Which chest exercise would aid in firming and lifting my
breasts along with increase cleavage with low neckline sweaters?
Generally speaking, after the age of 20, we can lose 1/3 lb
to 1/2 lb of muscle mass and gain 1 pound of fat each year. The
exercises for the chest can restore muscle mass under the breast
tissue. If the restoration of muscle mass is accompanied with
a decrease of fat there may be no net change of girth, but a
toning effect. Both an increase of muscle and decrease of fat
will result in this toning effect. Although, this may not really
restore the natural sagging of the breasts that occurs with age,
particularly if you have ever nursed your children. As you know,
the breast is an organ surrounded with fat tissue. Exercises
for the upper chest may yield somewhat an illusion of upper breast
cleavage. Products like the Wonder Bra or in extreme cases, reconstructive
surgery will yield more dramatic effects. Realize plastic surgery
does not need to include implants. Certainly, I urge you to at
least try an exercise program including chest exercises.
In the beginning, most any basic chest exercise you feel comfortable
with can be recommended. Later, the more effective exercises
become the ones that are less familiar. Even the best exercise
can lose its effects over time. Change
your exercises every month or two. Pick one basic
exercise for the Chest
(General) and one exercise for the upper chest (Pectoralis
Clavicular). If you are using a split
program and specializing on the chest, add an auxiliary
exercise for the chest. Continue to perform an exercise for
every major muscle.
Also, your chest may appear fuller with proper shoulder girdle
posture. Protracted
shoulders can make the chest appear flatter. Including a
rowing movement
in your weight training program and exercising through a full
range of motion (very mild stretch during chest exercise) will
help maintain ideal shoulder girdle posture. Also be aware of
other postural deficiencies
which may influence the overall aesthetics
of the body.
I hope to set up a weight lifting program, but I was confused
with the exercise choices. I'm an absolute beginner--age 48,
female, 254 pounds. Equipment available: a weight bench (with
butterfly? and leg curl? attachments), barbell set, and dumb
bells (1-5 pounds). What would be a starter program?
Choose mostly barbell exercises for now. You can add dumbbell
exercise after you purchase heavier sets; you only have enough
weight for beginning dumbbell
lateral raises. To develop a program, follow the Workout
Creation Instructions and Weight
Training Guidelines or see Basic
Program with Minimum Equipment. Also include an aerobic component
like brisk walking
most days of the week, follow Dietary
Guidelines, and see Exercise &
Obesity.
I've been working out for 18
months consistently. In which time I've went from a scrawny 125
to 160. I've been working out 4-5 days a week, but my program
has not been professionally organized. I am electing to go with
your 4 day split: push
and pull: and I'm going to do it 6 days a week. I have the
stamina and feel energetic enough to do that. My only question
would be regarding the length of time (two/three months?) that
would be recommended for such intense exercise. I'm also making
this a low volume workout. I began yesterday. Some exercises,
after stretching and a warm up, I will do two sets of and others
just one set, both 8-12 reps as recommended.
Congratulations on your remarkable gains! The 4 day split
is typically for more advanced bodybuilders. They are usually
utilized when higher volume programs are implimented. More exercises
and sets can be tolerated when concentrating on fewer muscles
groups but longer recovery between working each body part is
required. In this case you would be working each muscle group
one and a half times per week (ABCDABX,CDABCDX). You can certainly
give it a try but beware that some hard gainers may find it more
difficult to put on muscle when they are exercising 6 days per
week for too long. Make sure you are getting enough calories
for adequate recovery. Perhaps consider a month (or two at the
most) at a time on this sort of program. I only used the one
you mentioned when I was preparing for the Mr. Kansas and National
Bodybuilding Championships back in 1990. I don't want to discourage
you from using the 4 day split though. You will probably make
good gain just by making this change. Just change it back to
a 2 or 3 day split after a month or two for continued progress.
Good luck.
What's the recommended training for abs? Sometimes, higher
reps 20-50 are recommended. Or should I try to use the same approach
as with the larger muscles (8-12 reps then increase weight)?
I would only recommend 8-12 reps on ab training if your goal
of spinal flexion strength outweighs aesthetic concerns. As with
any muscle, the muscles of the midsection can atrophy, or grow
thicker, particularly in men. As your body fat drops, the abdominal
region is probably the last area you will achieve total leanness.
Interestingly, fat is both above (subcutaneous) and below the
abdominal muscle (visceral). If you are super lean with a very
small waist you could see good results with 8-12 reps. Otherwise
I recommend lighter weight and more reps (e.g. 20-50 or 20-30
reps) to retard muscle mass increases in this area with typically
greater fat. This will not burn more fat, it will improve muscular
endurance, though. You can afford to do lighter weight on the
abdominal exercises since it would yield little metabolic increase
relative to exercise that work a larger muscle mass. Incidentally,
exercises involving larger muscles are the exercise that have
the greatest potential to burn the most fat for hours after a
workout. Also see spot
reduction myth.
Hello, I'm an Italian boy, and I don't know what plyometric
means, you have used this term to indicate the utility of an
exercise for the obliques, could you explain to me what it means?
Thank you.
A plyometric is an explosive movement performed after a quick
intense loading. As in the case of plyometric oblique movements,
this involves fast repetitive movements performed between rapid
stretches to each side. The rapid changes of inertia, or momentum
provide the loading for these type oblique exercises. See core
under power exercises.
I tried the hamstring exercise
titled Smith
Good Morning, and I was using my lower back some (it seemed),
does this mean my form was off?
The lower back, or erector
spinae muscles are isometrically
contracted during the good morning. You may begin feeling
it a bit more in the hamstring
muscles as you continue with it over the weeks. Your lower
back should be kept straight through out the Good Morning. You
could always have some one look at your form. It is common, though,
to feel an exercise in your "weakest link". As the
lower back becomes more conditioned, you may later feel it in
the target muscle. If you are performing a split program, consider
performing a leg curl for your first hamstring movement and the
good morning (or any hamstring exercise involving hip extension)
as your second movement. This will pre-fatigue the hamstrings
so you may feel it a bit more in these muscles.
My new gym does not have a low
back machine that allows articulation through the spine. I have
tried the seated
cable row as described on your site but my spine only bends
slightly just before the weight bottoms out.
Some weight training manufactures have lengthened the cable
on their cable seated row machine so users can only perform the
straight
back version. Another possibility is you have extremely flexible
hamstrings and your lower back does not have the opportunity
to flex forward. In any case, you can try one or more of these
options as a work around:
If you perform the exercise on standard low pulley cable instead
of a dedicated seated cable row machine, you will need to find
something flat [weight plate(s), aerobics step, etc] to place
at the base of the frame to keep your feet from sliding forward.
Alternatively you can straddle a bench positioned in front of
the low pulley cable. Some benches accommodate your feet to be
positioned on the bench's base with your knees slightly bent.
Could you tell me the best way to work out the underside
of my pecs?
The commonly recommended exercises are decline
bench press and dips
although some suggest flat bench is just as effective. Conversely,
some bodybuilders have reported bench
press does little for their chest development, opting instead
for dips and decline bench. In any case, it may be advised to
stick to the basics until you reach an advanced stage before
you begin specializing - changing your basic chest exercises
every month or two. This may include decline one month, chest
dips the second month, and flat bench the following month. If
this area is still underpar after you've laid the foundation
to your development, then consider including cable
standing flies or decline
flies on a more advanced split program.
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