Do you have man boobs? If you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance you want to get rid of them… and fast.
Man boobs and moobs are also known in the science world as gynecomastia. Many men and boys today suffer from embarrassing man boobs, which can be challenging to lose. One study found up to 65% of men have some level of gynecomastia.1
But getting rid of the man boobs isn’t very easy for many men. Just losing weight and doing push-ups is rarely enough to reverse the damage caused by the man boobs.
To get the best results possible in the shortest time use a strategy that attacks man boobs from multiple facets. Here you’ll discover how to take the “kitchen sink” approach to lose weight and body fat and fix the hormonal imbalance that’s also causing the man boobs.
What Causes Man Boobs
Man boobs are not only the enlarging of the fat tissue in the male breast area but also in the glandular tissue. When most people think of man boobs, they think of gynecomastia which leaves a stiffer, more rubbery feel to the touch, while typical chest fat is much softer to the touch and can become saggier.
Excess chest fat is caused by weight gain, body fat gain, hormonal imbalances, and the genetic predisposition to distribute body fat to the chest area. Excess estrogen and low testosterone create a hormone imbalance that promotes man boobs.2
Poor diet, lack of exercise, and lifestyle factors significantly contribute to having excess body weight and fat. Lack of muscle mass caused by physical inactivity and decreased testosterone contribute to the man boob problem.
You could also have the genetics to be more likely to develop man boobs. This makes it much easier than others to gain fat in your chest area quickly. And unfortunately, it can make it one of the last places your body will lose fat.
Will Man Boobs Go Away
Now even though you may have inherited the genetics making it more likely you’ll suffer from man boobs, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with them for good. You will be facing an uphill battle to lose them, but with the right strategy, you should be able to get rid of them.
To lose the man boobs, you must reduce the chest area’s fatty tissue. Unfortunately, spot-reducing certain spots on your body isn’t very effective at least until the late stages.
Your body will hold onto fat for longer in certain spots depending on your genetics. So if you tend to gain fat first in your chest area, then that usually means it’s also the last place to leave.
But no matter how bad your genetics are, you can still significantly improve your physique and lose the man boobs. So surgery isn’t something that’s needed unless you have a lot of loose skin afterward.
How to Reduce the Man Boobs
The good news is you can quickly start to slim away the man boobs since you’re a male. Men have an advantage over females since they have the body physiology to gain muscle faster and easier than they do.3
This is advantageous for getting rid of the moobs. You need to add muscle to your upper body and chest area. This will help to tighten and tone up your chest and slim down the appearance of man boobs.
But just doing endless push-ups will only get you so far. Sure, push-ups will help to build muscle in your chest and shoulders but it’s probably not going to be enough.
You’re going to have to fix the root of the problem to really start getting results. Man boobs can cause self-confidence issues from having fat in your chest than having fat on your entire body.
But you’re going to have to lean out your entire body too to get impressive results. Here’s how to do thatā¦
Lower Your Total Body Fat
Losing weight will be crucial to slimming down the excess breast tissue. But you’ll also have to lower your total body fat.
Not having enough muscle in your body will make the moobs appear worse. It’s key to build upper body strength and muscle to tighten your chest area. 10% body fat is the ideal but the more you can lower it from where it is now then the better results you’ll get.
This is why you could still have man boobs even if you’re now skinny after losing weight. You must improve your overall body composition by burning fat and gaining lean muscle mass. This will tone and tighten your body and prevent you from getting skinny fat.
Your body shape will improve as you build muscle and burn extra fat. Your chest area will tighten up along with the rest of your body. But if you only focus on weight loss, then you could lose muscle along with fat resulting in a skinny fat body.4
Once you reach 30, men’s muscle mass decreases by 3-8% per decade.5 That might not sound like a whole lot, but it compounds over time.
So adding resistance exercise routines with weight training will be needed to increase muscle mass. This contributes to an ideal body fat percentage for eliminating man boobs.
Improve Hormone Balance
Excess estrogen and low testosterone are two significant factors that cause the development of excess fat tissue in the chest. The same hormone makeup (high estrogen + low testosterone) that makes women develop breasts will make men develop breasts too.
Estrogen exposure through diet, lifestyle, and environment can increase the estrogen hormone in men. Increased circulating estrogen and low testosterone create an ideal environment for developing male breast tissue.
