Experiment on me!

[P_L]

     Hey there!  I'm new here.  I just discovered this forum when I decided to look up how to get rid of my "moobs".  I read through many of the posts, and discovered that it seems like everyone jumps right into surgery!!  I myself have puffy nipples, and I suppose after reading the FAQ's and whatnot that I apparently have Gynecomastia.  I have a small swelling of the breasts, with the puffy nipples. I've been self-conscious about it since I was a kid (maybe 8 or 9 yrs old).  I remember around that time I had gained a lot of weight, and had been using a steroidal inhaler for my supposed "bronchitis" (I'm very skeptical of doctors now, I apologize if I offend).  I used to never take my shirt off when I swam.  I'm married now, and my wife doesn't care about it at all, but she does care that I'm so self-conscious about it.  I am overweight (not quite obese), but my diet is much better that it used to be when I was a kid (more organic food, less meat, etc.)

     So here's the deal: I'm going to do all of us a favor, and experiment with what exercises can help!  I have a friend who knows quite a bit about muscular structure and weight training (he taunts me about my breasts, though.  Bastard.)  So I'm going to do these exercises, regularly, every day, for everyone's benefit.  I want to see how much specific exercises help, and possibly convince you all (and myself) that repair can usually be made without surgery.

     As soon as I get a chance, I'll ask my friend to come up with an exercise plan for myself, and I'll post pictures every so often (including pre-pictures) or myself.  If anyone wants to join me on my quest, please email me, and I'll help you set up an exercise program as well!  It would be a great encouragement for me, anyways, and it always helps when you have someone working with you.

What do you think?

email: piercing.light@gmail.com

P.S. I am aware that many forms of gynecomastia are only repairable through surgery, so this experiment is mainly for those of us with mild to medium cases.  I just hope it works, I'm tired of the way I look...

[notobvious]

You say 'many cases', but I think the reality is 'all cases'. The only other thing I have seen that can be used in the long term is a nipple peircing - but it might not make the nipple fully erect, it requires you to have a nipple peircing, it leaves you with a hole in your nipple and it's not permanent.

[Gone]

Oh man... Do you think none of us has exercised and tried to get rid of gyne by other means than surgery??

I'm very lean and I've trained all my life playing football (the real one), basketball, weight lifting (started this when I was teenager, as I didn't like how my chest looked, didn't know anything about gynecomastia back then), jogging and guess what? Nothing helped to get rid of gynecomastia (puffy nipples for me). I'm still very happy that I'm sporty and in good shape. I don't know how much those nipples motivated me.

Well, I went finally to the surgery (had excision and lipo) at 29/3 and I have never felt this great in my life before. I'm 25 by the way and still have some wild years ahead of me and I can finally feel so f***ing great with and without a shirt. I'm glad I didn't wait this longer...

Sorry if I sounded harsh. Things like "I'm going to do all of us a favor, and experiment with what exercises can help!" was a bit too much for me, but I know you only mean good.

[P_L]

Oh man... Do you think none of us has exercised and tried to get rid of gyne by other means than surgery??

No no no, that's not it at all.  It's just that every post I read (about 7-8), everyone jumped right to surgery, without even thinking about exercise.  And I'm not talking about exercise in general, either, I mean specific exercises to tone the underside of the breast, which will cause it to kind of, turn, downwards, minimizing the appearance of swelling.  And as I alluded to later in the post, it obviously won't work for every one (nothing ever does, right?).  There is no singular cure, because there are multiple people with multiple problems, all very different.

I guess we both have problems with assumption, maybe?

Either way, I want to see if this will work, I just need some people to get me motivated.  My friend is going to come up with specific exercises for me, and I want to keep updating with pictures and methods and whatnot that help me (if it does help).  After all, those posts I read were from teenagers who are beginning to wonder what to do with their problem, which (to me) means that they are unsure of what methods would work, which says to me that they haven't tried singling out specific muscle groups to work on.

My theory is that toning specific muscle groups, which will pull on specific parts of the body, will diminish or possibly remove the appearance of gynecomastia.  But I know there will be a challenge because toning specific muscle groups does not remove fat from the specific area.

I'm sorry if I gave anyone the wrong impression.  I just got excited when I discovered there was a support group for people who have gynecomastia, since I had to go through a pretty shitty childhood because of it.  I thought that I could help by offering my time and services to the community, so please don't hate me or anything...

[Ihatesummer]

I'm with you mate, i have mild gyno as well apparently and i can't afford surgery! I hate having puffy nips and it really ruins my summer, i'm 22 and i'm pretty in shape. If you have any exercises which you think might help then that would be awesome. Also how effective is nipple piercing? has anyone actually got confirmation that it works? 

