Does Weight Training Really Reduce Breast Size In Women?
One of the most common myths about weight training for women is that weight training reduces breast size and creates a flat manly looking chest. Even today in the 21st Century when we have access to so much in the way on information, the idea of weight training reducing breast size persists. The flat out answer is no, weight training does not reduce breast size in women. And this misconception has unfortunately prevented so many women from incorporating weight training into their quests to lose weight and firm up their bodies. And instead driving them towards aerobic exercises and extremely light weight training. Practice that inevitably lead to failure as intense weight training is without question the most effective way to increase muscle definition, tone up and develop a tight body. But what about the prospect of becoming flat chested? To answer that I can honestly say that unless you plan on starving yourself or using anabolic steroids, women have little to worry about in terms of their breasts getting smaller from weight training. In fact most tend to see a slight increase over time!
Weight training properly executed with sufficient intensity, adequate rest and nutrition will bring about an increase in muscle size of any part of the body that is being worked. This holds true whether it be it the pectoralis muscles of the chest (or pecs as many call them) or the muscles of your arms and legs. The way that this process (hypertrophy) works is that individual muscle fibers will get bigger (slightly bigger, that is, you won’t see mountains of muscle sprout on a woman without the use of anabolic steroids as it takes men with ten times more testosterone, years upon years to develop a muscular physique) or they will split and then get slightly bigger. The fibers of your pectoral muscles are all constituents of skeletal muscle whereas breast tissue is made up of sex specific adipose tissue (fat), ligaments, connective tissue and mammary glands. There are no skeletal muscle fibers found in the breasts as they simply sit directly over the pectoralis muscles. Weight training therefore can have no direct effect on them whatsoever.
Weight Training Doesn’t Affect Breasts Just The Muscles Underneath
Thus breast tissue cannot be subject to hypertrophy or get larger due to weight training, but by increasing the size (slightly, ladies) of the pectoral muscles under the breasts there will be a natural increase in overall chest size. It may then appear that the breasts look a bit larger as they will stand up a bit more, which, is something most women would not mind. However the actual size and composition of the breasts themselves will not change. A study conducted in the University of Arizona back in 1985 confirmed this phenomenon in a 21 day study that used concentric and eccentric contractions with a specialized chest exercise machine. After the three week program researchers found no changes whatsoever in the size, shape or volume of the breasts of the women participating after extensive scientific measurement.
So what about those flat chested women in the magazines with thickly developed chest muscles and no breasts? The ones that are so often parodied and ridiculed? Firstly it should be noted that the female bodybuilders that we typically see in magazines or on the internet use extensive amounts of drugs to attain a degree of muscular development and body fat reduction that is not in any way possible without pharmaceutical intervention. These athletes do not in any way represent what a regular woman would look like if they trained with weights, no matter how long or how hard they trained. The size and shape of breasts in a healthy woman is fairly resistant to change as long as there are normal conditions of hydration and food availability. That being said, in cases of extreme under nutrition or calorie restriction as is often the case for athletes trying to get lean or individuals with eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia where there is a significant reduction of body-weight and body fat, the breasts, which have a high proportion of fat, will shrink. In the case of female bodybuilders- you see the dense muscle tissue in their chest area and no breasts and the assumption is erroneously made that somehow the weight training made their breasts go away. Weight training has nothing to do with it, as shrinkage comes from the reduction in body fat and nothing else.
Weight Training Can Help You Look Better All Round!
That being said, natural athletes who don’t aspire to have 3% body fat levels don’t tend to have the same flat chested look as their drug using counterparts, nor the thickly muscled pecs that many find a bit off putting. Due to the reduced body fat of the average elite athlete there is some reduction in breast sized as compared to the general population, as they diet down, but most of the size lost in their chest area comes back when they eat normally and reduce their levels of fat burning activity. The other factor that can cause breast size to change is obesity- in which case the breasts become larger as body fat increases past healthy levels. Some women who are overweight see this increase in breast size as a positive attribute and are reluctant to exercise or diet for fear of reducing their bust size. For someone who is overweight to trim down to a lean and toned body, there will always be some loss of breast size- from the loss of body fat. But keep in mind that weight training can help lift what remains and make you look better all round!
High Intensity Training Leg Extensions To Failure!
This Is What 35 Years of Natural Bodybuilding Looks Like!
So as you know, As you may know I recently turned 49 and every year I do a photoshoot to show my progression.
In the hopes of showing that you can not only maintain a level of excellence as the years go by, but that you can do it without steroids, TRT, drugs or even pre-workouts and protein shakes!
(I’ve never had a pre-workout or energy drink and haven’t had a protein shake in decades!)
You don't need it as all it does make you forget tht excellence doesn’t require anything outside of yourself.
You already have all the tools you need!
Not a huge fan of taking photos of myself, (I much prefer being behind the camera) but I humbly try to be one example of just how much you can achieve with proper training and an uncompromisingly proper diet!
So here I am again at 49 and I am looking forward to seeing what you accomplish over the years as well!!! Thanks so much for tuning in and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
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High Intensity Arm Training- 50lb Concentration Curls!
There are two basic types of exercises, compound movements like barbell curls and isolation movements like concentration curls.
If you want above average arm development, you have to go hard on all exercises.
Isolation movements included, especially if you are drug free as we don't have the privilege of maximum growth from anything less than putting in some seriously hard work!
You have to go to that dark place where you can barely get the weight to move and do whatever it takes to get it up!
And then somehow find it in you to do it again!!!
You can't intellectualize it, you just have to do it and believe!!!
This was my third and last set and so I went all out!
My wrist is still a bit off so not going ultra heavy (by my standards) but
this was a hard set!
I haven't done concentration curls in a while, so I am really sore right now as I type this out two days after the workout!
