Half-Serious question - any personal trainers out there?

Pam,

I had exactly the same thought in 2006 when I had my bilat.  I worked out religiously for about 2 years on weight machines, with the lightest setting on the chest machines and 2 sets of 15 reps (working up to that to be safe), and never as much as most women were doing.  I don't know if they removed some of my muscle (They certainly weren't supposed to!), or if my pecs are just up higher than many people's, or if it just doesn't work.  At least it didn't for me.   I watched all the man-boobs with envy, and resented them.  I didn't mind women having better boobs than I did, but I didn't want men to.  I will note that I should not have done all that, as my surgeon had told me I had NO LE risk, as he "only removed one or two lymph nodes in the breast tissue".  A year later I got the report and found that I'd had axillary node dissection (12 on the L and 9 on the R).  I never had noticeable symptoms of LE in that time, but I was always terrified by what I had done, and I have developed Stage 0 LE, which presents when I do too many repetitive movements (like the skillet I just scrubbed).  So I am much more cautious now, and the Y I went to made some changes in their equipment and staff, so I no longer go there.  If you do want to try it, please use very small free weights and build up gradually.  Start with 1 pound weights and a few reps.  My own pecs, when flexed, are mostly above a bra line, with very little below that.  When I have on forms and flex my pecs, the forms move slightly, but with all that work, I'm still bony from my clavicle down.  Good luck, and very sorry to rain on your parade.  I will say that going without forms is a very freeing lifestyle, but having some forms can be a boost to the sense of sexiness. I keep switching back and forth between them every few months.  I don't like to switch during the day...too hard on my self-image...who is that woman in the mirror?  Im starting to think I feel better without forms in the winter when I wear more jackets, and with forms in the summer with my chest is more noticeable.  This is counter to the wisdom that the forms help keep one warmer in winter and make one hot in summer.  Can't win them all. 

Dawn 

Liz,

Thanks so much for the info!  Now I don't feel like such a failure!  Excellent explanation! 

Dawn 

I'm a personal trainer and just happened to see your question. Those who replied are correct in that you can certainly build your pectoral muscles through presses, but the muscles are actually above the area of the breasts which, as you know, are largely fatty tissue. Men have a great deal more testosterone than we do and, so, they build much larger muscle, sometimes resulting in a look that simulates a small, hard and toned breast. I think that it would be unrealistic for you to aim to achieve that same look, but you can certainly become very well toned throughout the whole area and, in doing so, look very attractive.

I understand your fear about exercising your chest immediately after treatment, but once you're out for awhile, those fears should subside and you can work out as hard as you want. Good luck. I know that you're gonna love that new feeling of lightness combined with healthy strength. And goodness knows, you deserve to!

~Marin

PaminWV: you are onto something, though.   Decline can help you achieve a semblance of the look you want.   I have committed to and lived under so many incorrect preconceived notions about bc and female system cancer etc... that I always now ask my docs everything.  More to this point, you should ask them if you are correct and that in weight-lifting, and thereby inviting blood flow to the area, might give cancer some tools it did not otherwise have.  I had myself convinced, for years, that "the pill" caused female system cancer!   What an idiot I was!  In all actuality, the pill can help us avoid that cancer!  You see what I mean?!   Always ask your docs.  Your thinking does make sense but ask them just the same. 

I don't know how you will feel but I can tell you I was happy to wake up from my bmx and have those poisoned, humongous fat sacks that were trying to kill me gone!

Sespebadger: well said!

Boobsinbox: I am mid-recon and, speaking to the point you made about well-developed pec muscles being just above the bra line (and you are correct!), I can now do the pec dance with my TEs as I still have so much control over my pec muscles even after they have been sliced open to accomodate the TEs!!!!   It is sooo much fun!    

PaminWV,

I like sports bras (from Target) because they have a wide soft band at the bottom so they don't ride up too far, they come in lots of colors and they come with thin shoulder straps or thicker straps. The thin straps peeking out from the neckline of a tee-shirt really add to the illusion that you are wearing a bra because you have breasts. LOL. As my husband says, "Men are easily fooled." I like the lightness of no breasts, but without them I do notice any areas to the south that need a little toning!