Toning your chest rather than beefing it

[Treasurechest]

Woot! First post. I've been curvy all my life, I'm 20 yrs, 5-11" and about thirteen and a half stone, with full-on breast tissue as well as fat around my chest. My philosophy over the last few months has been 'well, if I can't lose weight, then I can gain it in the right places', so I've been attempting to beef up my arms and shoulders to bring everything more into proportion i.e. rather than let my belly and boobs be exaggerated by skinny, underdeveloped arms, let the attention be drawn away from them by having biceps thicker than a Lumberjack's thighs, and enormous squared shoulders on which Blacksmiths could temper iron.

That's pipe dreaming, of course, but my arms are looking more toned and I feel more confident as a result (my bicep curl routine is ten sets of ten reps, ten kilo weights, every night, and I work on my trapeziums with the same). I have been wondering; short of an operation I can't afford, I can't get shot of the breast tissue or the puffy nipples. Building your pecs (low reps, big weights) is ill advised because it pushes out the breast tissue and just makes it more prominent. But, toning excercises (high reps, small weights) could burn most of the fat off, couldn't they? I would be content with having big nipples and a little bit of lumy breast tissue, if it meant my chest was toned and free of fat and loose skin. So, is it possible to tone up your chest rather than beef it up, or is it a symptom of Gynecomastia to be less predisposed to burning fat?

Any help, chaps, would be appreciated. Ps I'm so glad I found this site, I've been watching the last few days and you guys are incredibly supportive

[Mr_Nip]

There's a possibility that fat could burn off of the chest, but there's also the possibility that it won't.  When you're talking about burning off fat, you've got to realize that you don't really have the choice of where the fat is burned from.  You could burn off a lot of fat but still have the fat in your chest. Gyne just works that way sometimes. 

[john1234]

hi im 17 nd not sure if i hav gynecomastia....see i waz realli overweight wen i waz bout 12 nd 13 n den i lost weight naturally cuz i gained height...so my body is still sort of out of shape and i hav fat around the chest area nd i jus wanted to know if i culd loose dat n if yes...how???

[mtl99]

is that English???

[carguy]

that low weight high rep thing is a misconception for toning according to a personal trainer at my gym.
he says to stick to big weights. he told me theres a way to get big like bodybuilders but people don't normally lift that way.
one of his clients is a woman and she wanted to tone up and lose fat. so he had her lift heavy weights.
i think he said that she lost 6 pounds of fat in a week. her bodyfat dropped a little. that was from lifting weights alone i believe.
my friend the personal trainer also told me not to believe everything you hear  on the internet without checking the person or company thats telling you stuff. they have their own agendas. that why you have all these muscle magazines selling bottles of crap telling you that you will have the perfect body.
If they told you the truth they'd lose their money and power. I mean they gotta keep the magazine coming every month right?

[Calg-puffed]

Treasure, a couple of problems I see with your routine.  I'm no body builder but have lifted for long enough to know a few things.

1. 10 sets at 10 reps is way too much.  Especially at the low weight you're doing them at.  Increase the weight you're lifting so that you fail at between 6 - 8 reps.  Do 5 sets of these.

2. You're working the same muscle group way too often.  Bicep curls is an isolation exercise.  If you screw up your muscles good enough (i.e. doing what I said above), you should be working your biceps a maximum of once every 5 days.  Remember, muscle doesn't build while lifting, it builds while resting.  If you're working the same muscle group every day, you won't have much progress.  Think about a building being in an earthquake.  The earthquake happens on day 1, and it takes repair crews 4 days to restore the building and make it stronger.  Well if an other earthquake happens on day 2, the repair crews will barely have gotten started repairing the building.  The allusion I'm drawing is your muscle is the building and working it out is the earthquake.  It's essentially the same principle.  Also, just because you're not sore on days 4 and 5 doesn't mean the muscle isn't still re-building.

3. Bicep curls alone won't make your arms bigger.  You need to work out your triceps just as much.  They're about 1.5 times the size of your biceps in normal mass.

4. The best way to build a bigger overall body is with compound exercises, i.e. ones that involve working out more than 1 body part at a time (bench press, lateral dumbell raises).  Infact most of your exercises should be compound exercises, with much smaller emphasis on isolation.

