Exercises to strengthen and tone bra band area?

knitapeace

I want to second DeliriumCanbeFun's statement here. I used to supplement my strength/circuit workouts with jump rope as well. I started laying off the jump rope a while back but kept up with the strength training and it became a LOT harder to keep control of my weight without restricting calories to the point where I felt like I wasn't eating enough to be satisfied.

Me too! I don't want to counteract all my strength work but I had to up my cardio recently. Taking the advice of so many on this forum as well as the author of the strength program I started, I took my cardio down a bit to avoid eating up all the calories my muscles would need for strength training. But my weight has begun to creep up without an increase in calorie intake. I had to take my walking back to running starting this week...I just got too accustomed to 2000+ calories per day and feel deprived with anything below that. And I still have a good 7-10 lbs I'd like to lose.

VeryKatie

You should try calisthenics. Try looking up You Are Your Own Gym (Women version)- it's a book, only $15ish. No equipment other than a chin-up bar is necessary (I'll be trying it soon... you could see if people in the group for this book could tell you what results they had). Those little dumbbells you have might help you with shoulders for now.. but won't do much of anything for the muscles in your back - those muscles support your body all day long and are way beyond a 6lb weight lifting capacity. If it were me, I wouldn't spend any more more on little dumbbells, especially not on ones smaller than what you have already!

EmilyPersephone

I am indeed doing cardio and HIIT for the general all over fat loss because I know I can't spot reduce.

Unfortunatly I don't have the strength to do push ups or pull ups at all, but maybe soon enough!

I will definitly check out the recommended videos and programs though! Thank you for the recommendations!


mfleeg: Good to know! Perhaps I'll be as lucky once I progress more!

contingencypl: When I say muscle building, I do not mean body building. That may not have been clear. I meant that I have very little muscle currently because much of it withered away while I was sick last year. Due to GI troubles, I wasn't able to eat solid foods and lost about 90lbs in 6-7 months, and became very weak. I have built back some of my strength in the last 4 months or so, but even 5lb dumbbells feel extremely heavy when doing just a few reps of some exercises.

Adding muscle, regardless of whether or not you are at the level of someone who can call themselves a bodybuilder, follows the same basic set of rules. Gradually increase the weight, little by little every workout, while doing low-rep sets (single-digit amounts). For bodyweight based exercises, use leverage tricks, such as doing pushups off of walls, counter tops, chairs, or staircases to assist until you can.

If you have medical issues that further complicate the process beyond the blanket advice given by forum experts (and I use that term loosely), then you need to get your doctor involved in the process. Be aware a general practitioner may not be qualified to help and a specialist may have to get involved.

Right, okay that does make sense. xD What I've been doing for the past month and a half is using the 5lb and 6lb dumbbells and instead of buying heavier ones to progress, I've just been adding more reps. In your opinion, would I be better off buying heavier dumbbells and doing fewer reps?

I do indeed have medical issues that effect what I can and cannot do, but am keeping my doctors in the loop, and am also hoping to see a sports medicine specialist soon (I'm waiting for the insurance company to sign off on it) so that I can get more information on how to work around those issues safely.


As for progressive weight training/muscle building programs, can anyone recommend one that would be good for a beginner? It would be nice to have a more stable regimen to follow than the one I've sort of tried to build myself (I'm sure that I'm not doing enough, and not working all the muscles I would like to).

EmilyPersephone

You should try calisthenics. Try looking up You Are Your Own Gym (Women version)- it's a book, only $15ish. No equipment other than a chin-up bar is necessary (I'll be trying it soon... you could see if people in the group for this book could tell you what results they had). Those little dumbbells you have might help you with shoulders for now.. but won't do much of anything for the muscles in your back - those muscles support your body all day long and are way beyond a 6lb weight lifting capacity. If it were me, I wouldn't spend any more more on little dumbbells, especially not on ones smaller than what you have already!

I do some exercises daily that I think are considered calisthenics. I'm not quite positive though. I do roll ups, bicycle crunches, bridge raises, bridge planks, lower ab triangles, lower ab scissors, partial squats, and the pilates 100 move. I do like those sort of exercises.

I will add the book to my list of things to buy! The 5lb dumbbells didn't seem that scrawny until I read your bit about those muscles supporting my entire body, so I definitely see now why I will need heavier weights. I will likely pick some up soon, or maybe keep my eyes out for a reasonably priced set.

rides4sanity

Of all of the things you say you do, most focus on the front. You need to get some balance. Core is all the way around. Common problem we work our abs and neglect our back side (shoulders, back & gluts). Seriously try the planks rows (with or without rotation), they hit back and front. Good luck!

ncrugbyprop

MOAR LATS!

If you can't do pullups, try negative pull ups (youtube it). Bent over rows is another good exercise for lats.

And the winner for the best, simple, and correct answer to your question of building muscle in that area.