Chest fat, to bench or not to bench?

[abhishah1987]

Hi All

So i have been battling with chest fat for a while now, have a flat abdomen, but the chest just sticks right out, and it doesnt look pretty, i have tried doing cardio (insanity max:30) to lost weight, but i have had no luck with the chest issue, when i wear a t-shirt it looks super weird as the chest pushes out, but as the t-shirt starts to fall below the chest, it caves in, i have stopped wearing t-shirts all together.

I guess cardio overall is just making it worse as i am losing more muscle than anything else which is making the chest stick out even more.

The only confusion i have is if i should work my chest at this stage or not. i did chest and back a couple of weeks ago, it made it a lot worse, the chest looked round under a t-shirt, a lot like bre*sts, after that i stopped lifting all together and started doing cardio, but the issue with max 30 is i cant stick to any diet, it makes me so hungry that i feel like i am starving every minute of the day, without max 30 i can possibly get by with a 1000 calories only if i have to, but with max 30 i get a hunger pang almost every hour!

So what should i do from here on, lift or cardio, if i am lifting, should i do chest or avoid it.

Would really appreciate some help
Cheers

 

[Vector300]

You can't spot reduce when it comes to fat which I'm sure you understand. However you can strengthen and increase the muscle beneath subcutaneous body fat. This is why when women train their chest they may drop a cup size, maybe, but their breasts seem perkier giving the illusion that they are the same size or bigger.

IMO cardio in general is poor for losing fat. Lifting and conditioning is the way to go. I generally stick to barbells and bodyweight for most applications. For lifting I would suggest:

Barbell Reverse-grip Bench. It recruits more muscle fibers than a traditional bench and is a bit easier on the shoulder girdle. Plus the wrist position allows you to handle more weight IMO.

Dips. Parallel bars and Rings. Rings really hit your chest hard. I would get very good at one then switch to the other and work on that for a while. Do these weighted if you can. Nothing better.

Push-ups. Regular, Feet-elevated, Rings/TRX. Old-school but they work. Especially the Ring/TRX variant as it requires more stabilization. I like doing these for high reps. 100+ in a go.

As far as conditioning goes...push sleds/prowler work, burpees, bear crawls, etc.. All that "fun" stuff would be great as a finisher on your trading days or even as a separate session. Keep the intensity high and the sessions short. No more than 15-20 minutes.

As for your diet, you may have to figure out something that can satisfy your cravings. Even downing a protein shake as a snack may not be a bad idea.

 

[abhishah1987]

Thanks for your reply, so you reckon working the chest wont make it worse? should i go back to lifting?

 

[Vector300]

I think if anything, lifting can only help it. Like I said you can't spot reduce so you have to drop your BMI % in general and having some additional muscle mass will help give the impression that you have a more chiseled chest. I don't really think the conventional bench is a great chest builder and flys and machines never did much for me, personally. If my goal was to both drop BF and focus on my chest specifically then a typical bro-split won't cut it. I'd do maybe an upper/lower split or even an EOD (every other day) full body split. Frequency will be helpful. And I would def throw in both strength work and lots of high rep bodyweight moves. You could even do something like this:

Monday: Upper - Intensity
Tuesday: Lower Intensity
Wednesday: Conditioning
Thursday: Upper - Volume
Friday: Lower - Volume
Saturday: Conditioning
Sunday: OFF

Bench and heavy dips on intensity days, don't neglect your shoulders and back though. And high rep dips, push-ups and other moves like that on volume days. Keep it simple and grow. For conditioning just get in and get **** done. Prowler work where you're pushing would be great though maybe a little tough after lower day but def doable. If you have a heavy bag then hands down I would do some boxing. You burn more calories than running and it really hits your chest/shoulders/midsection hard. Shouldn't last longer than 30 min on conditioning days. If you wanna get some extra cardio in there then I would do some low-impact cardio like incline walking on a treadmill with a weight vest on SEPARATE from you lifting session by several hours on your upper days.

AM: Weight Lift
PM: Low-Impact Cardio

This just my opinion. I'm sure there are others.

 

[abhishah1987]

Thanks a million!

 

[Eddie1267]

Could it be gynecomestia maybe??

 

[Dustin07]

I second everything Vector said. great advice.

and instead of an hour of treadmill cardio, do some sort of barbell conditioning like he mentioned as well. For me, crossfit style wods are my prefered method of conditioning.