Will Exercise Help Reduce Breast Size?

Exercise will help you lose weight and give you good muscle tone, but will not shrink the breast gland or lift your breasts. Losing weight can actually make the breasts look more droopy if you lose fat volume in your breast.

The underlying glands and fat in the breasts are what affect the size. Building up pectoral chest muscles has no effect on the size of these glands. Surgery is the only way to lift and reshape the breasts.

In select cases, noted by your Surgeon, Liposuction can contour and reduce overall breast volume. Its always good advice to look at before and after pictures and talk with your plastic surgeon, so you’ll have realist exceptions about this type of surgery. (Marvin F. Shienbaum, MD, Brandon Plastic Surgeon)

Breast Reduction Exercises Are A Myth!

Unfortunately not, although breasts may get smaller after weight loss. Exercising muscles has nothing to do with breast tissue. (Steve Merten, FRACS, Sydney Plastic Surgeon)

Your pecs can’t lift your breasts

Exercise is great for shaping and toning your body and improving your cardiovascular system but unfortunately will do nothing to elevate your breast other than it might appear lifted if you lose weight and they get smaller.

When your weight has stabilized, ideally for several months, and your breasts are still larger than you like, consider a consultation for a reduction with a board certified plastic surgeon. (Matthew H. Conrad, MD, Wichita Plastic Surgeon)

Exercise to reduce breast?

There is no exercise that will reduce your chest or breast size. The only way to reduce your breast size is with surgery. I would recommend a board certified plastic surgeon that has experience with breast surgery. (Sergio Alvarez, MD, Doral Plastic Surgeon)

Decrease Your Overall Body Fat Percentage Through Exercise And Diet

Your breast size is not likely to change with exercise, unless you are significantly above your ideal body weight. In this case, weight loss down to your ideal body weight may diminish you breast size somewhat.

If you are still too large or saggy at that point, a breast reduction is worth looking into. (Jeffrey D. Wagner, MD, Indianapolis Plastic Surgeon)

Exercising will not lift your breasts

Unfortunately, while exercising, weight training and even dieting is very beneficial for the average patient for a variety of reasons, these activities will not do anything to lift the breasts and provide you with a more youthful breast shape.

Losing weight for some patients has the potential of translating into a decrease in breast size, which seems to alleviate some discomfort for certain patients, but even vigorous chest training will not cause the breast tissue to lift on its own.

In order to reduce your breasts in size and provide you with a perky more youthful breast shape, the recommendation would be to undergo a breast reduction surgery. (Stephen T. Greenberg, MD, Woodbury Plastic Surgeon)

Photo Before Breast Reduction Surgery

Exercise will help you lose weight and give you good muscle tone. Both of these will improve your appearance. Weight loss can help to shrink your breast in a variable way. Some women lose a lot of breast with weight loss, some don’t lose a bit with weight loss.

Skin will snap back after weight loss (and pregnancy) in a variable way. It snaps back better when you are young, but only up to a point, then no more. Most women who have large, symptomatic breasts can not fix everything with exercise.

Consult with a plastic surgeon with experience in breast reduction to discuss your options and see if exercise/weight loss could do it all. (Luke J. Curtsinger, MD, Savannah Plastic Surgeon)

Breast Reduction & Exercise

There Are No Such Things Specific Exercises That Will Reduce Breast Size

Unfortunately, no amount of exercise can help reduce the size of your breasts or lift them to a higher position, it’s simply not possible. The underlying glands in the breasts are what affect the size and building up pectoral muscle has no effect on these glands.

While working out could decrease your overall weight and in turn reduce the size of the breasts, it still wouldn’t address the sagging that will inevitably remain even if your breasts grow smaller. Only a breast reduction can address reducing the size of your breasts and a combination breast lift may be recommended to remove excess skin and raise the breasts to a higher position on the chest. (David Whiteman, MD, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon)

Exercise for breast reduction

These Are Not Breast Reduction Exercises, But They Will Strengthen Your Back, Core, And Chest Muscles

Unfortunately, Exercise alone will not be an effective cure for lifting your breasts. Weight loss may potentially help somewhat with the size, depending on how much glandular tissue you have. However, to effectively reduce the size and elevate the nipples, a breast reduction would likely be the best route.

