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When skin has been stretched beyond its elastic limits, a stretch mark will appear. This generally affects people that grow too quickly or lose or gain weight faster than their skin can adapt to the changes. These marks can appear on the upper arms, breast or chest, abdomen, hips, thighs and back of the knees.

Women are usually the ones that are most susceptible to stretch marks, however, men can also develop them especially extreme athletes. Bodybuilders are a group of athletes that are especially susceptible to developing stretch marks.

They work on "bulking up", which causes their skins to stretch excessively in a short period of time. It is very common for bodybuilders to develop stretch marks along their thighs and lower abdomen and on their biceps and pectorals. For this reason, several bodybuilders are concerned about stretch marks and stretch mark treatments.

Ways of Treating Stretch Marks

Stretch mark removal isn't really an option for bodybuilders because they don't have excess skin that can be removed. Surgical options are much more adequate for people who have lost a great deal of weight and have loose skin and stretch marks. Nevertheless, there are other treatment options for bodybuilders.

Stretch marks creams and other stretch mark products, like rose hip seed oil, are a great alternative to treating new stretch marks, however, when stretch marks have been around for a while it may not be possible to eliminate them completely. Rose hip seed oil can noticeably reduce the appearance of stretch marks, but it cannot eliminate them.

In fact, the best solution for bodybuilders lies in covering up their stretch marks. There are three basic ways of covering up these bothersome striations: clothing, makeup and self tanners. Anyone interested in covering up their stretch marks can benefit from using these solutions.

Covering Up

Clothing is probably the easiest and most hassle-free way of covering up your stretch marks. You can use jackets and long sleeve shirts to cover the stretch marks on your arms while the stretch marks on your abdomen can be covered up using a top or shirt. Clothing isn't always a good option, especially for bodybuilders that are always competing and showing off their body. In this case body makeup or self tanners can come in handy.

Body makeup is thick and more wear-proof than traditional foundation. This is an ideal option for people that have stretch marks in areas that are difficult to cover with clothing.

Spray on tan or self tanning lotions are another alternative for covering up stretch marks. If you don't like fake tans and prefer the real deal, then you should know that real tans make stretch marks stand out even more. But, self tanners will cover the skin evenly and help you avoid too much sun exposure.