For whatever reason (you don't need a reason), we were talking about breast size.

She said, thanks to the practice of bearing children (myself included), her breasts were bigger now than they had been before.

I parried; "But mother, it's a known fact that women's chesticles enhance naturally for the purpose of lugging lactic liquid, and then, sadly, what is giventh is takenth away. The glass is half empty from that moment on."

"No," she said, "Not me. There was no use crying over split milk, so I turned to exercise. Push-ups, my dear. Push-ups."

Sure, I've heard of push-ups boosting boobage before, but obviously not the ones she was talking about.

No, she means the bloody things they made us do in highschool gym class to test the strength of our noodly pre-pubescent arms.

I'd undertaken movements reminiscent of the push-up in my pilates class, but it had been years since I'd had any type of want to get on my hands and knees, and put myself through the cruel practice of lowering my face to the ground within an inch of the carpet, only to pull myself up, back out of sniffing distance, and do it again, with the constant threat of a collapse/face-plant tragedy.

But, here was a credible source telling me that this ridiculously basic exercise could increase my cup size.

Me likey.

I took to Google, and it appears mother may be right.

So, we all know breasts are just lovely lady lumps of fatty tissue. Mmm. Sexy, right fellas?

And really, there's nothing you can do short of surgery to increase the size of the actual breast itself.

HOWEVER.

Exercises that work your chest (like push-ups) can tone up the pectoral muscles that are hidden underneath the breasts. A strong muscular foundation for your boobs to sit on will help them look bigger, firm up and stop the dreaded sag.

Push-ups, here I come!

Wait...so why haven't I been doing them all along?

Ah, yes. Because I was scared of getting big arms.

Girls don't lift weights and do things like push-ups because we're scared we're going to end up with guns, and that's not very lady-like. But boobs are lady-like. The dilemma!!

But let's use our common sense here. There's a reason there are loads of men in the world with massive biceps, and very few women with the same.

No, it's not because they're trying harder - it's because men are built to build muscles, with a little thing called testosterone. We've got way less than men, so we're far less capable of building big muscles naturally. Unless you're eating like a horse and cranking massive weights, you won't get mega arms.

Nope, you'll just get toned, strong arms. And don't worry about the Madonna thing either - trust me, that's not normal.

Oh, and bigger (looking) boobs. How could I forget about the boobs!

Check out hundredpushups.com for a sweet, free six-week plan to get your push-up on.