Getting rid of the "man boobs"

ninzorjons

Sooooo my problem is that, well, frankly I'm tired and embarassed of my man-boobs. I've started doing push-ups every morning because I hear that helps work the 'pecs' but so far, no improvement. So now I turn to you to ask; how can I rid myself of this problem? I'll give you a little background info...I am 16, weigh about 120-125lbs and I'm around 5'4-5'6 (i really don't know :P).

Also, would I have to lose weight on my entire body or can I just focus on my pectorals right now? Lots of people say I'm skinny but I really do think I am a little chubby, not by a lot though. It may be my curved spine that pushes my stomach out and makes me think that but I dunno.

One more thing...Is doing push-ups every day less effective than spacing it out by, say, 1 or 2 days? Because I heard somewhere that you have to let your muscles rest for a day or so to recover.

Thanks, PA!

err, EDIT: I guess what I'm asking is for some exercises or a little routine I can do to help work my man boobs off.

KalTorak

ninzorjons wrote: »

Also, would I have to lose weight on my entire body or can I just focus on my pectorals right now?

The general rule is that you can't lose fat on a specific part of the body - your body is going to burn fat off of wherever it wants, so if you want to get rid of chest fat, you have to get rid of the rest as well.

Arikado

I don't know much about real work outs, but I did play in many sports teams to know that push ups do more for your arms than your pectorals.

Dog

Kal is right. The first thing to usually go is the leg fat, arm fat and other places you would hardly notice. If you want to drop fat from a specific area, you're gonna need to workout the whole thing.

BlochWave

That's odd, I'm 10 pounds heavier and only an inch taller and am pretty slim >_>

Anyways, you need aerobic exercise, I say take up running. It's what I do.

Grundlestiltskin

Arikado wrote: »

I don't know much about real work outs, but I did play in many sports teams to know that push ups do more for your arms than your pectorals.

That would really depend how wide your grip was. A push up isn't fundamentally very different from a bench press.

I would recommend checking out the fitness thread for some advice.

Djeet

you cannot target an area on your trunk for toning (doing a bunch of crunches aint going to get rid of a beer belly, and a bunch of pushups arent going to make a flabby chest area go away). increase caloric expediture (cardio) to lose flab.

when doing pushups, if your hands are at shoulder width, then you are engaging a lot of shoulder and tricep. widen the placement of your hands on the ground to engage more of the pecs.

Nitsuj82

1) Get a bicycle.
2) Ride it for 45 minutes 3 or 4 times a week.
3) Don't eat junk food.
4) ???
5) Profit and legs that make girls stare.

Thanatos

There's a distinct chance that you have them because you're 16. Welcome to adolescence.

Targeted fat loss, as has already been mentioned, isn't possible. If it really concerns you, I'm not going to tell you not to eat right and exercise (because you really should); however, at your age, going on a calorie-restricted diet usually isn't a good idea unless you have a pretty serious weight problem, and even if you were to go on such a diet with a lot of exercising, there's a decent chance it wouldn't help, and it could fuck up your development.

Odds are, over the next couple years, you'll grow a few inches, and everything will even out. If that's not the case, you should worry about it then, but trying to deal with it now could cause you some serious problems down the line. However, if you lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, try doing some cardio every day; running, biking, or swimming are best, but even walking will help if that's all you can do.

Improvolone

There is a certain condition where someone will get man boobs even if they aren't a tubby. If this is the case, then you need plastic surgery. It is impossible for this mass to be reduced.
I learned this from Dr. 90210.

Thanatos

Improvolone wrote: »

There is a certain condition where someone will get man boobs even if they aren't a tubby. If this is the case, then you need plastic surgery. It is impossible for this mass to be reduced.
I learned this from Dr. 90210.

This usually shows up well after adolescence, though. A lot of guys will get manboobs during adolescence, due to all the raging hormones.

ninzorjons

Damn you adolescence. Damn you.


Anyways, thanks for the advice so far guys.

MegaMan001

I also had bad man-boobs around 16-18, but as Thanatos has pointed out, they go away after you grow a few inches. My boobies firmed up and look much better. Keep a stiff upper lip, tough guy.

Uncle Long

Just try to be healthy; get exercise and eat right. Even if it doesn't get rid of your targeted problem it will make you feel better all around and will probably give you the confidence boost needed not to care so much.

And, though you can't target fat loss, you can always keep working at building muscle in your pecs. Keep up the push ups and try to do more focused and difficult variations. Also try the bench press. If you like to swim you can always try the butterfly.

