Facial exercises to build the upper cheek area?
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Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:08 pm

I am a 30-year old male, and I started doing facial exercises around the end of February 2018 with the goal of building my upper cheek muscles to get more of a "male model" look (think the actor who plays Superman).

The main exercise I have been doing is one that involves opening the mouth, wrapping the upper and lower lips over the teeth, and then making a very wide smile. I also started adding weight to the exercise about a month ago using my fingers or random small household objects. I basically secure the object to my upper cheek (sort of below the corner of the eye) and attempt to push it up and down for many reps.

Even though I have definitely noticed that I have developed more volume in the area, the results are somewhat subtle, and it seems like I have peaked or hit a plateau since I don't seem to have gained anymore muscle in the upper cheek area over the last few weeks.

I would like to continue to gain muscle/volume in the area. Does anyone know of any other exercises I can start doing for the upper cheek muscles (zygomaticus major and minor) so that I can continue to get results?

Also, I was wondering if I could be doing the exercises too frequently. Until the last week or so, I had been doing them every day (7 days/week), but I wasn't sure if that could be too frequently. Also, something else I noticed is that while the muscles at the sides of my upper cheeks have gotten somewhat developed, the front cheeks are still relatively flat. Does anyone know of any exercises out there that can work the front of the cheeks as well?

free skin care · Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:06 am

Its great to begin them at your age – I wish I had this information when I was that age. I started them in my 50’s so I will share with you just my perspective which you will probably find mirrored here a lot.

First don’t just focus on one area – that’s just like spot training for the body. You will see many warnings about doing this – and it is for really good reason. You want to do a complete program to get all the muscles of your face – as otherwise when you get results – they may come quickly or slowly but you will create an odd looking face that seems out of proportion. If you look at Henry Cavill – his beautiful face isn’t just about toned cheeks, he has wonderfully sharp jawline, smooth upper lids, smooth forehead etc. Now I don’t know if he does facial training – but I understand a lot of Hollywood celebs do in secret, but you want your face to be strong, firm and uniform in appearance like his not just to have overbuilt upper cheeks.

Now you can use your palm butts as the ultimate resistance. That’s part of a program called FlexEffect. They encourage you to use as much resistance as possible in working the muscles. The only thing I think they would do differently than you are doing is to encourage you to place the resistance near the beginning of the muscle. There is one that runs in that very area, and when you apply the resistance to the beginning of the muscle you engage it more so you will develop faster (I think that’s the gist – but could be wrong).

Now with reps, some people say that you can do a lot of reps – like Peta of Faceorbics has you do 50 and 100 reps. Some other programs have you do about 10 or 5 – so its really depending on your face and how fast/slow it builds. Now if you have plateaued that may be because your face is used to the exercise you are doing. This is where FlexEffect has things like variations for stopping that from happening. I can’t go into too much info because its part of their program, but again its worth trying.

Now with most programs, they actually don’t encourage you to do 7 days a week anymore (They did used to though). The argument is that your muscles need down time to repair and grow stronger. Some even advocate working out every other day to get that effect.

Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:31 pm

TheresaMary wrote:

Its great to begin them at your age – I wish I had this information when I was that age. I started them in my 50’s so I will share with you just my perspective which you will probably find mirrored here a lot.

First don’t just focus on one area – that’s just like spot training for the body. You will see many warnings about doing this – and it is for really good reason. You want to do a complete program to get all the muscles of your face – as otherwise when you get results – they may come quickly or slowly but you will create an odd looking face that seems out of proportion. If you look at Henry Cavill – his beautiful face isn’t just about toned cheeks, he has wonderfully sharp jawline, smooth upper lids, smooth forehead etc. Now I don’t know if he does facial training – but I understand a lot of Hollywood celebs do in secret, but you want your face to be strong, firm and uniform in appearance like his not just to have overbuilt upper cheeks.

Now you can use your palm butts as the ultimate resistance. That’s part of a program called FlexEffect. They encourage you to use as much resistance as possible in working the muscles. The only thing I think they would do differently than you are doing is to encourage you to place the resistance near the beginning of the muscle. There is one that runs in that very area, and when you apply the resistance to the beginning of the muscle you engage it more so you will develop faster (I think that’s the gist – but could be wrong).

Now with reps, some people say that you can do a lot of reps – like Peta of Faceorbics has you do 50 and 100 reps. Some other programs have you do about 10 or 5 – so its really depending on your face and how fast/slow it builds. Now if you have plateaued that may be because your face is used to the exercise you are doing. This is where FlexEffect has things like variations for stopping that from happening. I can’t go into too much info because its part of their program, but again its worth trying.

Now with most programs, they actually don’t encourage you to do 7 days a week anymore (They did used to though). The argument is that your muscles need down time to repair and grow stronger. Some even advocate working out every other day to get that effect.

Hi @TheresaMary, thanks for the information and advice. Just out of curiosity, which facial exercise program would you say is the best one to follow for someone who wants to get as close to a "Henry Cavill look" as possible (especially in regards to the cheek definition)? You mentioned FlexEffect several times in your post, so I wasn't sure if that was the best one for someone with goals such as mine (and also taking into consideration the fact that I've already been doing a few exercises for a couple months now).

BTW, I probably should have stated this in my original post, but I'm doing several other facial exercises as well. I'm also doing an exercise for the chin (with the goal of increasing anterior chin projection) that involves jutting out your lower lip, holding it out for a few seconds, and then retracting it and repeating the exercise. I have also started adding resistance to this exercise over the last few weeks by putting random objects on my lip as "weights" to lift. I have also started doing an exercise for the muscles in front of the orbital rims under my eyes since I already have rings in front of them.

If you don't mind, I would like to ask you to clarify something you stated in your post. When you say that programs like FlexEffect encourage people to put as much resistance as possible against the beginning of the muscle, could you clarify what you mean by the term "beginning?" For example, for the zygomaticus major and minor, where would the beginning of the muscle be? Would it be at the upper/outer edges of the cheeks?

Also, if you happen to know of any other exercises that are good for working out those two muscles (zygomaticus major/minor) and making them bigger, I would appreciate it if you could briefly describe them here. Smile

Thanks

free skin care · Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:51 am

i Don’t think there is a one program that suits everyone but what I would suggest is to contact each program directly. So for example I’d email all and tell them about your goal and see what comes back. I think you might like PETA of Faceorbics and she can advise you on how to best get results - but I’d ask all - Carole Maggie, Cynthia Rowland etc - they are all good. Take a look also at Ageless and Shapeyourface.com

With the start of the muscle I will try to describe but you are better off learning through an established program as you could otherwise create problems but if you google the muscles you will find that the start - I think it’s called original or something but not 100%. I tend to stay out of the names etc as it doesn’t interest me - and it’s complicated.

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