A bro with boobs is never a pretty sight, and those fatty pecs can be ridiculously difficult to get rid of. At least, that’s what most guys with man boobs are convinced of.
Granted, those lumps of chest fat can be particularly tricky to train off, but with the right man boobs exercises, it really doesn’t have to be that hard. After trying out these exercises for man boobs, the only hard things left are your pecs.
What are man boobs?
Man boobs, moobs, male breasts, boy boobies, or – potentially the worst name of all – man tits…
People like to give it funny names and joke around about it, but for many men out there, man boobs are definitely not something to laugh about. In fact, for many guys out there it’s a major cause of shame and insecurity.
They try to hide their man boobs as much as possible, and they often don’t even dare to take their shirts off in public.
It not only lowers self-esteem; it can have a massive impact on a man’s life as it can cause anxiety, stress, and many related psychological issues.
But before we can move on to how to solve the problem, we gotta know the problem. More importantly, we need to know the difference between excess fat and gynecomastia.
Gynecomastia Sometimes those man boobs aren’t just fat. It could be a medical condition called gynecomastia (sometimes written gynaecomastia), which can technically happen at almost any stage of life, although it is more prevalent among adolescents.
Gynecomastia is caused by your hormones being out of balance. Let me explain.
Your body contains female hormones (estrogens) and male hormones (androgens). Both types of hormones are essential for all sorts of bodily functions.
Most bodybuilders and gym bros only think about the male hormones – like testosterone – to gain muscle and strength. What they often seem to forget is that our body also needs female hormones, for stuff like muscle recovery for example.
However, they are correct that – as a man – you definitely don’t want too much of that stuff. Even worse is when you have a lot of estrogen, while you are low on testosterone. What happens? That’s right: hormonal imbalance.
Now this imbalance can have many consequences for your body. Gynecomastia, or the formation of actual male breasts, is one of these consequences.
Now this is a medical condition and it should be treated as such. Guys often think that surely there are some type of gynecomastia exercises you can do, but just exercising often won’t solve your problems.
When you have gynecomastia you should see your doctor to come up with an appropriate treatment plan, which can be as drastic as hormone replacement therapy, depending on the state of your gynaecomastia.
Excess fat Whereas gynecomastia is a medical condition, excess fat is generally not. This just means that you’re a bit too overweight.
Your body starts to store excess fat in loads of different places, spread across your body. Some guys see it go straight to the abdomen (the infamous spare tire, or – if you’re a Bud-loving bro – the beer belly), while others just get chubby all around.
Your chest area is just one of these areas where your body will distribute the excess fat. If that happens, you will see your male breasts grow and before you know it, your moobs are here to stay…
Having man boobs can really get you down. It’s a common area of shame for a lot of guys out there, and they will do everything they can to make sure the world doesn’t notice their fatty pecs.
But instead of just hiding behind a t-shirt or standing awkwardly on the beach with your arms folded while your friends are all just enjoying the sun carefree, you can actually do something about it.
The trick? Knowing the right exercises to lose man boobs
Are man boobs exercises effective?
A valid question to ask beforehand: are man boobs exercises actually that effective?
The answer: they are if you do the right exercises in the right way!
As always with sculpting your physique, it’s about choosing the right exercise to target the right area. You can lift weights like a madman but still keep your moobs if you don’t specifically target your pectoral muscles.
It’s as simple as that.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that if you weigh 400lbs and suffer from obesity just doing these man boobs workouts will solve all your problems: you’ll need more general exercise than that!
Recommended exercises for man boobs
Let’s start this section with some good news: there are loads of exercises to get rid of man boobs.
And let’s continue with even better news: several of these exercises you can do within the confines of your own home!
Especially with a problem like moobs, it can be scary to face going into the gym and do workouts while surrounded by bulked-up bros…
With some of these exercises you never have to leave the house; heck, for some you don’t even need any gym equipment whatsoever. Just you, your muscles, and a will to get in shape!
I asked around in the CrazyBulk team and we came up with our 7 best exercises for man boobs. Find out below how to do them!
Exercise 1 – Push up
The most obvious one, but that doesn’t make it less effective. Push ups (a.k.a. press-ups) are great to tone your chest and you don’t need anything for it other than yourself. No gym, no equipment; couldn’t get easier.
In case you’re new to the game, let me tell you how to do a push up. The easiest way is to lay down on the floor face down, fully stretching your body flat. Now put your hands flat on the floor aligning your chest (about the height of your man boobs actually) and push your body upwards.
While doing this, it’s important to keep your body in a straight line. Fully stretch your arms, keeping your body straight, to reach the plank position.
From here, slowly bend your arms, let your upper body go down towards the ground, but make sure to stop before you touch the ground. Go back up, and you’ve successfully done a pushup. Now repeat and make that chest fat burn!
To really maximize your results and attack your problem area as effectively as possible you should do decline push-ups instead of normal ones.
What’s the difference?
