You’ve been thinking about how to get rid of your man boobs and it is time for action. Hitting the gym to workout your chest with some dumbbell presses, pec-deck flys and push ups is now on the agenda. Firming up your pecs by increasing the amount of muscle in your chest is only half the battle, however.
To truly eliminate man boobs, you will need to do some cardio/aerobic exercises in order to burn off the
excess chest fat that will cover any muscle that you may gain on your pectorals.
Before you embark on a fitness regime involving aerobic exercises, make an appointment with your doctor as to get an assessment of
your current health. Cardio can be strenuous for the heart and lungs, especially if you are just coming out of a period of physical inactivity.
If you’ve been given the green light to start a fitness program, then look to cardio exercise as a key weapon in your battle to get rid of man boobs.
But which cardio exercises will you do?
When starting out, it’s probably a good idea to avoid running. You don’t need to put your cardio vascular system into overdrive at this point. It is quite important that you don’t de-motivate yourself trying to perform a demanding exercise like running when your body is not yet ready. Avoiding high-impact exercises will also minimize the possibility of injuries to your knees, hamstrings, calve muscles and feet.
Some good low-impact cardio exercises that you can do in the gym are:
- Cycling using the stationary bike
- Rowing on the seated rowing machine
- Performing steps on the stepper machine
- Striding on the elliptical trainer
Over a period of a few weeks, your cardio vascular system will adapt and your legs will get stronger.
Then you can look to running on the treadmill or jogging outdoors to crank your fat- burning to the
next level.
You can perform your cardio workouts generally in two different ways – low intensity and high
intensity.
Low intensity cardio workouts are ideal if you are just beginning a fitness program. Exercising at a
slower pace requires modest effort and also allows you to workout with minimal risk of injury.
Low intensity cardio can be done for longer periods, where your body will begin to convert stored body
fat into fatty acids, in turn fueling your muscles.
High intensity cardio workouts should be your goal once you have achieved a good level of base fitness. So try this technique when your fitness levels are at a more advanced stage. Interval training is an excellent method to improve your cardio vascular fitness. Performing
alternating bursts of high intensity exercise with low-medium intensity exercise, over 15-20 minutes will burn more calories than if you just did low intensity for say half an hour.
Another very good reason for moving towards high intensity workouts is that it makes the session more interesting and focus-driven.
One tends to concentrate more when having to perform near maximum efforts followed by relatively short recovery periods. When you push your body in this way your mind will focus more on how your body is feeling during this burst-rest-burst method of training. Compare this to the relatively mundane nature of low intensity exercise over longer periods of time.
Example: For your chosen exercise, perform 4-6 bursts at high intensity (near maximum effort) between periods of low-medium intensity (20-50% effort).
Having completed a session of high intensity interval training, your body’s metabolism will remain at an elevated state for longer. You will therefore benefit by burning more calories while at rest, helping to reduce your unwanted chest fat. Combining effective cardio workouts with your weight training over a sustained period is a successful formula to banish man boobs.
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