Work your WHOLE body
18. Aug, 2011 
7 Comments
Check out these pecs. 20 years training them. Scary, huh?
I was talking to one of the trainers at my gym today. She was telling me how many of her female clients did NOT want to work their chest.
Sigh. Here we go again. Seems they were afraid of getting a big, manly chest. Like bodybuilders have. Female bodybuilders, that is. I don’t know, maybe their boyfriends have told them that.
You would have to work awfully long and hard at building your chest to develop that kind of look, while also eating a certain way and getting to a low level of bodyfat for the results to show! Most women–maybe 99%–working out in gyms across the country will NEVER develop that look.
But you SHOULD train your chest. Here’s why:
1. Your chest is part of the frame that supports your torso. Your chest should match your back in terms of strength and flexibility. Good posture depends on it. So does your overall fitness–so important to maintain as you age.
2. More muscle = more calorie-burning tissue on your body. So you put a few ounces of muscle on your chest? All the better for you. (I keep this in mind when I think about skipping training my calves. It’s not that I want them HUGE. But if I can add an ounce of muscle here and there throughout my body, I am burning more calories at rest.)
3. The pectoralis is a fairly large muscle. Performing chest strength-training exercises burns calories then and there (as opposed to #2 above, where I’m talking about post-exercise calorie burning) AND triggers the release of growth hormone–the hormone responsible for growth, yes, and also vitality!
Some people over age 50 pay thousands of dollars a year for growth hormone injections in order to drop fat, build muscle and, generally, feel young again. You can increase growth hormone with an intense workout. Every little bit helps.
Still scared of huge, flat pecs with that nifty center divide like the bodybuilders sport?
OK, so do a couple of exercises, no more. You don’t just wake up one day and you’re HUGE. If that’s going to happen at all, it happens slowly. You’ll have plenty of time to make changes in your routine.
And if you’re over 50? Don’t worry about it, really.
![3949775889_eeed9890ec_m[1]](http://fabfit50s.com/wp-content/themes/fabfit50/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2010/07/3949775889_eeed9890ec_m1.jpg&w=48&h=48&zc=1&q=90){kind=small}
This is so typical with my clients! I usually tell women…don’t worry, if you start to get too manly, I’ll let you know!
Thanks for continuing to dispel all the myths—women should be empowered to strength train, not look for reasons not to do it!
Lisa´s last [type] ..You’re Invited to Wine Friday!
So true. I’ve trained my chest heavy and hard for the last two years (db bench with the 50′s woohoo!) but you would never notice it to look at me. Strangely, my girlfriends who won’t train their chest at all, or will only press with light weight on a machine, will do sets and sets of ab exercises. So, apparently, some muscles will balloon up in a few weeks of 15lb db presses and others will shrink to a bikini model size with tons of reps. Mysterious…
Hehe. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Dana. And congrats on the 50-lb flat benches. That IS an achievement!
If it were so easy to gain mass on the chest, you’d see lots of “pecs” popping out of tank tops. Interestingly, lots of women think chest exercises will make their breasts look better. I blame the magazines on spreading that one. AS if THAT will make women want to train chest. Sigh.
Wow. Excellent post. I have this same chat with my university students every single quarter. Luckily, my over-50 students are more amenable to trying chest exercises. I might just print out this post and save myself explaining it over and over.
AlexandraFunFit´s last [type] ..Brain Envy: Be Thinner, Smarter & Happier
Thanks! Nice to hear from you, Alexandra and Kymberly!
If nothing else, working chest gives the triceps another hit–which most women don’t seem to mind!
I don’t bench 50lbs but I did 40
and I was pretty proud of that. I also think that it can be a bit intimidating (at least in my gym chain in ny) to go over to where all the boys are and do your thing 
I luckily got over that and got comfortable, but I wasn’t for a long time. I think once we see more women bench pressing, women will get more used to the idea of bench pressing.
Hi, Nellie. Thanks for commenting. Yes, I know it CAN be intimidating. I wish more women knew that VERY often, the guys don’t use proper form or work with much intensity. (So many sit on the bench for a good 5 minutes or more between sets.) And some seem rather aimless in the gym, going from one exercise to another in a way that makes no sense.
Keep up the good work. I think it’s so great to focus on our strength, and not worry so much about our weight.