Cardio and loosing breasts!

[Mrs.Fitness]

Ok..I am naturally a 38C and I have been hitting the cardio a lot latley! I noticed that I am slowly shrinking...lost 3 inches so far and I am worried that I will end up with nothing! I am not going to sacrafice my workout just to save the poor things but was wondering about it. Most professional female BB's that I have seen have implants. Did they start out as big as I am and then loose it all? Or did they not have a lot to begin with? Has this happened to anyhone here? Did you get inplants?

Thanks in advance

[aledef]

Well, I´m no expert but too much cardio makes You burn your body´s muscles (proteins), not only fat. That´s when cortisol kicks in and it starts getting not only fat, but aminoacids so the body can make some energy. The breasts have fat also, and maybe it´s burned in a workout. Now...if only muscles are left...
That´s why people tell us that a bb workout should not last more than 50 minutes. I guess high intensity cardio is less than that.
Anyone correct me if I´m wrong, but I guess that´s it

[FitnessTeen24]

Mrs. Fitness,

The chest is a tricky area for females to train. You have to make a tough desision on what you want it to look like. If you become a serious bodybuilder, you probably will lose a lot more fat in your breasts. If you trained your pecs hard, your breasts will look enormous when you flex because the pec muscle will push out the fatty part-giving the illusion that you have really huge breasts. Hardcore female bodybuilders like this look, many others find it completely nasty. Whatever you do, its you choice, so pick the look you'd rather have for the rest of your life.

[MsFit]

The breast tissue is bodyfat, meant to be there, but you will lose a good protion of it if you do dip too low in bodyfat. You could lose a good cup size if you decide to compete, but don't worry, they will return FULLY after the show, the wonderful rebound effect. Give them another 2 months to get back to normal.

As for the professionals, most get implants through the suggestions of the judges. If they want to move up the 'professional' ladder, they have to give the judges what they want, the total package. If it wasn't for the implants, most would be an A cup I'm sure. If you are dieting down for a show, invest in a padded bra the last 8 weeks if it makes you feel better.

As for training, training the pectorials only builds the muscle underneath the breast tissue, it won't make them smaller, only tone the muscle and firm them up. My suggestion is to make various angles of inclines the bulk of your chest training. Building amazing cleavage will off set any loss breast tissue due to strict dieting and low bodyfat percentage.

Good Luck
MsFit

[FitnessTeen24]

Many proffesional female bodybuilders I've seen have no fatty tissue in their breasts at all-its just like a mans pec musce-only somewhat smaller. Many female bodybuilders I've seen dont even have breasts at all. Good news I guess to hear that they grow back.

[tracyb555]

Unfortunately, when we decrease body fat, there is not really any way to target losses from one area vs. another. This is mostly genetic.

It is really a personal choice about how much body fat you want to lose vs. being willing to give up breast size (or altering your body through cosmetic surgery). Personally, I'd rather be fit & flat than full & fat - and I'm not willing to make surgical "enhancements".

[Mrs.Fitness]

I agree. Unless I did massive amounts of cardio I will never loose all of them and that is how I am looking at it. I am not going to sacrifice being as healthy as I can just for a little cleavage!

[MsFit]

If it's cleavage you're looking for, try making steep incline presses the bulk of your chest workout.

Incline Press
Flat Press
Incline Flys
MsFit

[strongfox2002]

I've always been small but as I started getting ready for my competitions, my breast got even smaller. I've come to accept it because of my athletic body and I feel comfortable with it and still look feminine. And yes, like MsFit stated, they get full again after competing, especially when in the off-season.

As for implants, it's obviously an individual choice and a lot of the National level competitors I've seen have had surgery. Most of these girls hope to turn pro and want a career in the bb industry. We have to decide what makes us happy physically. I'm sure you will maintain a good amount of size to go with your athletic physique. Hopefully you will feel comfortable with the changes. Keep up the good work.

[MDC]

Now I'm wondering if when the breasts come back if they are the same as before or are they "perkier" since the skin shrank so much??? I can imagine it be like having a breast lift without the scars, but I have no experience with it.

What if a professional female BB stops competing. Do they have the implants removed? Or do they end up with humongous breasts?

[Mrs.Fitness]

Well, I can speak about that one. I lost about 4 inches when I first lost about 50 pounds, and since I have gained back about 3 (from my lack of cardio) and they are not nearly as perky as they were. They actually drop a little now? I have added a lot of incline press and chest work to try and "perk" them up again, but I found that the complate opposite happened to me.

[MDC]

Mrs.Fitness,
I think that maybe instead of incline press, you should be doing decline press. Congrats on losing all that weight!

[Mrs.Fitness]

Could you please tell me what the benefit would be of the decline rather then then incline? I am not sure how each of the moves helps. I was doing decline but then someone told me to just do incline because I would cause too much muscle build up in my chest and it would not look right. I also bench 85 pounds and I was working on increasing my weight but I stoped and now do only 35 pounds on the incline! I am willing to try anything. Just curious! thanks

[Hibiscus09]

I'm with Ms. Fit on this one. I'm a C cup & I think the incline work enhanced my breasts -- I developed a great line going down the center of my chest. I've been kind of down because I injured my rotator cuff doing military presses & the line is diminishing because doing incline presses is a no-no according to my doctor. Anyway, I definitely felt like I had better cleavage with the line.

[strongfox2002]

I was told once that the decline bench workout works more on the lower part of the pectorals...I think the majority of women want to develope more the upper portion.

In my experience, the flat bench with the bar and the incline with free weights worked wonders in developing a thicker and fuller chest. I have always had small breasts and these workouts have made a huge difference in my upper body appearance. Other great chest workouts, in my opinion, include cable-crossovers, flyes (with cable or free weights) and the pec deck machine.

[MDC]

Mrs. Fitness,
You said you were getting the opposite of what you wanted doing incline presses. Is it possible that building your upper pecs could be causing the opposite effect of what you want?

I don't have breasts, but it seems to be possible that if you increase the bottom of your pecs, that it might give you more "perk" by pushing out the bottom of your breasts.

[SPRWMN]

I don't think there is any excercise that will firm the bottom of the breast, since it is all fat. When doing cardio, if the first that goes on you are your breast then if you continue to decrease your body fat you will not be left with much.