5. Never ever neglect your lower body.  You want to see upper body results fast, then work out your lower body.  It's the best way to increase production of human growth hormone, which will apply not to just your lower body but to all parts of your body.

Cheers!

[tittyman1111]

u vcant target fat loss in specific areas. it dosnt work that way,

[user name]

Treasure, a couple of problems I see with your routine.  I'm no body builder but have lifted for long enough to know a few things.

1. 10 sets at 10 reps is way too much.  Especially at the low weight you're doing them at.  Increase the weight you're lifting so that you fail at between 6 - 8 reps.  Do 5 sets of these.

2. You're working the same muscle group way too often.  Bicep curls is an isolation exercise.  If you screw up your muscles good enough (i.e. doing what I said above), you should be working your biceps a maximum of once every 5 days.  Remember, muscle doesn't build while lifting, it builds while resting.  If you're working the same muscle group every day, you won't have much progress.  Think about a building being in an earthquake.  The earthquake happens on day 1, and it takes repair crews 4 days to restore the building and make it stronger.  Well if an other earthquake happens on day 2, the repair crews will barely have gotten started repairing the building.  The allusion I'm drawing is your muscle is the building and working it out is the earthquake.  It's essentially the same principle.  Also, just because you're not sore on days 4 and 5 doesn't mean the muscle isn't still re-building.

3. Bicep curls alone won't make your arms bigger.  You need to work out your triceps just as much.  They're about 1.5 times the size of your biceps in normal mass.

4. The best way to build a bigger overall body is with compound exercises, i.e. ones that involve working out more than 1 body part at a time (bench press, lateral dumbell raises).  Infact most of your exercises should be compound exercises, with much smaller emphasis on isolation.

5. Never ever neglect your lower body.  You want to see upper body results fast, then work out your lower body.  It's the best way to increase production of human growth hormone, which will apply not to just your lower body but to all parts of your body.

Cheers!

overall, very good info here. however, theres alot of evidence out recently that shows that training a muscle group to failure leads to nerve damage, and can result in ligament damage.
and yes, one should not forget wo work the lower body as well. the legs are easy to build big muscles which in return help keep you leaner by burning more calories throughout the day.

[State_Property]

that low weight high rep thing is a misconception for toning according to a personal trainer at my gym.
he says to stick to big weights. he told me theres a way to get big like bodybuilders but people don't normally lift that way.

low weights are never really a good idea but med weights at high reps will build muscle endurance and strength for those who don't desire big bulky muscles, this method is always used by mma fights and olympic style wrestlers.
I like mixing it up as big weights will give u nice results its just not for everyone.

one of his clients is a woman and she wanted to tone up and lose fat. so he had her lift heavy weights.
i think he said that she lost 6 pounds of fat in a week. her bodyfat dropped a little. that was from lifting weights alone i believe.

all the personal trainers i know would agree that a losing almost a pound a day is never a good idea and there's no way it was 6 pounds of fat even on the cleanest diet half that weight is either just water or muscle.

my friend the personal trainer also told me not to believe everything you hear  on the internet without checking the person or company thats telling you stuff. they have their own agendas. that why you have all these muscle magazines selling bottles of crap telling you that you will have the perfect body.
If they told you the truth they'd lose their money and power. I mean they gotta keep the magazine coming every month right?

there are plenty of sources on the net where u can get non-biased opinions, i would never take anything a company says as true but the bottom line is diet and exercise will always be the most effective form of weightloss, just pay attention to how many and what type of calories u put into ur mouth cause fat loss is like 70% diet

[seelumirun]

overall, very good info here. however, theres alot of evidence out recently that shows that training a muscle group to failure leads to nerve damage, and can result in ligament damage.
and yes, one should not forget wo work the lower body as well. the legs are easy to build big muscles which in return help keep you leaner by burning more calories throughout the day.

You're misinterpreting the research. Studies show that OVERTRAINING to failure over long periods of time can lead to permanent nerve damage. Many new lifting programs are 3 days a week instead of 5, and only include 1 set of 8-10 reps, to failure, of a specific exercise per session.

