance and strength both. Both are worthy goals and a well-rounded individual can respect achievement in either. You can argue functional strength all you want, but it's functional to look like a lifter, too, because you never know when some mugger might catch sight of the outline of your muscles and think, "Maybe I'll hit the next guy instead."

Appearances count, and so does strength.

> If you have a base first, accessory work including isolation exercises are great. Just, not for beginners.

Alright. Been training for years now and benching 225 lbs for a max at 160 lbs and 5'8". I'd say I have a good base for my size. Regardless, my chest was pretty damned flat and my shoulders are huge. So far, no idea whether there will be carryover to the bench press poundages, because I'm not going for a PR just yet... but I'm noticing increased size almost immediately in this cycle... whatever else, I'm beginning to look like a guy who does a good bench... finally.