For chest growth
For chest growth, high-to-low cable fly rates well ahead on our research criteria: easier to progress, easier on the joints.
Both are good choices, and they train the chest differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed. (Fonseca et al., 2014; Costa et al., 2021)
The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work
Dumbbell Bench Press. Dumbbells go deeper than a barbell, giving the chest a bigger stretch.
High-to-Low Cable Fly. Cables keep the chest loaded through the whole arc, and the downward path angles the work toward the lower and middle chest.
For chest growth, high-to-low cable fly rates well ahead on our research criteria: easier to progress, easier on the joints. Both are good choices, and they train the chest differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed.
About the same: both are easy to learn.
Dumbbell bench press needs dumbbells and a bench, so a home gym covers it. High-to-low cable fly needs a cable station, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.
High-to-low cable fly: it rates Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric, against Strong for dumbbell bench press.