Gihgehls

I had manboobs at your age, then they went away. Now I have a beer gut.

HorizonXP

I'm 22, have manboobs, about 30 lbs overweight @ 205, and 5'10.5".

Pushups everyday, and doing benchpresses my best bet?

I do pushups with my hands pretty far out. Like, my upper arm is parallel to the ground, and my lower arm is perpendicular to it, when i start the pushup. So my arm forms a 90 deg angle, which I straighten out when I lift myself. Is this correct?

I run 20 to 30 mins a day @ 5.5 mph. I've been watching what I eat.

Uncle Long

Well, if you're looking to really focus on the pecs you kind of need to do some bench press. As far as push up variations you can always try your feet together, your feet wide apart, one foot over the other, hands farther apart, hands closer together, diamond push ups. All of these will focus on slightly different areas.

Just keep running and keep in good shape and don't stress about it, I'm almost exactly your size (about 15lbs lighter) and am generally pretty healthy and have no problems talking to women and getting a decent return.

theSquid

Isn't the gist of exercise that to specifically lose fat and increase fitness overall you do cardio (running swimming biking) and to actually build muscle you do the actual weight lifting etc. ?

EDIT: That was an honest to god question. I also am looking to lose the moobs.

Mr_Grinch

Weights are good for weight-loss too. One of the guys on here will probably correct me, but I believe lighter weights and more repetitions are good for weight loss. A quick search online shows I may or may not be correct with this

Regardless, as a bit of anecdotal evidence I put on a LOT of weight at university from a bit of an alcohol problem and eatin takeaway nearly every single night. I'm only 5 foot 5 so take that in to account when I say I was about 13stone or more (182 pounds for those that like their weight in that).

This was me, and not at the peak of my fatness, I got worse than this:

Fat

I then took up swimming every other morning before work, which did wonders for me (I've always been fond of swimming and enjoy it).

I also bought some free weights and did a set of exercises every evening (just some stuff from looking up on the internet). I changed my diet from chicken nuggets and chips, burger and chips, kebabs etc to chicken stirfrys, chilli-wraps, pasta and mince in a sauce, chicken currys (So not UBER healthy but all with fresh meat, and not chips everyday).

I joined a gym and actually posted my workout on the Fitness thread in here and someone posted some suggestions (I forget their username now, which is bad of me because it helped immensely) and now, whilst not a model of fitness I'm just slightly under 10stone and feel an awful lot healthier.

Better (At least I think)

(Definitely not a model of health, nor the most flattering but I still look better! Leeds music festival)

(On holiday in Salou, hence dodgy shorts)

(And final pic, again from on holiday after being on a water ride at Puertoventura and being drenched)

So yeah, if nothing else, I myself can see an improvement and that's what counts. It was an effort though. This, by the way, is in response to the later people asking how to lose their man-boobs, I'm in agreement with others that at 16 your body is still going through major changes and you should let things settle down before you start on a weight-loss plan. That's not to say a bit of exercise and eating healthy would harm you though!! Just you shouldn't worry about it too much yet.

(Incidentally, the lass in the pics of me being fat also started to work out a lot, she now manages a leisure centre and is in great shape. )

Grundlestiltskin

Just to clarify, a reasonable training regimen is fine at that age (lifting/cardio). I think people are just advising against major changes to your diet.

I might be wrong.

But then, I was lifting for football at 16 and everything worked out fine.

EggyToast

You might have Gynecomastia. It's very common in adolescent males. Most males who have fatty "moobs" are overweight, "apple shaped" in their upper body weight, and are not skinny in the least. But during puberty, a surprising amount of males develop some form of enlarged breast/chest area.

Thanatos

Grundlestiltskin wrote: »

Just to clarify, a reasonable training regimen is fine at that age (lifting/cardio). I think people are just advising against major changes to your diet.

I might be wrong.

But then, I was lifting for football at 16 and everything worked out fine.

Yeah, nothing wrong with eating right and exercising; we're just saying that unless there's a pretty apparent, pretty significant obesity problem, going on a calorie-restricted diet is a bad idea. Eating healthy and exercising is pretty much always a good idea.

LiveWire

You cannot "spot" lose weight in one area, but you will likely improve the appearance of it by toning and building the underlaying muscle. Concentrate on dieting and cardio, but dont think for a second that training the muscle is wasted effort.