Gynecomastia/Man boobs

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juss

juss

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In the last 12 or so months my chest has taken a turn for the worse. I've been working out, but rather than forming pecs I have developed what sort of look like man boobs. From side on and in a tight shirt, they stand out, they seem to be fat.

What I'm not sure is whether they are the result of body fat or hormonal. I'm not fat, but I'm not lean to the point of a visible 6 pack, if I had to guess I would say my body fat is between 12-14%. I have put on fat in the last year or so, but not to the extent that man boobs should have developed.

Does anyone have experience with this? Either getting rid of them or changing them? I'm 20 years old btw. Any advice would be great, I've been researching on the net, and apparantly the only way to change gynocomastia if it is hormonal is corrective surgery. At 20 years old that seems a bit extreme and expensive.
 
juss said:
In the last 12 or so months my chest has taken a turn for the worse. I've been working out, but rather than forming pecs I have developed what sort of look like man boobs. From side on and in a tight shirt, they stand out, they seem to be fat.

What I'm not sure is whether they are the result of body fat or hormonal. I'm not fat, but I'm not lean to the point of a visible 6 pack, if I had to guess I would say my body fat is between 12-14%. I have put on fat in the last year or so, but not to the extent that man boobs should have developed.

Does anyone have experience with this? Either getting rid of them or changing them? I'm 20 years old btw. Any advice would be great, I've been researching on the net, and apparantly the only way to change gynocomastia if it is hormonal is corrective surgery. At 20 years old that seems a bit extreme and expensive.
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Id imagine your height and weight would give people a better idea but if your worried see a doctor or something. Or maybe you shuldnt have taken whatever Caster Semenya is on :p
 

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high estrogen and low testosterone

testosterone is increased through sets of 8 - 12 reps with short rest mostly

try a this template:

exercise 1 - work up to a 3 rep max for 1 of the big 3

exercise pairing 1 - leg/upper pull (row or pull up variation) 3 x 8 - 12

exercise pairing 2 - single leg/upper press (chest or shoulder variation) 3 x 8 - 12

keep sessions to under 45mins

for the pairs start at 60secs rest and decrease rest 10secs per week until at 30 keeping the wt the same

after that increase the wt a little and repeat

on another day do 5 x 50m sprints with the same rest set up

on another day 2 x 400m or a lap of a footy oval literally as fast as you can with the same rest set up
 
well not if he doesn't get a definite diagnosis but it will help him

you'll very rarely have too much testosterone too so i highly doubt that is the problem in any of these cases

but he really needs his bloods done to find out if he actually has low T or high E

if not we're all guessing
 
Thanks for the advice guys, it's much appreciated.

Kirk - I'm smack bang in the middle of a strength program at the moment so I can't follow that exact template, but what I will do once I've finished with it is tinker with my program to try and get some exercises of higher reps and shorter rests.

Syphoncom- I have read that inclince benching can help, but that is mainly if it is to do with fat rather than hormones, I will probably try to work in some incline bench.

Whomb- It is a pain in the ass, it does make me self conscious at times and yes no matter what shape I am in it seems to be a problem. I think it might be time to bite the bullet and head to the GP to have a word with him, and see if there are non surgical methods to try.

I have heard of tablets that are "eostrogen blockers" or something similar which I might enquire about, although I'm not to sure how they work or what they do.
 
I have had this problem most of my life and after 10 years of weights training it is still noticeable. If you are worried about wearing a t shirt or something tight the easiest way of disguising the problem I have found is to wear a compression top underneath what ever you are wearing.

Over the years my chest has got bigger and bigger, my arms, back and legs are fairly lean but the problem with my chest has remained the same.

It does seem to be a hereditary problem unfortunately unless you want to get bodybuilder lean it will probably always remain the same.
 
Alcohol can be a cause of this, if you're drinking too much cut down quit for a month or two and see what happens.
 
10987654321 said:
Alcohol can be a cause of this, if you're drinking too much cut down quit for a month or two and see what happens.
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No, the laying down of subcutaneous body fat is the cause. Genetics determine where it lays first and is taken off last.

Whether the cause of the excess caloric intake is booze or food is moot.
 