Low testosterone can increase with age as you lose muscle mass. Sleep deprivation also contributes to lowering testosterone levels.5 Chronic stress can contribute to declining testosterone too.6
Elevated insulin and cortisol could also put your body into a prime body fat-storing mode. Keeping your insulin levels stable and low is key to promoting fat burning in the breast tissue.7
Lowering stress and improving deep sleep cycles will also keep your cortisol low.7 You’ll be on an endless stress cycle without enough sleep. Lack of sleep > more stress next day > harder to sleep > repeat.
What to Eat to Lose Moobs
When it comes to dieting to lose the moobs you’re going to want to follow one that does the following:
- burns fat
- builds muscle
- lowers estrogen
- increases testosterone
The foods you eat are critical to your muscle-to-fat ratio and hormonal makeup. However, you have to check your calorie intake for weight loss, but severe calorie restriction can lower your testosterone.
Stop eating foods that cause man boobsā¦
The first step is to stop eating the foods causing the moobs. Toss out the sugar, refined grains, seed oils, processed foods, and junk foods from your house.
These inflammatory foods spike your insulin and put your body into a fat storing mode. So all the calories you just ate are more likely to be stored as fat.
Stop eating soy. Lowering your exposure and consumption of phytoestrogens is key to improving your hormones to lose the moobs. Studies have found consistent consumption of soy can lower testosterone levels.8
So if you’re trying to firm and lean up a skinny fat body with man breasts then drinking a soy latte every day isn’t a good idea. A lot of processed foods too use soybean oil which isn’t only inflammatory but also estrogenic.9
And start eating foods that reduce the moobsā¦
Start eating a lower carb and high-protein diet. Ideally, just about all your carbs should come from vegetables and some fruits. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli can help to block estrogens in your body.10
Try to consume at least 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Protein is essential for building muscle and will be near impossible without it. Protein is also satiating, helping you to feel fuller for longer.11 And it’s naturally thermogenic, helping to burn more body fat.12
Eating more red meats will provide crucial vitamins such as zinc and carnitine that are needed to increase testosterone. Eggs too have a lot of protein, vitamin D, and omega-3s, which are all helpful in producing testosterone.
Not eating enough healthy fats will also lower testosterone significantly. Eating bad fats like seed oils will also deplete testosterone and increase your waistline. Processed foods are high in omega-6 fats which when consumed in excess cause inflammation and weight gain.
Try taking an omega-3 supplement like krill oil or fish oil to improve your fatty acid profile. Studies have found having a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio resulted in lower sperm counts.13
Intermittent fasting can promote the reduction of man breasts too. Fasting is a proven way to lower your daily calories, boost fat loss, and improve hormones like testosterone, HGH, and insulin that result in reducing man boobs.14,15
Does Beer Cause Man Boobs?
And beerā¦ now we all know how drinking too much can lead to men’s dreaded beer belly. But does it cause man boobs too?
Beer contains both phytoestrogen and prolactin. These are two chemicals your body uses to increase estrogen.15
Hops used to flavor beer contain phytoestrogens that also increase estrogen in your body.16 Beers like pale ale and IPAs are hop heavy and shouldn’t be drunk when trying to shed the moobs.
So ideally, you won’t drink beer if you want to get rid of man boobs but at the very least, switch to a light beer, and reduce your consumption amount and frequency.
Alcohol decreases testosterone in men, and heavy alcohol consumption should be avoided.17 Alcohol increases estrogen along with cortisol too, contributing to moobs even more.18
Drinking too much at night might make you fall asleep faster, but it’ll disrupt your deep REM sleep, which is the most important for recovery and producing testosterone.19
When you’re sleep deprived you’re also more likely to crave fatty calorie-dense junk foods like pizza and cheeseburgers.20 Plus sleep deprivation also lowers your self-control making it harder to resist those bad foods.21
10 Best Exercises for Man Boobs
The best exercises for losing the man boobs will focus on building pectoral muscles and overall fat loss. As you develop your chest muscles with the right exercises, you’ll tighten up the man boob area.
Then with fat loss, you not only lose fat on your entire body but the fat stored in your chest as well. No, these exercises aren’t all focused on chest exercises.
Instead, you’ll burn the most fat on your whole body by implementing exercises focusing on the major muscle groups with compound movements.
Push-ups
- Start in a plank position with your hands directly below your shoulders.
- Bend your elbows and lower yourself down until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Push yourself back up to the starting position.
Elevated Push-ups
- You will need a raised platform to put your hands on to do an elevated push-up.
- Place your hands on the raised platform and get into the plank position with your feet on the ground.
- Bend your elbows and lower yourself down until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Push yourself back up to the starting position.
Spiderman Push-ups
- Start off in the push-ups position.
- As you lower your chest towards the ground like a typical push-up also bring one knee to your elbow.