[P_L]

I think everybody is waiting for someone else to try it but no one's that stupid.

Try what?  What do you mean?

[P_L]

Has anyone been to http://--.com?   It talks about easy methods that are guaranteed to fix gynecomastia. Sounds to good to be true to me but I think it would be helpful if someone tries it to see if it helps.

I wouldn't touch this.  You know why?  Check this out:

http://www.ballisticdrums.com/special-reports/ballistic_system.htm
http://www.jamorama.com/?hop=rogergroup

And about 50 other websites about various products that all look EXACTLY THE SAME.  I bought the "ballistic bass drums" system a couple years ago.  I learned a bit, gained a few skills, but then I discovered everything I learned I could have learned easily on Youtube, drumforums, other drummers, etc.  I found out that the system was not a "secret" at all, but that's how it was marketed.  Long story short (including other things I bought from that guy), it's a scam (especially don't buy the "one-handed drum roll" stuff, it's bullshit, just go look up push/pull on youtube for the real one-handed roll).

Anyways, I'm going to take some pictures today and post them up, and also I'm going to post what exercises I'm doing and some pictures of those exercises, probably late tonight (I have lessons to give during the day).

P.S. (EDIT) Waiting for my roommate to come home so he'll take pictures with his nice camera instead.  Depends on if we come up with the exercise plan tonight or not (probably will).

[P_L]

Hi everyone, here for an update: Turns out I'm doing the exact opposite and giving you the "exercise plan" before the pictures (I have the before pictures, but I'll post them when we take pictures of the exercises).  Here's the stuff:

The worst thing we can do is build bulk on the pectoral muscles, right on the center.  So we've determined some exercises that will isolate the part of the pectoral major and minor in areas that we do want to build, while avoiding the center.  This will provide the appearance most of us desire (at least me, anyways!).  One exercise to really avoid, is the regular push-up.  These exercises are resistance and weight training...

Exercise 1:  "Hammer punch"
This will activate the area of the pectoral towards the armpit, to build definition right there.  You'll understand these better with pictures, but I'll describe them here at the moment.

Attach a resistance band behind your back, to a wall or object.
Stretch your hand out to your side, palm up, like you're asking someone next to you for a hand-out.
Hold the resistance band in your fist, making sure your palm is still facing up (but with a fist)
With the resistance band, keep your arm straight and bring it forward, to about a 45 degree angle from your side
rinse, wash, repeat

Exercise 2: "Hammer.... uppercut.  Or something"
This will also activate the top area of the pectoral.

Same exercise as before, but when you bring your arm forward, also raise it 45 degrees upward, like you're angry at someone standing above you (as I said, these will make more sense with the pictures).

Exercise 3: "Arm cross"
This will work to define the inside area of the pectorals, so that we have less cleavage and a more "manly" appearance

Hold a short resistance band in your hands
Cross your arms at your wrists (like in a coffin), but slightly away from your body
move your elbows towards each other
repeat
Cross your arms in the other direction (left in front of right) and repeat.

Exercise 4: Military press
Upper pectoral area, for definition

Use a bar or pair of weights, similar to pull ups.

Exercise 5: Overhead raise
outer and upper pectoral area

Assume the "champion" stance, both arms flexed by your sides with a pair of weights (palms facing your head)
bring the weights together over your head

These are the exercises I will be using to define the pectoral area.  But, more importantly:

Aerobic exercise, focusing on the arms (for the pectorals).

This will help reduce the amount of fat in the pectoral area, and will have the most dramatic effect.  Nothing is instant, though.  And sadly for us, the best way is SWIMMING.  Here's the exercises to use (about 30 min. total daily)

Breast stroke
Double breast stroke
Back stroke

I know a few of us have some problems making it to the pool, but this really seems to be the most effective way to reduce the size of the male breast.  But here are some alternatives:

Pilates, focusing on the arms, in a fast pace.  I'm not sure which exercises to try, but I'll ask my wife since she used to do pilates.  Make it as aerobic as possible, about 30 min.

Jump rope:
Careful with this one, Jeremy (my massage therapist roommate) says this could activate the area of the muscle we don't want.  But it's ok a couple times during the week, just make sure to do pilates or swimming instead as much as possible.


Here's my exercise program that I will start after I get the pictures in:

morning
Stretch
Jump-rope (1 min.)
Resistance training (30 sec. each exercise)
Resistance training (1-2 min. each exercise)
Stretch

mid-day
(quick) stretch
Aerobic
(light) stretch

Night
Same as morning

That's it for now!  Let me know what you guys think so far.

