Big boobs can be a blessing or a bane depending on the activity. For large-breasted women, these are a bane when exercising for many reasons, from drawing unwanted attention including lewd comments to causing back pain from being heavy. Even with the budget-friendly Anytime Fitness prices as incentive, many large-breasted women won’t even come near a gym since they would rather work out at home.
And we’re not just making these observations based on anecdotal evidence only! In a study conducted by the University of Portsmouth’s Breast Health Research Group, women said that their breasts were the fourth biggest barrier where exercise was concerned; energy, time, and health topped the list. In a Bravissimo survey where 1,500 women with cup D-sized breasts and above were interviewed, about 60% admitted that they were unable to participate in exercise and/or sports, at one time or another, because of their large breasts.
Do these sound familiar to you? If it does, then don’t despair as there are ways to overcome your hesitations and doubts about exercising with large breasts.
Wear a Supportive Bra
And we’re not talking about bras with underwires, which also provide support for large breasts. Instead, we strongly recommend wearing a supportive sports bra in your size.
Well, this piece of advice sounds obvious but considering that many women still wear the wrong size of bra, we can’t overemphasize it. We can’t also overemphasize the importance of wearing a sports bra when working out, not your regular bra or your bikini bra. Indeed, you can wear a sports bra as a regular bra, especially if you’re into comfort, but you shouldn’t wear a regular bra for exercise and sports activities.
But don’t buy a sports bra based on the size of your regular bra. Your breasts move during exercise and, thus, your sports bra should accommodate these movements. When walking, your breasts move by about four centimeters and 15 centimeters when you’re running.
If your breasts aren’t sufficiently supported, these will prematurely sag due to the extreme stretching of their supporting ligaments. Plus, you will feel more pain in your breasts and upper back because they don’t have the right support. Always wear a sports bra and move around as if you’re exercising to check if it’s comfortable and supportive before buying it.
Cover Up Your Front
You may be self-conscious about your cleavage when exercising, especially when there are movements and positions that expose it. You may want to wear a top that covers most of your front so there’s little to no cleavage to be seen.
Of course, you can wear any top you want for as long as you’re comfortable in it and you have a supportive sports bra underneath. Nobody’s likely to begrudge you the right to wear what you want to a workout.
And don’t forget to choose exercises that will still give you the cardio burn and the muscle-building benefits without your boobs getting in the way. You may want to rowing, as well as dumbbell squat overhead press, lateral shoot-throughs, and dumbbell manmakers.
Ask a personal trainer about more breast-friendly exercises. You may find that the Anytime Fitness prices for personal training sessions won’t significantly shrink your bank account.