The Best Chest Workout: 5 Moves for Better Boobs

Women often shy away from chest exercises, thinking they will cause unwanted bulk. However there are many benefits to working your chest, and you can maintain lean muscle while doing so. Whether you're prepping for a long-awaited date or just gearing up for the season of strapless, don't wait to score a perkier chest.

This workout will create greater muscle recruitment, which results in a greater caloric expenditure post-workout, plus each move will help keep you strong for everyday activities, like putting a box of winter clothes up on a high shelf for storage. Pull out the camis and strut your stuff with confidence.

How It Works
For each exercise, complete as many repetitions as possible in 60 seconds. Do not rest between moves.

You'll Need
A small towel and a wooden or slick floor.

1. Perky Press-Outs: Begin on all fours, arms straight and shoulder-width apart, both hands resting firmly on a towel. Slowly lower your body while simultaneously pressing your hands and the towel forward as far as possible, being sure to keep your body in a straight line from head to knees. Retract and repeat.
Coach's tip: To ensure proper form throughout this move, engage your core while focusing on keeping your body in a straight line, not on how far you can push the towel.

RELATED: Get into bikini-ready shape in nearly no time at all! Click here for a shape-up guide that burns 500 calories in 30 minutes.

2. 2-Piece Slide-Outs (Right Side): Begin on all fours, arms straight and shoulder-width apart, right hand resting firmly on a towel. Slowly lower your body while simultaneously pressing your right hand out to the side, being sure to keep your body in a straight line from head to knees. Retract and repeat.
Coach's tip: Slide the towel out slightly in the beginning and concentrate on form, as this exercise works the body at different angles.

3. 2-Piece Slide-Outs (Left Side): Repeat exercise using left hand.
Coach's Tip: Pretend that someone has snuck up behind you and scared you. This will help to keep your stomach solid and back flat.

4. Wax On, Wax Off (Right Side): Begin in a traditional pushup position with legs fully extended and arms placed directly under shoulders. Place the towel under right hand. In one explosive motion, begin circling right hand counter-clockwise for 30 seconds. Then switch to clockwise for the remaining 30 seconds.
Coach's tip: Concentrate on contracting and squeezing your pectoral muscle as hard as possible to ensure the maximum number of muscle fibers is recruited—thus burning more calories even after you've finished the move.

5. Wax On, Wax Off (Left Side): Repeat exercise using left hand.
Coach's tip: Even though this move focuses on your chest, it is a total-body exercise. So don't forget to engage your legs, shoulders, and arms. Squeeze, squeeze, and say good-bye to the cheese!

Source: shape.com

Your 21-Day Transformation Plan

WEEK 1

Mind: "Dedicate five minutes a day to keeping an exercise journal, noting how you feel after each workout or how you stay active," Borges says. Seeing yourself achieve daily goals builds momentum.

Body: Do two sets of 8 to 12 reps per move twice a week on nonconsecutive days and 25 to 35 minutes of cardio five days a week.

WEEK 2

Mind: Plan ahead. Rather than wait for a break in your day to exercise, schedule it the night before.

Body: Do three sets of 8 to 12 reps per move three times a week and 35 to 45 minutes of cardio five days a week, performing cardio first on weight-lifting days.

WEEK 3

Mind: Find solutions, not excuses. If you don't have time for a full session, break it into 10-minute bits. "Once you've started, it's easier to keep going than it is to quit," Borges says.

Body: Do three sets of 15 to 20 reps per move three times a week and 45 to 55 minutes of cardio five days a week, performing cardio first on weight-lifting days.

The Scientific 7-Minute Workout

This column appears in the May 12 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Exercise science is a fine and intellectually fascinating thing. But sometimes you just want someone to lay out guidelines for how to put the newest fitness research into practice.

An article in the May-June issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal does just that. In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science.

“There’s very good evidence” that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time,” says Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla., and co-author of the new article.

Work by scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and other institutions shows, for instance, that even a few minutes of training at an intensity approaching your maximum capacity produces molecular changes within muscles comparable to those of several hours of running or bike riding.