[Gone]

"This will help reduce the amount of fat in the pectoral area, and will have the most dramatic effect.  Nothing is instant, though.  And sadly for us, the best way is SWIMMING.  Here's the exercises to use (about 30 min. total daily)"

You can't reduce fat from spesific areas, except by liposuction. Fat burns evenly around the body when you burn calories more than you intake. The fat vanishes last from the areas where it first emerges, like stomach and chest (depends on your genes).

Swimming is great excercise though.

[P_L]

"This will help reduce the amount of fat in the pectoral area, and will have the most dramatic effect.  Nothing is instant, though.  And sadly for us, the best way is SWIMMING.  Here's the exercises to use (about 30 min. total daily)"

You can't reduce fat from spesific areas, except by liposuction. Fat burns evenly around the body when you burn calories more than you intake. The fat vanishes last from the areas where it first emerges, like stomach and chest (depends on your genes).

Swimming is great excercise though.

Assuming your are building and using the specific pectoral muscle area, those muscles are going to be more willing to draw from the nutrients surrounding it.  There's a reason there is no fat on my wrists (I've been drumming and playing piano for over 15 years), and there's fat on my stomach and chest.  I don't use the muscles in my chest or my stomach (I don't play trumpet much anymore)...

I'm not sure what your expertise is, but the information I got about muscles came from someone who studied for 6 years about them.  He's a licensed massage therapist, and they absolutely have to know everything there is about the muscles, which is why he understands what motions will affect which muscle areas, and he knows how to build muscle as well.  He's working closely with me to come up with this exercise plan, and according to him, activating the muscle in that area (rather than full body aerobic exercise) will help that area lose some fat, because the muscle isn't going to reach all the way to your toes to retrieve the fat it needs to burn.  And aerobic exercise will not bulk up the muscle so much as to burn fat.  And yes, it will take some fat evenly from your entire body as well, it is aerobic exercise, but with the breast muscles being the primary workhorse, it will take in the surrounding nutrients first.

Also, I forgot to mention there is also a massage he wants me to do.  This massage will help "press" the fat towards the outward area (not literally, see explanation later), and enable the surrounding muscle to "awaken" and start using the nutrients around it, rather than primarily storing unused energy.  He says it will have only a small effect, but hey, every little thing counts, right?

Basically, the massage is, small circular motions from the nipple towards the outside edge, in all directions.  Like center to East, center to NorthEast, center to North, etc.

[Gone]

Well, I'm not an expert on these things, I just believe what most of the experts say. Quick googling will back up my argument.

"Current research indicates that you cannot “spot-reduce” fat from specific areas of the body. Tests done on tennis players show that their dominant arm (the arm they use to swing the racket) is bigger, has more muscle mass but has the same fat percentage as their inactive arm. Exercise stimulates fat reduction throughout the entire body, not in localized areas. If you could choose the exact areas where you wanted to burn fat from by doing specific exercises, then obese people who chew gum the whole day would have slim cheeks. ‘’Spot exercises’’ are good for making specific muscles firmer and tighter." -http://tinajuanfitness.info/articles/052102.htm

"When you burn fat, you burn it throughout your body. Remember that, you can't burn fat in a specific area of your body by targetting that region! Here's what to do instead - reduce your daily calories, do more cardio, and instead of doing isolation exercises like crunches that tone your body, do exercises that will add as much muscle to your body as possible." -http://www.ewsonline.com/health/2006/01/fitness-tips-for-beginners.html

"The first thing you need to realize is that it is impossible to "spot reduce" fat from one specific part of the body. Fat loss occurs systemically, meaning that you can’t control where the fat comes from. When you burn fat for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body, and the first place you tend to put it on will be the last place it comes off. The reason everyone has those "stubborn" spots is because each of us is born with a genetic pattern of fat storage." -http://www.11-weight-loss.net/article_pages/burn_stomach_fat.htm

"6. You can Lose Weight from the Abs by Exercising Them

Not directly. The body tends to lose fat in a genetically determined way from all over the body. However, some people maintain belly fat until the end. The abs muscles may be the last to show for these individuals."
-http://weighttraining.about.com/od/fatlossweighttraining/qt/fatlossfacts.htm

And there there's much much more of this...

But I'm not trying put down your efforts. Swimming particularly is great exercise for toning your body.

edit: I don't count these links as 100 % trustworthy source of information, but I've read the same statements from trustworthy books and heard from trustworthy people.

[P_L]

edit: I don't count these links as 100 % trustworthy source of information, but I've read the same statements from trustworthy books and heard from trustworthy people.