Speak with a board certified plastic surgeon for a full evaluation. (Keshav Magge, MD, Bethesda Plastic Surgeon)

Unfortunately I don’t think chest exercises will make your breast look smaller or more lifted in any way.

Building up your chest muscle, if anything, could make you look larger. People who feel their breasts look too small often feel that their breasts look larger if they workout their chest. (Scott E. Newman, MD, FACS, New York Plastic Surgeon)

Will Chest Exercises Lift Breasts Photo

Breast Reduction exercise

Unfortunately there is no exercise you can do that will lift your breasts. If they droop, it is because the ligaments that help it keep its shape are too stretched or the skin is too loose and strengthening the muscle underneath will not affect the shape at all.

Exercise will also not necessarily shrink the breast, unless the breasts are made up of a lot of fat and you lose a significant amount of weight. (Allen M. Doezie, MD, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

Chest exercises

Unfortunately, chest muscle exercises are very unlikely to change the appearance of the breast, but as mentioned by other experts, it might help you get closer to your ideal body weight if you are not there yet. (Paul J. Leahy, MD, Leawood Plastic Surgeon)

Will Exercise Reduce Breast Size

Ligaments hold the breasts up. Muscles don’t really help.

Breasts will inevitably descend on the chest wall as the ligaments (Cooper’s ligaments) give way or stretch. Weight gain, pregnancy and lack of support seem to be the main contributors to ligament failure. Building up your pec muscle may make you look better generally but won’t lift your breasts. (Dan Kennedy, MBBS, FRACS (plast), Brisbane Plastic Surgeon)

To date, there are no special exercises related to muscle strengthening that can significantly change the pre or post-operative breast shape related to breast reduction surgery. Wishing you the best during your breast reduction journey. (Hani Sinno, MD, Montreal Plastic Surgeon)

Exercises to lift and shrink breasts

Chest exercises will not do much to lift and shrink your breasts. Chest exercises will build up your chest muscles, mainly your pectoralis muscles. The most commonly performed procedure to lift and reduce breasts would be breast reduction surgery. (Samir S. Rao, MD, Chevy Chase Plastic Surgeon)

Start Exercising

Unfortunately, the breasts are anatomically separate from your muscles. Although it is always a good idea to keep in good shape and well toned, it will not change the way your breasts look. (Bram Kaufman, MD, Cleveland Plastic Surgeon)

There is no way for you to correct this problem with exercise. Breasts are made of fibrous tissue and fat all packaged up in an envelope of skin. While building up your muscle will make your chest look more toned, it will not do anything to help the skin or breast tissue shrink.

If you are 20 most likely your breasts are fairly dense and not fatty, so weight loss would not help either. (Ellen A. Janetzke, MD, Bloomfield Hills Plastic Surgeon)

Will exercise help shrink sagging breasts?

Unfortunately, no amount of exercise can “lift” sagging breasts. There is no muscle in a breast, only behind it, so developing your pectoral muscles cannot tighten or lift the breasts whatsoever. Surgery is the only way to lift and reshape the breasts. (Orna Fisher, MD, Palo Alto Plastic Surgeon)

Only Surgery Will Reduce Tissue

Unfortunately, there are no exercises that will lift and shrink breasts. The breast tissue is overlying the pectoralis muscle. Exercise may make the muscle more defined but will have no effect on your breast tissue.

The only way to make sagging large breasts appear smaller and higher is to undergo a breast reduction and/or a breast lift. Often after a mastopexy (breast lift), the breast appears smaller because it is now sitting in a higher position and excess skin has been removed.

You should have the discussion with a plastic surgeon to see which procedure would best get you to your goals, either a breast reduction or a breast lift. (Louis C. Cutolo, Jr., MD, FACS, New York Plastic Surgeon)

Sagging breasts need a lift

Exercise can make your breasts smaller if you lose weight at the same time, but it will not improve the sagging. For sagginess, you’ll need to get breast lift surgery. It’s the only way to lift sagging breasts without a bra. (Michael Constantin Gartner, DO, Paramus Plastic Surgeon)