Barbells and dumbbells are awesome for chest work, but so are suspension devices (gymnastic rings, TRX, Blast Straps etc.) Unfortunately, the people most willing to use them are the ones that don't have a clue as to how to use them effectively.
Lots of gimmicky training programs have turned serious lifters away from suspension devices. Too bad, because using these tools for chest has a lot of benefits:
Setting the straps far apart – outside of shoulder width – will add difficulty to any chest movement you do. The straps will constantly add resistance by attempting to return to their starting hanging position. Therefore, transverse adduction of the shoulder is the main movement pattern challenged. It'll require a strong pec contraction to pull against the straps and bring the hands all the way to the mid line of the body.
This looks easy, but it's not if you're contracting the pecs hard. Assume a push-up position and bring the handles directly underneath you by squeezing the chest. Hold this position with the pecs fully contracted. Make sure to fully protract the scapulae by keeping your torso pushed up as high as possible.
This may look like a simple push-up, but remember that the straps are attempting to pull your arms away from your body. This makes completing each rep more difficult.
The straps are still pulling the same way as in a wide push-up, but when doing a flye, the triceps disengage. This requires the pecs to work much harder.
Another way to challenge the chest is to not fully complete the range of motion. This keeps a high amount of tension on the pecs and it makes the movement less stable. When the hands are brought all the way together, the straps also pull all the way up against the arms, providing stability. Keeping the hands away from the mid-line keeps the straps off the arms, requiring the shoulder joint to keep stable on its own.
To really target the pecs with a high amount of tension and not much stability, use this variation.
A good way to progress toward the flye is by doing it on the eccentric or lowering portion only, and then doing a (less intense) push-up on the concentric portion.
This is harder to do than just a flye alone. Re-positioning the joint angles of the arm to go from a push-up into a flye (at the hardest position of the movement) requires a lot of strength and connective tissue health.
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