You're absolutely right about the lower body-- putting muscle on your legs is easy as hell and it's like getting a brand new fat-burning incinerator. I've been on a 3 days lifting / 2 days HIIT program for a little over six months. I went from 6' 160 to 205lbs and decreased my BMI by 5%. PM me if you're interested in the routine, I'd be glad to help

[user name]

good info here too, as medium weight higher reps will increase strength which will in turn allow you to lift heavier. but it will do nothing in regards to actually building muscle mass. it is a good idea to incorporate this into a weight training routine if you begin to plateau, or if your looking to increase strength at a faster rate.

diet is key, and this is where the true results are made.

that low weight high rep thing is a misconception for toning according to a personal trainer at my gym.
he says to stick to big weights. he told me theres a way to get big like bodybuilders but people don't normally lift that way.

low weights are never really a good idea but med weights at high reps will build muscle endurance and strength for those who don't desire big bulky muscles, this method is always used by mma fights and olympic style wrestlers.
I like mixing it up as big weights will give u nice results its just not for everyone.

one of his clients is a woman and she wanted to tone up and lose fat. so he had her lift heavy weights.
i think he said that she lost 6 pounds of fat in a week. her bodyfat dropped a little. that was from lifting weights alone i believe.

all the personal trainers i know would agree that a losing almost a pound a day is never a good idea and there's no way it was 6 pounds of fat even on the cleanest diet half that weight is either just water or muscle.

my friend the personal trainer also told me not to believe everything you hear  on the internet without checking the person or company thats telling you stuff. they have their own agendas. that why you have all these muscle magazines selling bottles of crap telling you that you will have the perfect body.
If they told you the truth they'd lose their money and power. I mean they gotta keep the magazine coming every month right?

there are plenty of sources on the net where u can get non-biased opinions, i would never take anything a company says as true but the bottom line is diet and exercise will always be the most effective form of weightloss, just pay attention to how many and what type of calories u put into ur mouth cause fat loss is like 70% diet

[Jaysfan89]

" I went from 6' 160 to 205lbs and decreased my BMI by 5%. PM me if you're interested in the routine, I'd be glad to help"


 Tell me the routine

[Jaysfan89]

a-are you gonna tell me...

[fed-up]

Treasure, a couple of problems I see with your routine.  I'm no body builder but have lifted for long enough to know a few things.

1. 10 sets at 10 reps is way too much.  Especially at the low weight you're doing them at.  Increase the weight you're lifting so that you fail at between 6 - 8 reps.  Do 5 sets of these.

2. You're working the same muscle group way too often.  Bicep curls is an isolation exercise.  If you screw up your muscles good enough (i.e. doing what I said above), you should be working your biceps a maximum of once every 5 days.  Remember, muscle doesn't build while lifting, it builds while resting.  If you're working the same muscle group every day, you won't have much progress.  Think about a building being in an earthquake.  The earthquake happens on day 1, and it takes repair crews 4 days to restore the building and make it stronger.  Well if an other earthquake happens on day 2, the repair crews will barely have gotten started repairing the building.  The allusion I'm drawing is your muscle is the building and working it out is the earthquake.  It's essentially the same principle.  Also, just because you're not sore on days 4 and 5 doesn't mean the muscle isn't still re-building.

3. Bicep curls alone won't make your arms bigger.  You need to work out your triceps just as much.  They're about 1.5 times the size of your biceps in normal mass.

4. The best way to build a bigger overall body is with compound exercises, i.e. ones that involve working out more than 1 body part at a time (bench press, lateral dumbell raises).  Infact most of your exercises should be compound exercises, with much smaller emphasis on isolation.

5. Never ever neglect your lower body.  You want to see upper body results fast, then work out your lower body.  It's the best way to increase production of human growth hormone, which will apply not to just your lower body but to all parts of your body.

Cheers!

Fair play mate - you know ure stuff!

[AnonNZ]

Everyone's body naturally stores fat in the places it 'chooses'. It seems most guys on here have concerns about their chests and I think that having even a small amount of tissue causes the body to store fat around the gland. As such, it will be the last place to lose fat in your body. This seems to be the case with me. We have to get down to a much lower body fat level than the average guy to look good - so be it! There's nothing wrong with being fit and healthy.