Bear in mind that I always try to change it up and no one exercise is done every time I train.
Never training to maintain, always working hard to gain!!!
Still training and I hope you are too!!!
Thanks for tuning in and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
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Unlock Your Natural Potential By Varying Your Workouts!
For the past 32 years I have always done a different workout every time I trained.
I have never followed a set program of exercises and the only unifying aspect of my workouts is the blistering intensity!
I train three times a week with a protocol I call Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, and what distinguishes it from other forms of high intensity training is the constant variety.
Muscles grow in response to overload and UNACCUSTOMED stimulation.
Remember when you first started training how effective everything seemed to be, but over time that progress slowly ground to a halt.
You change your routine and see some progress, but the gains in size and strength inevitably fall off over time if you don't make a change.
Now what if you never left that "beginner gains" stage and were always training with different exercises and radically different ways of doing the exercises every single time?
You would be where I am, not having experienced a plateau over the past 32 years and be able to really start unlocking your natural potential!
How does it all work, and how would you measure progression? Watch the full video on YouTube by clicking on my bio link, or going to my YouTube channel (Naturally Intense) and see for yourself!
I really think it can help make a difference in your overall progress, and best of all, it helps you avoid injuries so you can keep training hard for years on end! Thanks in advance for watching and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuildingvideos #workout #workouttips #fitover40 #gymlife #workoutmotivation #trainingmotivation #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #drugfreebodybuilding #highintensitytraining #highintensitytrainingtips #HIT
Do This To Transform Your Home Gym Into A Real Gym!
With so many of us training at home, some miss that commercial gym feeling, and in this video we go over how you can easily capture that real gym vibe!
With this in place, you'll feel like you never left commercial gyms behind!!!🤣
With this in place, training at home will make you feel like you are still in a commercial gym!!!
I do hope that you get as much of a laugh from the video as @egcitrin and I had making it for you!
Thanks so much for tuning in and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#gymhumor #gymlife #workout #fitnesshumor #humor #naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #funnystuff #funnyvideos #naturalbodybuildingvideos #justforfun #personaltrainer #fitover40 #excelsior #bodybuilding #fitnessfun #fitness #roguefitness #roguerack #ryourogue
This is 49.
Thankful for one more round around the sun.
And every year I take a photo of myself around my birthday to show where I am as the years go by. It's been 19 years now since my last contest, and here I am.
There's no major diet changes for the shoot, nor is there any change in training. This is just me as I am all the time.
And it's important as I hope it gives you a sense of what can be achieved without drugs, without steroids, GH, TRT, protein shakes, fat burners, pre-workouts and whatever newfangled supplement phases in and out of popularity.
This is just hard work, dedication and time.
(And if I'm honest, every year I feel more and more self conscious about these shots, and I hurt my wrist recently and had this crazy idea that I would be completely lopsided as I can't do certain movements of late. All of which was in my head and I took the darn photos anyway.)
I hope they inspire you on your path, and I hope you find a path of peace and transcendence as I have, that rewards you not so much by how you look, but by how you feel following it! As that's the "secret" if there ever was one!
Thanks in advance for the well wishes, know that I believe in you and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #naturalbodybuildingtips #drugfreebodybuilding #personaltrainer #fitnessmotivation #fitnesslifestyle #naturalbodybuildinglifestyle #noshortcuts
The Surprising Truth: Steroid & Natural Bodybuilders Look Alike To Most People!
Click on my bio link to see it or go to my YouTube Channel: Naturally Intense!
In this video I talk about the fact that the general public can't tell the difference between a steroid using bodybuilder and a high level natural bodybuilder.
As far as most people are concerned, we are all lumped in the same box, and to highlight this, I talk about the time that my good friend, Kai Greene and I were guest posing at a local high school show and then top IFBB Pro Orville Burke showed up to guest pose as well.
Orville was two weeks away from winning the 2000 Night Of The Champions hands down and looked incredible!
But even though he outweighed us by about 50lbs or so,(and looked nothing like us!) the audience could not tell the difference!
It's a story and I go over as well why it's so hard for people to spot someone using drugs.
A slip that allows for so many actors to obviously use steroids and get away with lying about it by claiming their 6 month 30lbs of new muscle-ripped-to-shreds-physique came from "eating a lot of chicken breasts and training every day."
A slip that conversely makes it such that we natural athletes are constantly being accused of using steroids, when anyone in the sport can clearly see that nothing could be further from the truth!
It's a really great piece and you can access it by clicking on my bio link.
Thanks as always for taking the time to look at my work and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilder #naturalbodybuilding #kai greene #orvilleburke #5thavenuegym #naturalbodybuildingvideos #drugfreebodybuilding #natty #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #excelsior #bodybuilding #nosteroids
80lb One Arm Dumbbell Shoulder Presses (I Hurt My Wrist)
So I flipped my bike, did a full aerial rotation and landed superhero style- BUT while I often dress like a superhero I am still quite human, so I really hurt my wrist.
But that, of course, won't stop me!
If one side hurts, use the other side and this is my last all out set with 80lbs for 8 reps, and I would have gone heavier but there's a point where just balancing the weight on one side becomes almost impossible!
So still training and I hope you are too!!!
Thanks for tuning in and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense
#naturalbodybuilding #naturalbodybuilder #highintensitytraining #highintensitytrainingtips #nuobell #hometraining #homeworkout #fitover40 #naturalbodybuildingvideos #naturalbodybuildingtraining #naturalbodybuildingtips #naturalbodybuildingmotivation #shouldertraining #shoulderday
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Featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CBS News, Kevin Richardson’s Naturally Intense High Intensity Training have helped hundreds lose weight and transform their bodies with his 10 Minute Workouts. One of the top natural bodybuilders of his time, Kevin is also the international fitness consultant for UNICEF and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City.
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