h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Got any tips for those of us with breasts that already sag a bit?

Scaffolding

Sadly, you'll never be able to recapture those perky little numbers that you had as a teenager, but there are as few things you can do to combat drooping.

The first is to prevent it getting worse by - surprise surprise - always wearing a decent bra. Mikey's advice on professional fitting is so true - I was amazed at how wrong I'd been about my size.

The second is exercise. While you can't make your bust bigger through exercise (though in the context of this article I'm guessing that's not a problem), you can strengthen the pectoral (chest) muscles and hence achieve much better 'lift'. What's more, once your supporting muscles are stronger, you can cheat a bit on the 'always wear a perfectly fitting bra' rule and risk taking an evening off once in a while to wear that gorgeous backless gown!

The 'chest press' is a simple exercise to do - essentially you lie on a bench and lift one weight in each hand, starting level with your chest and ending with your arms fully extended - but do get a a professional to show you how to do it properly or you could injure yourself (or, almost as bad, waste your time on an exercise that won't help at all). Also, do it slowly and with control for maximum effect.

Start with 10-20 repetitions using a light weight in each hand (2.5kg - 3kg is probably a good place to start if you've never done this before). Once you find you can do more than 30 repetitions comfortably, move up a weight. I can lift about 10kg now - and wouldn't want to do any more as I don't want to turn into a scary bodybuilder!

A nice variation is to raise the 'foot' end of the bench slightly. You should still lift the weights vertically but because this is no longer 90 degrees to your body, you'll work slightly different muscles - I'd recommend using a lighter weight the first time you do this or you will really ache the next day!

Hope that helps!

Just to clarify: when I say 'raise the foot end of the bench', I mean stick something underneath one end (eg. a few mats or a chunk of wood; an exercise 'Step', which most gyms seem to have, is ideal).

Do you think having children has anything to do with size?

It does for some women, but not for others. And generally, a woman isn't going to go from being a B-cup to an H-cup just because she's had kids -- she might go to a D-cup while pregnant, and maybe even a DD-cup while breastfeeding, and then back to a C-cup afterwards. A woman who has really large breasts generally got that way through genes or surgery, regardless of kids.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Like a fool I did not wear a training bra when these buggers first started sprouting. Well...they didn't sprout, really. I went to bed one night when I was 13, flat and happy. I woke up unable to breathe while two cantelopes were sitting on my chest and would not just roll off. Now I'm 23 and they're soft and the nipples point to bits of fluff on the floor for me. I don't have kids, either. This is natural 40DD pain in the back!
I don't mind wearing a bra too much now, but I can't stand that lacy crap on most bras. It's useless and just scratches me.
Guess it's back to the gym. Again, thank you for the advice. And you've done an excellent job with this Entry, Mikey! Well done!