Single-Arm Cable Fly
chest
What moves the load, and what it costs
3.5MET
Chest is the prime mover, with the obliques, abs assisting. One side at a time gives a longer arc across the body and turns the trunk into a working partner rather than a passenger.
Cue: Work one arm at a time and let the trunk fight the pull instead of turning towards the machine.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·FILED UNDER WEIGHTS, 8–15 REPS·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files single-arm cable fly under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 3.5, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so single-arm cable fly is filed under Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance.
- Take the category's MET value — 3.5. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 3.5 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Single-Arm Cable Fly: 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal/min
स्रोत·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| ChestPectoralis major | Prime mover | Brings the upper arm across the body and forward (shoulder horizontal adduction and flexion). The clavicular head contributes more when the arm travels up and in; the sternal head when it travels down and in. |
| ObliquesExternal and internal obliques | Synergist / stabiliser | Rotate and side-bend the trunk, and resist rotation. The internal oblique on one side works with the external oblique on the other. |
| AbsRectus abdominis | Synergist / stabiliser | धड पुढे वाकवतो आणि, त्याहून उपयुक्त म्हणजे, ते मागे ताणले जाण्यास विरोध करतो. क्रंच आणि प्लँक दोन्ही यावर भार देतात — पण वेगवेगळ्या प्रकारे. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
केबल मशीन. प्रत्येक रेप पहिल्या रेपसारखाच दिसला पाहिजे. तो पहिल्यासारखा दिसेनासा झाला त्या क्षणी सेट संपला.
PATTERN · ISOLATION
- Set up with the handle out at chest height, shoulder blades pulled down and back.
- Fix a slight bend in the elbows and keep that exact angle for the whole set — the elbows do not open or close, only the shoulders move.
- Work one arm at a time and let the trunk fight the pull instead of turning towards the machine.
- Open the arms in a wide arc until you feel a strong stretch across the chest, without the shoulders rolling forward.
- Bring them back together along the same arc, squeezing the chest at the finish.
- Stop the set when the elbow angle starts changing — at that point it has become a bad press.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Bending and straightening the elbows.
That turns the fly into a weak press and takes tension off the chest. Lock the elbow angle and let the shoulder do all the work.
Going too heavy.
The fly has a long lever and a nasty stretched position. It is a light exercise by design; the press is where the load goes.
Shoulders rolling forward at the bottom.
Keep the blades pinned back so the stretch happens in the chest, not the front of the shoulder capsule.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Progress — the next demand
इथल्या प्रगतीक्रमात हा सर्वात वरचा आहे. नवीन व्यायाम शोधायला जाण्याआधी वजन वाढवा, हालचालीची व्याप्ती वाढवा, गती कमी करा किंवा एका हाता-पायावर करा.
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a single-joint movement does its best work in moderate to high reps — very low reps load the joint before the muscle.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–4 | 6–10 | 2 मिनिटे | Single-joint work responds poorly to very low reps — the joint gets the load before the muscle does. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 10–15 | 60–90 sec | This is where isolation work earns its place: cheap volume for one muscle, little systemic fatigue. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–3 | 15–25 | 30–45 sec | High reps here are genuinely useful — the load is small enough that form survives the fatigue. |
| First month | 2 | 12–15 | 60 sec | Light. Isolation work is for adding volume later, not for building a base. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance — 3.5 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 3.5 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Nothing at all to hand: Spiderman Push-Up is the closest match — same prime mover, same pattern, no kit.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the single-arm cable fly work?
Single-Arm Cable Fly is a single-joint isolation movement in which the chest is the prime mover, assisted by the obliques, abs. Brings the upper arm across the body and forward (shoulder horizontal adduction and flexion). The clavicular head contributes more when the arm travels up and in; the sternal head when it travels down and in.
Is the single-arm cable fly good for beginners?
Not on day one, but it is reachable within a few weeks. It rates 3 out of 5 for technical demand. Work up through the easier versions listed on this page first, starting with the dumbbell fly.
What can I do instead of the single-arm cable fly at home?
The closest no-equipment substitute is the spiderman push-up, which trains the same prime mover through the same movement pattern. If you own a little equipment, the dumbbell fly is closer still. It will not load you as heavily, so use higher reps and slower tempo to make up the difference.
How many sets and reps of the single-arm cable fly should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 10–15 with 60–90 sec rest. For strength, 3–4 sets of 6–10 with 2 min rest. In your first month, 2 sets of 12–15, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the single-arm cable fly burn fat from the chest?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the chest builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
स्रोत·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
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