With decline pushups you make sure your legs are on a higher surface than your hands, meaning your body is in a declining position from bottom to top. Here’s a picture to help you out:
Exercise 2 – Standing Low Cable Fly
Unlike with the easypeasy push up, you won’t be able to do this man boobs exercise without the right equipment.
Most people won’t have one of these at home, so get your lazy ass to the gym and start burning of that chest fat. This exercise really melts it away and you can easily add more weight to the machine as you start to gain more power in your muscles.
Here’s a nice video to explain how it works, plus the difference between the low cable fly and the high cable fly. Make sure you take notes and get your facts straight!
Exercise 3 – Barbell Bench Press
Another classic workout – both as a general exercise and as one of the best exercises to lose man boobs – is the barbell bench press.
The barbell bench press not only helps you gain more muscle and strength, but it’s also a great move to get a shredded chest and burn away that excess fat.
Unless you have this equipment set up at home (lucky you) this is another one you will need to do in the gym.
For the traditional bench press you lay down on the bench, flat on your back. Grip that barbell, a bit wider apart than shoulder-width, and slowly lower it until the bar almost hits your chest. Then, push it away from you again.
Like that; and now repeat.
o make the most out of that bench, and to train as many different muscles in your chest as possible, you should do more than just the traditional barbell bench press. To get you going, I’ll give you a few variations.
Exercise 4 – Barbell Incline Bench Press
Basically, the same as the traditional barbell bench press, but now with an incline. In other words, you will be sitting up a bit more instead of laying flat on your back.
Exercise 5 – Dumbbell Bench Press Again, it’s kind of obvious how to do the exercise. Lay down on the bench, but instead of using a barbell you use two separate dumbbells.
This will bring a different element to your workout because – unlike a barbell – both arms can move separately.
I advise you to start trying to only move them simultaneously, but as you progress and get stronger you can play around a bit more!
Exercise 6 – Dumbbell Pullover Keeping you on that bench and with those dumbbells in hand, let’s teach you the dumbbell pullover.
This is definitely one of the best exercises for man boobs, as you really put tension on those pectoral muscles and you will see your chest fat burn away in no time!
If you have a dumbbell at home and a good place to do it on, you can actually do this exercise at home as well. I’ve actually managed to do it using a low chair once…
I do advise you to start off with weights that aren’t too heavy, and preferably only add the dumbbell pullover to your workout routine after weeks of getting used to lifting weights and working out regularly. This is not for beginners!
You can really hurt yourself when you do it wrong…
So how does it work?
Well, there are actually two ways to do it. If you’re a bit worried about your back – or if you’re still a beginner – you can lay down on the bench like normal.
The most common way to do this, however, is by laying on the bench sideways, only with your upper back. This is why this exercise is sometimes also called the cross-bench pullover.
Either way, you lay down on your back, take a dumbbell in your hands stretching your arms up, to then slowly move your arms back away from your body.
Exercise 7 – Machine Decline Press Lucky number seven: the machine decline press. This one you can’t do at home, unless you actually live in the gym (so we can all do it at home, right bros?!).
This one is another classic, and one of my personal favorites as you can really feel those chest muscles tighten as you get into it, plus you can slowly build up the weights on the machine, making it a great exercise no matter how experienced you are!
How to do it? Again, let’s just look at someone do it, much easier than me trying to explain it to you, right?
Check also our article on
how to tighten chest skin >>
Last But Not Least – The Full Body Workout That’s right, I know I said the seven best man boobs exercises, but you can’t achieve that prime chest without taking care of the rest of your body!
ou can do all these exercises above and fully focus on your chest, but that’s not enough. If you have moobs, it means you have excess fat on your chest (unless it’s gynecomastia or some other medical type of condition of course).
The only reason why you got excess fat on your chest is because your entire body is overweight and has too much fat to distribute in a, um, flattering way. The only way to get rid of that chest fat is to make sure that your entire body gets into shape.
Of course, all these exercises above are great to really target those pectoral muscles and they certainly help you achieve the shredded chest you’re looking for.
But it’s not enough. You need to do a full body workout to really make sure you get fit and burn fat. The man boobs exercises are there to further target the specific problem area a bit more, but it always goes alongside normal exercise.
Whether it’s running, swimming, or a challenging high-intensity interval training (HIIT): just make sure you focus on more than your moobs alone.
Improve your diet to get better results You might only think of exercises to get rid of man boobs, but exercises are not enough.
As always, exercising goes hand in hand with eating. You can spend the entire day in the gym working out, but if you eat an Egg McMuffin for breakfast and a Big King XL meal for dinner, you won’t get the result you’re hoping for.
Lay off processed, fat, and especially deep-fried foods. You don’t need that junk in your life.
Furthermore, curb those carbs, reduce those sugars, and make sure you properly count those calories.
Trust me when I say that a healthy diet is essential.
Conclusion And there you have it my bros: the best man boobs exercises you can do – at home or in the gym – to get rid of man boobs and lose some weight in general while you’re at it!