- After your lower your chest and it almost reaches the ground push yourself back up to the starting position and return your foot.
- Repeat by lowering your chest to the ground while lifting your other foot off the floor and bring the knee to the elbow.
Plank to Push-ups
- Start off in the push-up position with your hands under your shoulders and your feet hip width apart.
- Bring one elbow to the floor and then the opposite elbow too so you’re now in the plank position.
- Then work your way back up to the push-up position by lifting one elbow at a time and placing your hand on the floor.
Rows
A cable row is an exercise that works the muscles in your back. You will need a weight machine for this exercise. Attach a rope or handle to the low pulley of the weight machine.
- Take a seat on the bench and grab the handles. Bend your knees slightly and pull your chest up towards the cable machine.
- Keep your back straight and your eyes focused on the pulley.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the row.
- Reverse the motion and slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.
Goblet Squats
- To do a goblet squat, you will need a weight and hold it in front of your chest.
- Squat down as low as you can, and then push yourself back up to the starting position.
Burpees
- Start in the standing position with your feet hip-width apart.
- Squat down and place your hands on the floor to the side of your body. Shoot both your legs and feet back so you’re now in a push-up position.
- Do a push-up, then as you bring your chest up thrust your knees towards your elbows.
- Then, jump up.
Dips
- To do a dips exercise, you will need either dip bars, two benches or chairs.
- Sit on the edge of one bench and place your hands on the other bench in front of you.
- Slide your butt off the first bench and slowly lower yourself down by bending your elbows until they are at a 90-degree angle.
- Push yourself back up to the starting position by straightening your elbows.
Band Flyes
- To do a resistance band fly, you will need a resistance band.
- Loop the band around something sturdy and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together.
- Stretch your arms out to the side and then bring them back together in front of your chest.
Band Presses
- To do a Resistance Band Press, you will need a Resistance band. Loop the band around something sturdy and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together.
- Step away from the object you are using to anchor the band, and position the band around your back.
- Now, extend your arms out to the side, and then bring them back together in front of your chest.
Band Punches
- For this exercise, you’ll need a resistance band. Loop the band around something sturdy and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together.
- Step away from the object you are using to anchor the band, and position the band around your back.
- Now, extend your arms out to the side, and then bring them back together in front of your chest.
Workout for Man Boobs
Putting all these exercises together in a workout will maximize your results. It’ll be most effective when combined with intense exercise.
Intense training will enhance fat loss, and then when combined with the above exercises, you’ll maximize the muscle building in the chest area.
An example of this workout would be:
- Jump Rope 4×50
- Push-ups 4xMAX
- Burpees 4×8
- Rows 4xMAX
- Plank to Push-ups 4×10
And another oneā¦
- Mountain Climbers 5×20
- Spiderman Push-ups 5×10
- Jump Squats 5×10
- Dips 5×10
- Band Flyes 5×20
Then I’d follow it up with 20-30 minutes of cardio exercise for extra fat burning. You’ll deplete your glycogen levels during the above intense and strength-training workout. This will help you tap into using your body and chest fat for fuel for the cardio.
Zone 2 cardio (60%-70% Max HR) is the sweet spot for burning fat and overall health improvements.22 Use a heart rate monitor or an Apple Watch to track if you’re in Zone 2. Another way to tell is if you can carry on a conversation with gasping for air will indicate if you’re in Zone 2.
Conclusion
If you want to get rid of your man boobs, we’ve provided a workout routine and exercises that should help. Remember that to see the best results, you’ll need to combine these muscle-building exercises with intense training and cardio.
Stop eating foods causing you to gain fat, and eat more foods that encourage fat burning and muscle building. Focus on naturally increasing your testosterone and lowering your estrogen. Improving your hormones will go a long way to dropping the moobs.
If you’re really dealing with serious hormonal imbalances due to steroids or medications then talk to your doctor. They can test your T levels and then recommend or not hormonal medications.
Losing the moobs is about lowering your body fat, building muscle, and improving your hormones. Even if you have the genetics that makes it more likely to have moobs, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with them for good.
Sure, genetics plays a part but not near as much as your diet, exercise, sleep, and effort will. Might sound simple but having too much fat on your body directly leads to man boobs. So getting rid of this excess fat should be your main priority.
Josh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition Science. He’s a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and he’s a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) by American Council on Exercise. He’s worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at the high school and college levels. He has over 15 years of experience as a personal trainer and nutrition coach. He strives to bring inspiration and results for people to live healthier lives through smart diet and exercise.