How to Lose the Excess Fat from Your Chest.

Figuring out how to lose chest fat for males can be a real challenge but it’s not impossible. The difficulty is because it’s hard to spot reduce fat from certain parts of your body without proper exercise routine and diet.

Having excess chest fat can make you feel very uncomfortable as a man especially when you take your shirt off around other people. A lot of men will quickly assume that if they have a lot of chest fat they probably have a condition known as gynecomastia or man boobs.

Gynecomastia is a term used to describe the growth of a man’s breast tissue which is typically caused by a hormonal imbalance such as having very high estrogen levels and very low testosterone levels. However ‘gyno’ as it’s affectionately called is usually not the actual cause of the excess chest fat or man boobs.

Instead if you’re a man struggling with chest fat, you most likely have something known as pseudogynecomastia which is simply increased stubborn fat deposits around your chest. And guess what? Most likely you also have some excess body fat in other areas as well.

Now because everybody has different genes our bodies will preferentially store fat in different places. While women will usually store more fat around their hips and their thighs, men usually store it around their chest, belly and love handles.

If you’re unlucky to due to you being more prone to storing fat around your chest, it can be fixed completely, even if it’s difficult. In this we’re showing you three tips on how to lose chest fat to a masculine physique most men crave.

#1. Decrease Your Overall Fat Percentage

The very first step to getting rid of excess fat deposits on the chest is to decrease your overall body fat percentage. Unfortunately, no matter what anyone else tells you, there isn’t one single exercise that can target your chest fat.

There are exercises that can help build muscle and improve the shape and definition of your chest. And we’ll get into this in a second but there’s no way to spot reduce the fat that’s sitting on top of that chest muscle or any other area of your body.

However, even if your body prefers to store fat around your chest, by burning enough overall body fat you will burn off the chest fat as well. Most people will tell you to just create a calorie deficit by simply subtracting 500 calories per day.

However even if you’re eating less calories but those calories are coming from sources that are processed or high in fat and refined sugar, then you’re more likely to create insulin resistance which will physically prevent fat loss. So instead of burning that extra 500 calories per day, your body will just slow down its metabolism to make up for those missing calories.

In addition to just tracking calories you’ll want to also know your macros. This is very important; you’ll want to fill those macros with fresh whole foods that you’ll find around the outside perimeter of your grocery store.

These are foods that don’t come in a box and they are made out of just one ingredient like salmon or rice or eggs. To easily find out your macros you can click the link for the calculator or find one online.

But keep in mind as you lose weight and as your body adapts to the amount of calories that you’re taking in, your metabolism will slow down and you will have to readjust to keep losing weight.

A great way to prevent your metabolism from slowing down, at least as much is to cycle your calories. One of the best ways to do that is by dropping your calories lower by let’s say 30% from maintenance for two weeks. Then you would bring your calories back up to maintenance levels for two weeks.

Research shows that this two weeks on, two weeks off dieting approach leads to more fat loss. It’s more sustainable and it’s less likely to result in metabolic slowdown.

there are other ways that you can cycle your calories as well such as carb cycling. where you would have high carb days and low carb days. and you can also do something like an alternate day fast or you would eat at maintenance one day and then eat under 500 calories the next day.

all of these will help delay metabolic slowdown as you burn that chest fat. now underneath that fat I’m sure you’re hoping to find some nice pecs but to make that happen you have to follow step 2 which is our tip on how to lose chest fat fast.

#2. Perform Weight Training

Your next tips on how to lose chest fat is to perform weight training exercises. If you’re breaking down your muscles with weights your body is gonna divert the calories and protein, carbs and fats that you’re eating towards rebuilding your muscles.

This will make it much easier for you to lose body fat that includes the chest fat. It’ll also help you build muscle size, shape and strength specifically around your chest.

This will make your chest look tighter and more defined. Again we can’t target the fat sitting on top of the muscle but we can target the muscle itself. I’m going to give you five of the best exercises that you can start doing today to build pecs even if you haven’t burnt the fat off just yet.

#1. Bench press

The first one is the bench press. You can do this flat at an incline or decline. The flat bench press is great to help build chest strength as well as overall chest size and shape. Meanwhile incline will focus more specifically on the upper chest and decline on the lower chest.

You’ll want to try to incorporate all three into your routine over time.

To perform the bench press you would retract your shoulder blades by squeezing them tight together. Then you would lie under the bar with your feet planted on the ground. Then grab the bar with a medium grip width which will be about six to twelve inches wider than your shoulder width.

Next you’ll want to maintain the natural curve in your spine and keep your core tight as you lower the bar to the middle of your chest. Then push your feet into the ground as you drive the weight back up off your chest and repeat for reps.

#2. Dumbbell press

Another great exercise is the dumbbell press. This is very similar to the bench press but since your hands are no longer connected on one bar, you can isolate each side better and you can hit your chest in a very different way. Again this is one that you can do flat incline or decline but the form remains very similar.

So feet planted on the ground, shoulder blades back, neutral curve in the spine and then press the dumbbells up while keeping about a 45 to 75 degree angle between your elbows and your body. By the way you’ll want to keep that same 45 to 75 degree angle for your bench press as well.

#3. Chest Fly

Another great exercise that will help reduce chest fat is the chest fly. This can be done on a flat incline or decline and it can also be done on a number of machines as well as the cable cross. but for a basic dumbbell fly you’ll want to retract your shoulder blades and lay back on a bench with your hands over the line of your shoulders.

