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Fun and Fit: Perky, Not Saggy — Push-Ups or Push-Up Bra?
Dear Fun and Fit: I live in a warm, sunny climate where exercising outdoors is practically impossible, and I struggle to use my indoor treadmill, Wii Fit and elliptical exerciser on a regular basis. It’s boring. If I lose weight (probably 20 to 30 pounds is required), will my boobs be flat bags of skin clinging to my ribcage? I would rather be plump with nice skin tone than skinny with saggy skin!
— Stacey
Kymberly: Oh, Stacey, I could kiss your plump and nicely toned cheek for giving us a saggy boobs question for our first blog! Think of all the hits we’ll get when people type in the keyword “boobs.” Yes, we will become the porn fitness leaders of the Internet world instead of the highly respected pros we thought we once were.
Alexandra, you had better handle this one, as you are the one with the smaller (secret code for “deflated”) boobs. That’s what you get for losing all that weight yourself, Miss “I am now so trim and everyone thinks I am your younger sister, not twin.”
Alexandra: If your boobs (let’s call them “plumpers”) are saggy and clinging to your ribcage, who cares about your skin? You’ve got bigger problems. And how much of that extra 20 to 30 pounds can you realistically blame on the saggers? I’d go for 10 pounds. So you have only another 10 to 20 pounds to go! You are part way to your goal already.
Do you like push-ups? Sure, you do. Every woman I’ve ever met loves them (ahahaaaaaaa). But if you can get some muscle tone going under all that sag, you’ll look perky and youthful.
But what if you don’t like push-ups? Here’s what you do. Lie on your back on a mat or bench or even your bed (if it’s an extra-firm mattress). Do you have some weights? You are not off the hook if you don’t. Just grab a few bags of beans or cans of sauce from your cabinet. They can be your weights. I’ll let Kymberly describe your chest press form while I go check the mirror to assess my perky youthful qualities!
K: Good try foisting the chest press description on me. I want to emphasize the push-up option. Alexandra is so right that the secret to retaining firm frontage while working on weight loss (a separate question addressed in future blogs) is to build up the musculature underneath. Push-ups are free, available everywhere, easy to pack, and the perfect option for lift and anti-sag. As your pec (chest) muscles strengthen underneath the breast tissue, you will have the internal support to get the look and lift you want.
Push-ups also strengthen the mid- and upper-back muscles, which will assist in holding you erect. Another key component to keeping the girls (also now known as your “plumpers”) up while bringing the weight down is posture. Standing tall, proud and extended instead of rounded or even slightly hunched is like losing five pounds visually in a nano-second.
Now, when we recommend push-ups, we suggest you start with your hands and knees on the floor and aim for 10 push-ups three to five times a week for a couple of weeks. From there, strive to whip out (no, not the plumpers, you rascal) 15 push-ups. Once you are comfortable with 15 knee push-ups, try five on your hands and toes, and 10 more on your hands and knees. The goal is to work up to about 20 toe push-ups every other day. Give yourself two months or so to get to that goal. Not only will you see a positive difference in your cleavage, but you’ll be on your way to weight loss and some pretty nice arms and posture. Locked and loaded!
A: What? Is that a math problem? If five push-ups are traveling toward 10 trains, at what speed will you crash on the carpet? Get a good bra and take a nap. Nah, get to work. Put a nice bowl of water on the floor and take a slurp each time you drop down on the push-ups. Not only will you know you dropped far enough down, but all that liquid will help your skin get ever so plumpy!
Dear lovely Noozhawk readers: If push-ups aren’t your favorite exercise, what is? Click here to send your comments, pithy insights and fitness questions to Fun and Fit directly. Free, free, free — just like your online subscription to Noozhawk!
— Identical twins and fitness pros Kymberly Williams-Evans and Alexandra Williams have been in the fitness industry since the first aerobics studio opened on the European continent. They teach, write, edit, emcee and present their programs worldwide on land, sea and airwaves, including AM 1490 at 6:20 p.m. on Sunday nights. They co-write Fun and Fit: Q and A with K and A from their home base in Santa Barbara. You can currently find them in action leading classes at Spectrum Uptown and Goleta and at UCSB. Kymberly is the former faculty minor adviser at UCSB for its fitness instruction degree offered through the Department of Exercise & Sport Studies; Alexandra serves as an instructor and master teacher for the program. Fun and Fit answers real questions from real people, so please send your comments and questions to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 06.17.10 @ 07:58 AM
I have been reading Kymberly and Alexandra’s blog for a while and I can say it is one of the most entertaining blogs on the vast world wide interweb. Love it.
Now I better go exercise.
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