Is It Safe to Exercise Chest Muscles After Breast Implants?

VIEW VIDEO BELOW BY CLICKING "MORE": To some degree, we immediately want you to perform pectoralis stretching exercises to minimize postoperative pain due to spasm (similar to a contracting hamstring pull). However, I generally advise my patients to avoid pectoralis strengthening exercises: such as wide stance push ups or bench press. see video

Yes. After you are completely healed. There is NO point in having a breast augmentation if it will change the way you live. Once the surgery is completely healed in a few months you should be able to resume all your previous activities. A few years ago, Dr. Baker, a senior member of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, from Florida, presented a memorable paper on the negligible effect of (subpectoral) breast augmentation in PROFESSIONAL female body builders. The ability of those women... more

After a subpectoral breast augmentation, a patient may resume exercise (push-ups, weight training) once the pectoral muscles have fully healed. This may take two to three months before the muscles have healed enough to perform strenuous activity. Patients may experience some discomfort and pain when they resume these types of activities, so I advise patients to proceed slowly at first with lighter weights. You may also notice that the implants will move as your pectoral muscles contract-... more

It would be awful to change the way you live in order to have breast implants. After the breast are fully healed I allow the patient to resume full activity including weight training. The breast will certainly look different when working out but when not flexing the muscles they will look quite normal. The only exception to this is if you are a body builder who plans to pose. In that case you will have distortion of your appearance when you flex. Quite honestly even if you are or are not... more

Hello, Most active women exercise after they have breast implant surgery. Sometimes things change particularly in larger implant cases though. Each woman finds her own place here relative to what she can and cannot do. Unless you went really large on the implant size, you are usually able to do everything you were able to do before. The bottom line: ask your surgeon.

I ask my patients to refrain from pec exercise for 8 weeks after surgery to let the pocket around the implants mature.

I usually have my patient refrain from exertional acitivity like push-ups and weight lifting for at  least six to eight  weeks for the average breast augmentation patient.

It is always going to be "safe" to exercise after an appropriate period of healing. How well the muscle functions and the appearance of the breasts are a different question. Implants can be placed above, partially below, or completely below the muscle. All of these placements have different results. It is important to express these concerns to your surgeon once you have decided to proceed.