Interval training, though, requires intervals; the extremely intense activity must be intermingled with brief periods of recovery. In the program outlined by Mr. Jordan and his colleagues, this recovery is provided in part by a 10-second rest between exercises. But even more, he says, it’s accomplished by alternating an exercise that emphasizes the large muscles in the upper body with those in the lower body. During the intermezzo, the unexercised muscles have a moment to, metaphorically, catch their breath, which makes the order of the exercises important.

The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each, while, throughout, the intensity hovers at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10, Mr. Jordan says. Those seven minutes should be, in a word, unpleasant. The upside is, after seven minutes, you’re done.

20 Habits That'll Get You Fit for Summer

We've all been there: Despite exercising and watching what you eat, the elastic in your workout shorts seems to be as tight as your hamstrings. "Ninety-five percent of the active people I work with want to lose some weight," says Cassie Dimmick, M.S., R.D., a sports dietitian and running coach in Springfield, Missouri.

Getting lean requires the same trait that makes you get up at 5 a.m. for a workout: discipline. You need to be vigilant about your diet and consistent with exercise so that you maximize calorie burn, increase muscle mass, and decrease body fat. Luckily, it's easier than it sounds when you employ these tactics from dietitians and coaches. Get ready to lose!

1. Practice Long, Slow Eating
In a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2011, researchers in New Zealand looked at the relationship 2,500 women had between their self-reported speeds of eating and their body mass indexes. For each step up in speed (on a five-step scale from very slow to very fast), BMI increased by 2.8 percent. By slowing down, you give your mind a chance to process that your body is full. Increase your meal splits by eschewing distraction: no computer, no television, no newspaper. "You'll become aware of every bite," Eberle says.

2. Go All DIY
"Throwing something together for yourself at home is almost always going to involve fewer calories than dining out," Dimmick says. "You can control the ingredients and the portion sizes." For nights you're too rushed to cook, stock your pantry and freezer ahead of time with these staples: vegetable and bean soups, a frozen vegetable pizza, brown rice you can microwave, a can of black beans and salsa (a combo of the latter three make an easy, healthy meal). In order to make a brown-bag lunch as easy as possible, double dinner recipes so that you'll have leftovers. Chili and lasagna--make them both heavy on the vegetables--are especially tasty the day after you make them.

3. Plan Ahead
"Know when you're going to eat and what you're going to eat," says Suzanne Girard Eberle, M.S., R.D., author of Endurance Sports Nutrition. "Plan it out at the beginning of the day and the week so that you're not scrambling when you're hungry." This helps you resist the temptation of fast-food restaurants or pastries in the break room.

4. Eat Often
Aim for three healthy meals and two small snacks a day, which means you're eating something around every three hours. A 2010 Swedish study involving more than 3,000 people found that those who ate more than three times a day had a lower body mass index and waist circumference; consumed more fiber and less fat; and drank less alcohol than those who limited their eating sessions to three or less. "Eating more often keeps your metabolism humming, and prevents you from getting super hungry," says Lauren Antonucci, M.S., R.D., owner of Nutrition Energy in New York City.

5. Repeat Yourself
The National Weight Control Registry is a compendium of more than 10,000 people who have maintained a weight loss of at least 30 pounds for at least one year. These successful losers "limit their exposure to temptations," says J. Graham Thomas, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the study, "and have a repertoire of healthy foods they pull from regularly."

6. Don't Drink Sugar
A study out of Tufts University in Boston looked at the association between sugar-sweetened drinks and the nutritional habits of 947 adults. Unsurprisingly, those who drank the most sugary beverages, like soda, had a higher risk of obesity and a lower intake of fiber. When you celebrate, opt for wine, beer, or a drink mixed with club soda. "Margarita mix, orange juice, and Coke often have more calories than the alcohol," Dimmick says.

7. Veg--and Fruit--Up
Aim to have fruits and vegetables make up half of each meal. "Your breakfast should be half fruit, and your lunch and dinner, half veggies," says Dimmick, who adds that snacks should have the same 50/50 ratio: think carrots and a yogurt, or string cheese and an apple. Try this recipe for minestrone vegetable soup loaded with tasty spring veggies.

8. What's Your Intake?
Count your calories, if only for a few days. "Most people hate doing it," Dimmick says. "But it's the only way to actually see the mindless eating over the keyboard or steering wheel or in front of the television." You can carry a small notebook and log everything or use an app: Loselt, MyFitnessPal, and MyPlate are three popular apps to track calories.

9. Take It Easy on Nut Butter
Athletes love peanut and almond butters, and for good reason: They offer protein, healthy fats, and fiber in a convenient package. But a serving size is two level tablespoons. "People often end up eating three tablespoons," says Dimmick. "That's an awful lot of calories."

10. Make Fiber Your Friend
"Multiple studies have shown that fiber is correlated to weight loss as well as weight maintenance," says Jennifer Vimbor, M.S., R.D., founder of Nutrition Counseling Services in Chicago. Fiber passes through your system undigested, so your body has to work harder and longer to move it out, which helps rev your metabolism and give you a feeling of fullness. Aim to eat at least 25 grams of fiber a day: beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. (But to keep your GI tract quiet during your run, don't eat fiber two hours before you head out.)

11. Eat real Food
"The more packaged and processed foods you eat, the less satisfied you feel," says Antonucci. "A half of a sandwich is a better snack than a handful of pretzels; nuts are more filling than animal crackers." Pack an apple for emergencies.

12. Pay Attention
"Before you reach for a snack, make sure you're really hungry," says Eberle, who explains we often eat when we really need sleep, play, or downtime. "You may just need to step away from your desk for 15 minutes and chill out."

13. Go Off the Sauce
Beware of the hidden calories in sauces. Use tomato sauce instead of alfredo on pasta; substitute hummus or mustard for mayo on a sandwich; and make your own salad dressing: Add a little ranch seasoning to plain Greek yogurt, or a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

14. Downsize Your Settings
Bigger utensils and dishes promote bigger meals, so keep your dishes appropriately sized-a salad plate can easily hold a sandwich and a piece of fruit, which is a perfect lunch-and your serving dishes off the table.

15. Treat Trap
After a long workout, set a limit of "reward calories," Nisevich Bede says. "A safe number is 200 reward calories, and if you went for a really, really long workout, 400 calories." Good choices include: low-fat ice cream; bite-size cookies; single-serving-size chips; high-quality dark chocolate.

16. Get On Board
After following about 121,000 men and women for 20 years, researchers at Harvard University published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 that documented the foods and drinks most and least associated with gaining weight. Nutrition Energy's Lauren Antonucci gives the benefits or drawbacks of each.

THE BEST
NUTS Great combination of unsaturated fat and filling fiber.
YOGURT A good source of calcium, plus probiotics for gut health.
FRUITS High water content and key antioxidants and vitamins.
WHOLE GRAINS Packed with B vitamins and fiber.
VEGGIES Low calorie, lots of vitamins and nutrients, and high fiber.

THE WORST
FRENCH FRIES Deep-frying makes them high in calories and saturated fat.
POTATOES Often fried or covered with butter, sour cream, or sugary ketchup.
SWEETENED BEVERAGES Skip soda to save calories for when you need sports drink.
RED MEATS Avoid fatty cuts, such as T-bone, New York strip, and rib-eye steaks.
PROCESSED MEATS Most contain nitrates and are very high in saturated fat.

17. Eat Right When Hungry
Eat something with protein, carbs, and fiber like plain, fat-free Greek yogurt with a cup of berries. "Don't let yourself get too hungry, as it's hard to stop eating," Eberle says.

18. Master Special Occasions
Celebrate. Moderately. Have a (small) piece of cake. No good comes of trying to "save up" calories. Eat your normal meals and snacks so you're not starving.

19. Set Reasonable Expectations
"Trying to stay at your lowest weight is like trying to stay at your peak fitness year round," Fitzgerald says. "When you dial back training, expect to put on a few pounds."

20. Cross-train to Blast Calories
Bicycling [14 to 16 mph]: 682 calories
StairMaster [no hands]: 614 calories
Swimming [50 yards/min]: 545 calories
Elliptical: 491 calories
Walking [15-minute mile]: 341 calories