Q: “I’ve been working out for years, but now that I’m over age 40, I’ve noticed I’m getting some unsightly bulges around the front sides of my bra. What can I do?”
A: “Body fat tends to become much more stubborn as we get older, especially after age 35,” says Michelle Johnson, an IFBB bikini pro and trainer based in Washington, D.C. “Continue to train your upper pecs with presses and pec flyes on an incline bench. Try 12, 10, 8, and 12 reps to start, increasing weight each set except for the last,” she says. For this larger muscle group, heavier weights develop muscle better. “Also add in the pec deck or dumbbell flye and the lat pulldown machine to tone the upper body. Cable flyes also challenge those muscles and target the fleshy underarm area.” Plus, try doing iso flyes and iso pulldowns with a resistance band between sets, which recruit stabilizer muscles in a big way. “And to help with loose skin, try green tea extract and collagen supplements, which may boost elasticity,” Johnson adds.
