For chest growth
For chest growth, high-to-low cable fly rates well ahead on our research criteria: more stretch, easier to progress.
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
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.
Single-Arm Cable Chest Press. One arm at a time under constant cable tension: kind to the shoulders, slower to load heavy.
For chest growth, high-to-low cable fly rates well ahead on our research criteria: more stretch, easier to progress. 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.
High-to-low cable fly needs a cable station, so for most people it’s a gym exercise. Single-arm cable chest press needs a cable station, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.
About the same: both rate Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric.