If you’re feeling self-conscious about side boob fat, then here you’ll discover how to get rid of it. Many people struggle with stubborn fat in this area, but you can use some simple exercises to tone it up.
Wouldn’t it be great to confidently wear a tank top or dress knowing you look and feel your best? And you can get rid of this side boob fat without having to lose a lot more weight.
Weight loss alone can make the excess fat on the side of the breast appear worse. And you may have heard spot reduction doesn’t work for getting results. So, is it hopeless?
The good news is there are specific targeted exercises and strategies you can use to smooth away the side boob fat. So keep going to discover the best exercises for getting rid of the excess fat on the side of your chest.
Side Boob Fat Causes
So why do you have side chest fat?
Genetics can cause your body to prefer body fat distribution to certain areas like the side boob area.1 This side boob fat next to your upper arms is known technically as the axillary tail of the Spence, which is a fancy name for axillary breast tissue.2
Your genetics are more likely wired to store excess fat in this side chest area, making it a lot more difficult to lose it. But you can still tone up and tighten the area despite genetics. Having side boob fat is normal and not a sign of any serious health concern.
The big cause of side boobs is having too much body fat. Excess body fat and a high body fat percentage cause your body to hold onto stubborn fat stores despite weight.
The problem with most people who try to get rid of this armpit fat is they just try to lose weight. But when most lose weight, they also lose a lot of muscle. This leads to no change in their body fat and maybe makes it even higher.3
This can lead to the “skinny fat” syndrome when you may appear thin but still have a high overall body fat percentage. This causes one to keep excess fat in areas the body stubbornly wants to hold on to it (in this case the side breast area).
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Why It’s So Hard to Lose Side Boob Fat
You might have already heard that spot reduction doesn’t work very well.6 Spot reduction is the theory that doing certain exercises for stubborn body parts will result in losing fat from that particular area.
The reason spot reduction has been found not to be effective for losing fat from stubborn areas is largely because you could still have too much overall fat on your body. So if you just do exercises for the area, you’ll build muscle there, but there will also be too much fat on top to see a difference.
So if you’re carrying too much overall body fat then you’ll need to lose fat on your body. You’ll have to put your body into a calorie deficit by either dieting and/or energy expenditure from activity.
In order to lose weight, you need to reduce your calorie intake. When you consume fewer calories than your body needs, your body will start burning stored fat for energy, causing you to lose weight.9
Exercise is an important part of weight loss, but if you’re eating more calories than you’re burning, you won’t lose weight no matter how much you work out.
For women, try cutting your daily calories to 1200. This will put you in a calorie deficit, promoting excess weight loss. This number can be adjusted depending on the person, but it’s a good starting point.
Then you can use the targeted exercises below to build lean muscle that will further tone and tighten the area. But if you don’t really need much weight to lose, have a good overall body fat percentage, then you can just use the exercises below to get results.
How to Get Rid of the Side Boob Fat
So now that you know just “losing weight” isn’t the answer it’s time to get into direct tactics. If you’re really overweight then you’re going to have to lose this excess weight.
To tone and tighten the side breast fat area you’re going to have to improve your body composition. Toning up this stubborn area will require lean muscle on your body.
Just “losing weight” is rarely going to be the answer since you could still be skinny fat.4 It’ll be key to lower your body fat by burning fat and building muscle.
And then the trick is to also add in targeted exercises that help to tone up the side breast area.
Muscle takes up much less volume than fat so you’ll be leaner and tighter. You can lift weights without worrying about bulking up since you’re also lowering your body fat and losing excess weight.
Most women have an average of 25-32% body fat. If you want to lose your side boob fat, I’d try getting it at least below 25%.5 This will increase the leanness of your body, making it easier to tone and slim down the side breast fat.
But you might not see a huge fluctuation on the scale if you don’t have much weight to lose (10-15 pounds).7 This is because as you lose body fat, you also replace it with muscle.
Muscle weighs something too, so it could easily throw off the scale and make your weight look deceiving. I’ve seen far too many people become discouraged at their “lack” of results due to the deceiving scale.
A far more accurate way to track your progress is to measure your body fat, inches, and how your clothes fit. Also, taking before and after pictures will give you a more accurate view of your progress.8
The only thing is it’s hard to measure your body fat percentage accurately. A trainer at a local gym can measure it for you, and/or a smart scale at home can also measure your body fat.
Now here are the 5 best exercises to get rid of side boob fat…
5 Best Side Boob Fat Exercises
Now that you know the best dieting strategies to quickly lose excess and burn body fat… it’s time to get into the best exercises to target the side boob fat.
Here is the equipment used:
Wide Grip Pushups
- Start by lying on your stomach with your palms flat on the ground wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Your feet should be together or hip-width apart, and you should keep your back flat as you push yourself up and extend your arms.
- Hold for a moment before lowering yourself back down to the starting position. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
- An easier modification is to do this exercise from your knees.
Modified Wide Grip Push-ups:
Side-to-Side Push-ups
- Start off in the push-up position with your hands on the ground slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Slowly lower yourself down by bending your arms but leaning your body weight towards one side.
- Before you reach the ground, push yourself back up towards the starting position.
- Then, repeat to the other side.
- A modified version of the side-to-side push-up is to place your knees on the ground.
Dumbbell Flyes
To do a dumbbell flyes, you will need a stability ball (or a weight bench) and two dumbbells.
- Sit on the ball with your feet flat on the ground. The roll onto your back so your upper back is now resting on the ball.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended straight above your head. Bend your elbows and lower the weights down to the side of your body.
- Keep your back pressed against the ball, hips high, and your arms extended straight as you lower the weights. Pause for a moment before lifting the weights back to the starting position.
Dumbbell Pullovers
To do a dumbbell pullover on a ball, you will need a stability ball and two dumbbells.
- Position the ball so that it is underneath your upper back.
- Lie down on your back with your head and shoulders off of the ball, and hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended straight over your chest.
- With a slight bend in your elbows, lower the dumbbells down back behind your head.
- Then, raise the weights back up over your chest and extend your arms straight overhead. Repeat for 12-15 reps.
Dumbbell Press to Fly
- Position the ball so it’s underneath you upper back. Lift your hips off the ground so they’re in line with your back.
- Hold a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing each other. Press the dumbbells straight overhead.
- When the dumbbells reach the top, slowly lower them back down by moving your arms out to the side in a reverse fly motion.
- Bring the dumbbells back in by your sides and repeat the exercise.
T-Stab Push-ups
- Start off in the push-up position with your hands on the ground slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight throughout the movement.
- Lower your chest towards the ground by bending your elbow just like a traditional push-ups.
- Push yourself back up towards the starting position, but rotate your body as you do so. Let your feet rotate with your body as you should be on one hand with it under your shoulder and the other arm reached overhead.
- Hold this elevated side plank for a moment before returning back down to the starting position.
- Repeat on the other side.
Dumbbell Around-the-Worlds
- Place a stability ball under your upper back while holding a pair of dumbbells.
- With your palms facing each other and your elbows slightly bent, make a circle with your arms back behind your head while holding the dumbbells.
- After the dumbbells reach over your head, begin bringing them back down in a wide arcing motion. Continue this arcing circular motion with your palms facing up until the dumbbells are now over your hips. Raise your head and bring your chin towards your chest.
- Slowly bring the dumbbells back to the starting position, and repeat.
Dumbbell Side Raise to Front Cross
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides.
- Keep your shoulder blades squeezed together and your back straight. Slowly raise the dumbbells out to your side until they’re level with your shoulder.
- Then, bring the dumbbells together by crossing them in front of your chest.
- Before they touch, slowly reverse the process by bringing the dumbbells back out to your sides and lowering back down to the starting position.
Mountain Scaler Push-ups
- Start off in the push-up position.
- Perform a push-up, then take a step out to the side and follow it with the same side hand.
- Then do another push-up, and go back to where you started by taking a step back and following it with your hands.
- Repeat the movement.
Band Flyes
- Attach a resistance band to a sturdy anchor about the same height as your chest.
- Hold the handles out to the sides with your palms facing each other.
- Slowly bring the handles towards each other in a wide arcing motion (like you’re hugging a tree).
- As the handles come together, pause and squeeze your pectoral chest muscles.
- Being the bands back to the starting position and repeat.
