There are several good reasons to place breast implants behind the pectoral muscle, especially the effect of covering the upper part of the implant. This creates a smoother transition from the chest wall into the implant for a more natural look. Because athletic women often have lower body fat, there is less “padding” to conceal the implant, so this is especially important. But one thing that is not often discussed is the fact that the dual plane method involves detaching a portion of the pectoral muscle, leading to two potential problems: The first is called animation deformity, a distortion of the breast with muscle activity because the detached muscle pulls on the implant capsule. The second is loss of strength; a study  published in 2017 documented loss of muscle volume and functional strength following dual plane breast implant placement.(1) This can be avoided by using either the split muscle technique or subfascial. With the split muscle, my standard method, there remains upper pole implant coverage with muscle without having to detach a portion of it. Muscle function is preserved while providing most of the benefit of submuscular placement. Subfascial (in front of the muscle but under the thin fascia layer) provides minimal extra coverage and is not as commonly done. Subfascial works best with low-to-moderate profile implants.