I never consider anything I read 100% trustworthy.  The only real way to know, is to try it (and not half-heartedly).  In fact, everything you just wrote was my understanding until I had talked to my roommate (the licensed massage therapist), whom I do consider "trustworthy" on the subject because he studied it for 6 years.  I don't trust doctors, because they don't take very many classes on how the body works, just on how drugs affect the body.  That being said, I do trust chiropractors and massage therapists, because they primarily take classes on the body throughout their entire school terms (of 4-6 years), while doctors supposedly only take a handful of classes on physiology.

All of the overweight people I know have chubby fingers and wrists.  I am overweight, yet I do not.  And I'm pretty sure that is evidence that training specific muscle groups (in my case, wrists and fingers) can help lose fat in those specific areas.  Those are really the only exercises I do.  I never said it will completely remove all the fat from specifically that area.  I'm pointing out that doing several different things that have a small effect on the area will add up, and at least reduce the appearance.

You say you're not trying to put down my efforts, but all you do is try to post about how "wrong" I am, and by throwing a bunch of google search references at me.  Just because there is a lot of information is out there doesn't mean it's accurate.  Either way, if you're not going to aid in the experiment, than it's probably best you just let me be (as well as those who want to see the results of the experiment).  I don't like talking to people who are just out to prove you wrong all the time, especially since I want to actually conduct an experiment to discover if what we've come up with will work (that's far more evidence than some random "official" or "expert" could ever produce).

As an actual update for those who actually care; I'm just waiting for Jeremy to get his equipment so we can take pictures of the exercises (we live on opposite time frames, so it's difficult).  I have a crazy month, what with 2 weddings (I have to play a piano in one), a concert, and trying to move to L.A. so sorry for any delays.

[SmileOnTrobles]

No way man! I've tried everything for that 3 years... My life turns to hell cause I just can't leave the gym, the stadium or the swimpool 

I can see the example with bodybuilders with gynecomastia... They training REALLY HARD and eat REALLY CORRECT, but... they still have gyno 

But you must tried, maybe will works on you ( i hope so ) 

[lexuslexus]

the basic concept of working out to make your chest look better is flawed.

due to the fact i have had puffy nipples since i was about 13, since about 17 i have been working out in order to make my body better (im 20 now).

thing with weights is that yes you may lose fat, but nothing is ever gonna shift those glands, and if you do alot of excersise to target the bottomw of the pecs then it may make them even look a lil bigger.

fat loss via cardio is your best starting bet, and as people are saying your cant spot train.

thus you should lose wieght until you are about 10% bodyfat, then build on the muscle using a bulking wieghts program and with a diet full of protien, about 500 kcals above maintenance. there is no point going overboard witht he eating as all your gonna do is put on extra fat you will have to lose later.

this way you can make the most of your body and make yourself more self confident until the point you can afford the surgery. meaning after your gonna have a good body and no gyno, which is pretty much what everyone on here is going for.

wiht respect to the actual post, about a year ago a came across a site (cant remeber the address) of a guy who tried to see if excersise and such could reduce his puffy nipples. he took pictures every week and did it for quite some time jotting donw his meals and excersise plan and it made no difference to his gyno.
tho he did say he felt more confiedent as he was more built, (e.g having large arms and so on) and that in itself was worht the time and effort he put in.


in conclusion, lose weight, and if you already have low body fat, the only option is surgery. upper chest excersise like inline may make a tiny difference, but overall they will still be there

[P_L]

I can see the example with bodybuilders with gynecomastia... They training REALLY HARD and eat REALLY CORRECT, but... they still have gyno 

I saw some of the pictures of the body builders with gynecomastia, and most of them look fine.  I wish my breasts looked like that, because then I wouldn't care!! But my theory is different than those of the bodybuilders: they build the entire pectoral muscle, whereas I am aiming to build specific parts of the pectoral muscle to aid in the appearance of smaller breasts.  Bodybuilders do just the opposite: they build muscle for bulk, so they're not going to focus on making their pectorals appear less bulky.

While I'm waiting to get the exercise bands out of storage (they aren't mine, and I'm broke), let's spark up a small side-discussion:
Why do you think gynecomastia appears for so many people?  Here's my theories:

Chicken Breast Growth Hormones
Steroidal Inhalers (I "had" to take these as a kid, I think my breasts were getting larger during this period [also I got fat, I was a skinny kid before])
American Diet
Inactivity at a young age (during growth cycle)
High stress level at a young age (during growth cycle)
Hunching/slouching?  Maybe?  I did this a lot as a kid (I notice that my breasts look WAY larger when I slouch)

What do you think?

P.S. Pictures coming soon, I promise!