The breasts are made up of fat tissue, milk ducts, and loose connective tissue. As you get older, you may notice that your breasts lose some of their perkiness and elasticity. Although there are no exercises that you can do to actually make your breasts firmer, you can tone the muscles that help support your breasts. By strengthening your pectoral muscles you will be able to give your breasts greater support and help improve the appearance of your bust line. Does this Spark an idea?
Wall-Ups
The wall-up is a modified push-up that is done by pressing off the wall at an angle, rather than raising up from the ground. To begin a wall-up, stand approximately 2 feet or so from the wall, facing it. Place your palms on the wall at shoulder height. You can either have your palms placed at shoulder width apart on the wall or slightly farther apart. Then lean forward, keeping your back straight, so that your nose just barely touches the wall. Use your arms and chest to control your motion. When you are just starting to do this exercise, once you have touched your nose to the wall, hold the position for one second and then slowly move back to your original position. As you get stronger, hold your position (nose touching the wall) for longer, gradually working your way to 30 seconds. Do this exercise 10 to 15 times every day.
Butterfly
Another exercise that can help tone your pectoral muscles is the butterfly. While this exercise can be done with a weight machine, it is also possible to do it using two small weights. These weights should be fairly light (3 to 5 pounds each) and be held in each hand. To do this exercise, start by lying on your back with your arms held out straight from your sides (this will work better if you can lie on a bench). Keeping your arms straight, slowly lift your arms straight up from your sides until they meet in front of you. Hold this position for one second and then slowly lower your arms back to their starting position. To begin with, start by doing 3 sets of 5 repetitions and gradually work up to 10 reps per set.
Pec Push-Ups
This exercise modifies the basic push-up to focus on the pectoral muscles. Lie on the floor (on your stomach) and place your palms down at shoulder level but slightly to the side of each shoulder (by a few inches). Then raise yourself up, as if you were doing a push-up, but with one important change: keep both your hands and your forearms on the floor. Obviously you will not be able to raise yourself up as high as you would with a normal push-up. Hold this position for five seconds, then gradually lower yourself back down. Do this exercise 5 times per day. To add an additional degree of difficulty, once you have become proficient with the basic pec push-up, hold your head and upper body just above the floor in between push-ups (instead of letting them rest on the floor).
Tags: this exercise, your arms, your breasts, pectoral muscles, your palms