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Gyno is hereditary, or bought on by estrogen bounce back after a gear cycle.

You will not have visible abs at 14% bf, they begin to become visible around 10%. Unless you have a low bf, or are pumped up after a workout, it will look like you have some, unless of course you are genetically disposed to it.

There is the option of surgery, or certain supplements which act as anti-estrogen's, and can help to get rid of it. PM me if you would like some more info.
 
Turns out I have mild gyno :(

Appeared 6 months after beginning training. Getting my hormones checked but I doubt I have low test. Doc said it should disappear with time and only have it cause I'm 20.
 
From what I know about this, there's a difference between carrying a layer of fat on your chest and actually developing extra breast tissue. A friend of mine was massively self conscious and had been for years and he had a double mastectomy. Or so he tells me. As I write this I wonder of the truth of it.
 
Leather Poisoning said:
From what I know about this, there's a difference between carrying a layer of fat on your chest and actually developing extra breast tissue. A friend of mine was massively self conscious and had been for years and he had a double mastectomy. Or so he tells me. As I write this I wonder of the truth of it.
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Yeah exactly, but the actual breast tissue phenomena is almost exactly that. Honestly, look around and be aware of it. It’s so common.

It generally has a bit to do with testosterone and estrogen levels. Older men typically get it because those levels change. It’s not that remarkable to basically be fat, 65, and have actual gynecomastia.

What’s crazy is how common it is amongst thin men, guys in their 30s to 40s, and young men. A lot of young blokes get it from steroid use but plenty don’t.

It’s going to become a lot more common. I reckon it’s the way we’re going. Look at the frogs turning gay... nah, seriously, all these animals unable to mate as much as they did, the average amount of sperm is down, men’s hands are getting smaller, look at things like women developing about eight years earlier than they did in the early 20th century... obesity and this sort of s**t is definitely environment and byproducts of what we eat, immobility, stress, the air...
 
Leather Poisoning said:
From what I know about this, there's a difference between carrying a layer of fat on your chest and actually developing extra breast tissue. A friend of mine was massively self conscious and had been for years and he had a double mastectomy. Or so he tells me. As I write this I wonder of the truth of it.
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Ive seen an episode regarding this on Amazing Medical Stories. Some guys just accepted it, others had surgery to correct it.

Worth a look if interested..
 
I suspect you're doing too much chest/anterior and not enough back/posterior, rotator cuff and scapular stabilization.

Stand in front a mirror shirtless. Now retract and depress your shoulder blades and externally rotate your arms. Does your gyno appears better?

A protracted shoulder girdle (think internally rotated shoulders, anterior shoulder, protracted scapular, possible elevated, lower traps on stretch, posterior cuff useless, etc.) makes the appearance of gyno worse.

Food for thought.
 
Tsongkie said:
I suspect you're doing too much chest/anterior and not enough back/posterior, rotator cuff and scapular stabilization.

Stand in front a mirror shirtless. Now retract and depress your shoulder blades and externally rotate your arms. Does your gyno appears better?

A protracted shoulder girdle (think internally rotated shoulders, anterior shoulder, protracted scapular, possible elevated, lower traps on stretch, posterior cuff useless, etc.) makes the appearance of gyno worse.

Food for thought.
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It's got nothing to do with that. If you have breast tissue, you have breast tissue. It doesn't matter if you put on 15 kilograms to 'even it out,' go to 5% body fat to get rid of the fatty parts, stand certain ways... the only fix is being of the 'I don't care' or 'what's gynecomastia?' school or getting it fixed.

Gyno is a massive issue in society now and it's getting worse. Look at the amount of men in their late 20s with it. Every summer I notice it more and more.
 
Tsongkie said:
I suspect you're doing too much chest/anterior and not enough back/posterior, rotator cuff and scapular stabilization.

Stand in front a mirror shirtless. Now retract and depress your shoulder blades and externally rotate your arms. Does your gyno appears better?

A protracted shoulder girdle (think internally rotated shoulders, anterior shoulder, protracted scapular, possible elevated, lower traps on stretch, posterior cuff useless, etc.) makes the appearance of gyno worse.

Food for thought.
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This is the equivalent of telling someone to suck in their tummy to get rid of their excessive stomach fat
 
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