Side Boob Fat Workout Plan
So now that you know the best exercises for armpit fat, you’ll need to know how to put it together in a workout plan.
The best way to burn fat on the side chest is to combine HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) with these targeted exercises. HIIT workouts will burn the most fat while also building muscle.
Below is a sample workout plan that implements both HIIT and targeted exercises. It’s the best strategy for burning fat, building muscle, and toning up the side chest area.
- Jump Rope x30 seconds
- Wide Pushups x15
- Mountain Climbers x30 seconds
- Dumbbell Flyes x30 seconds
- Jumping Jacks x30
- Burpees x10
- Dumbbell Press to Fly x12
- Band Side Pull-Downs x10/side
- Stair Runs x30 seconds
- Dumbbell Pullovers x20
5x Total
After completing a HIIT + targeted exercise workout, you can follow it up with traditional steady state cardio. Your body will have burned off glycogen (stored carbs) during the workout and is now burning more fat stores for fuel.
I like to do at least 20 minutes of Zone 2 cardio (65%-75% max heart rate). You can go for a brisk walk, jog, ride a bike, swim, use an elliptical, climb upstairs, walk around a hilly park, etc.
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Dieting Strategies for Reducing Side Boob Fat
Along with calorie reduction, fat loss through dieting is best achieved by eating a high protein, low carb diet.10
When you restrict carbs, your body starts burning stored fat for energy. When you eat sugars, carbs, and starches you’ll have an insulin spike. This insulin promotes the storage of the food you just ate into body fat.11
So unless you’re burning the carbs off right away it’s best to restrict them in your diet to 50 grams per day.
Protein takes more energy to digest than carbs or fat, so you end up burning more calories overall when you eat protein-rich foods.12 Your body will also need protein to build muscle for tightening up your side breast area.13
A high protein diet is more satisfying and helps you feel fuller longer, which can help reduce overall calorie intake. Try to get around 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily.
If you have trouble meeting this daily protein requirement, try taking a low-carb protein shake.
Cutting out inflammation causing foods like processed foods and bad vegetable oils will reduce puffiness in the body. This helps your body look leaner, more tone, and healthier. Eat more low-inflammatory foods like vegetables, low-sugar fruits, lean meats, seeds and nuts.
Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating alternating between periods of eating and not eating. The most common approach is to fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8-hour window.
Intermittent fasting helps to regulate insulin levels. Insulin is a hormone that helps the body to store fat, so by keeping insulin levels in check, intermittent fasting can help promote fat loss.14
With intermittent fasting, your body will be forced to burn through its glycogen stores, which encourages the body to start burning fat for energy. Working out while fasting (even just walking) is a great way to speed up your results and burn even more fat.
To amplify your side boob fat burning, combine intermittent fasting with C8-MCTs. The C8-MCTs are highly ketogenic and your body converts them into ketones (same energy source your body makes from fat stores). This helps to kickstart stubborn fat burning by flipping the “metabolic switch.”
Delivers 5g of pure C8-MCTs (the most ketogenic MCT) to naturally elevate ketone levels. Supports enhanced energy, mental clarity & appetite control — get the benefits of keto... without having to eat keto!
- Boosts Ketone Production: Supports elevated ketone levels without the need for carb restriction
- Enhances Energy & Focus: Provides quick, clean energy & promotes mental clarity
- Manages Appetite: Helps control cravings & supports healthy weight management
Summary
- Unfortunately, most go about getting rid of these stubborn fat spots the wrong way by weight loss alone. Lowering your body fat while tightening up the area with targeted exercises is the best way to slim down this side boob fat once and for all.
- Dieting and/or energy expenditure through activity can help lower overall body fat by putting it into a calorie deficit. You’ll have a much easier time toning up and tightening the side boob fat if you don’t have a lot of excess body fat.
- We all have those troublesome parts on our bodies that stubbornly refuse to go away. This side chest fat is more common than most think and even men with man boobs can suffer from it. I know we’re all supposed to love every part of yourself but there’s also nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself too.
- Doing these side boob fat exercises will also help to tighten your breasts and prevent sagging due to weight loss. Most women’s breasts start to sag in their mid-30s to 40s as they enter pre-menopause, when their collagen levels drop. But taking a collagen peptides supplement can help to firm up this sagging skin too.