Then you would bring your arms out to your sides in an arc like motion with a slight bend in the elbows. It should look like you’re about to hug a really wide tree. Make sure you bring the dumbbells down no lower than chest level and then raise them back up for reps.

#4. Chest dips

For a fourth exercise to lose chest fat we have chest dips. This exercise is performed like regular dips where you would get up on two parallel bars but you’re going to be leaning forward while performing the exercise.

So after hopping up with your arms locked out, lean forward and lower your body until your shoulders are even with or slightly under your elbows.

Then extend your elbows and return back up to your starting position before repeating four reps. Remember with dips if your body weight is still too difficult right now you can use an assisted pull-up machine or a resistance band to help you up.

But if you are strong enough to do bodyweight dips, try to strap weight onto your body to make it more challenging.

#5. Pushups

The last exercise to lose chest fat for men that you can do anywhere is the pushup. I really like to do it on two platforms if I’m trying to target my chest. It allows for a better stretch at the bottom.

Regardless of whether you use the platforms or not, you’ll want to plant your hands wider than shoulder-width apart and you’ll want to keep your heels, your butt and the back of your head in a straight line.

Don’t allow your hips to drop down to the ground and don’t raise them up in the air like you’re about to do mountain climbers. Instead you want to keep your core tight as you lower yourself to the ground while keeping your elbows at that same 45 to 75 degree angle as before.

Then press yourself back up off the ground and repeat for reps. You can also do this exercise with a wider hand placement to focus more on the chest. Now these are just a couple of the exercises that you can do and if you do three sets of a heavy weight of each, you’ll get a great chest workout.

However, even if your goal is to improve your chest, you should still make sure that you’re working the rest of your body every week with other exercises like squats, deadlifts and pull-ups just to name a few.

Training all your muscles won’t only help you build more muscle which will help increase your metabolism but it’ll also help you burn fat during the workout and after the workout as you recover. It’ll help you develop a proportional physique which goes hand-in-hand with the last step.

#3. Improve Your Posture

Improving your posture won’t necessarily burn chest fat but it will definitely improve the appearance of your chest big time. Since most of us spend most of our days hunched over behind a computer screen or a steering wheel, we start to develop a much tighter chest and a weaker, overstretched upper back.

This leads to a postural deviation known as shoulder protraction and it’s gonna make your chest look much worse. but luckily we can fix any postural imbalance in three steps by:

• stretching out the tight muscle groups,
• strengthening the weak over stretched muscle groups, and
• practicing good posture.

#1. Stretch out chest muscles

So the first thing you’ll want to do is stretch out those tight chest muscles. One of the best ways to do this is to stand in front of a doorway with your arms bent at 90 degree angles against the frame of the door. Then lean your body forward through the doorway to increase the intensity of the stretch.

Another great stretch for the chest involves grabbing TRX straps and then walking forward with your arms out to the sides and your elbows slightly bent until you feel that stretch in your chest.

Make sure you don’t lean forward. Instead you want to stand up straight and walk forward you feel the stretch.

The last of the tight muscles that we want to stretch are the lats. You can stretch the lats by simply hanging off of a pull-up bar. You can also just put your elbows on a bench or a chair and lower your upper body down to the ground until you feel the stretch.

Now keep in mind you’ll want to hold all of these stretches for 30 seconds each round and repeat for three to four rounds. Try to get these stretches in every day and you’ll definitely notice a big difference.

#2. Strengthen back muscles

The other thing that you’ll want to do is tighten up and strengthen all of your upper back muscles especially the rhomboids since they’re overstretched and weak. You can do that with exercises like barbell rows, low rows and reverse flies.

#3. Practice good posture

The last thing you want to do to get rid of chest fat is practice having good posture throughout the day. Even though pulling your shoulders back and thinking about standing up straight can help, something that helps me a lot more is to concentrate on keeping my sternum pointed straight towards the ceiling.

If you imagine that your sternum is like a glass of water and by keeping it straight you prevent it from spilling over you’ll find it a lot easier to maintain better posture. There are also posture correctors that you can get online on place like Amazon.

However, most of them will be doing all the work that’s required to hold your shoulders back for you rather than your muscles doing the work and getting stronger.

There is one that doesn’t force your shoulders up and instead it’ll remind you every time that you slouch, allowing you to correct it with your own muscles and helping them get stronger. This ultimately will correct your posture and still allow your muscles to do the work.

It’s called the Upright Go. You can check on Amazon to to find one that’s suitable for you.

Conclusion

So those about are tips on how to lose chest fat for men especially but also for women. You can get rid of chest fat but initially it seems quite daunting to begin with. However, a combination of the correct exercises and diet practiced consistently will help yo lose chest fat.

As you can see from the steps listed above, there really isn’t just one particular exercise or food group, even a chest fat burner cream.

We really hope that you find this article useful and that it’s help you  get a better perspective on how to lose chest fat. Chest fat may be just one of the many problem areas of your body where you need to lose some weight and fat.

If it all seems confusing to you and you would rather have a personal weight trainer to help with your fat loss goals, you can search online for a personal trainer. Or you may also want to speak to your doctor. They will be able to prescribe a suitable weight loss program that will be optimal for you age and health history.

A personal trainer will also be able to come up with a personalized training program for you. They will also hold you accountable to the weight loss goals you set for yourself.

What has been your experience with losing fat from your chest? Feel free to share your experience and tips with our readers using the comments section below.