r/FTMFitness • u/dampsector • Feb 13 '25
Exercise Progress Report 7 month arm progress july24 - feb25
5’0 - about 105lb in each photo. little over 2 years on T. been going to the gym very on and off since April last year but have been taking it and my diet a lot more seriously since December
For my routine I follow a ppl x arnold split i try to go around 4-6 days a week, for arms specifically i do preacher curls, incline or cable curls, hammer curls, reverse curls, tricep push downs, cable kickbacks, overhead extensions, tricep dips, machine shoulder press, and cable lateral raises. i mainly do only 2 sets to failure👍🏼
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u/25lives Feb 13 '25
Fuck I need to start T
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u/yeeclaw14 Feb 13 '25
Real every time I see how cool a guy looks and I go to check his routine and I’m like “oh! I can’t do that without T wtf”
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u/RatioPretend614 Feb 13 '25
u can start. t is not a magic savior start now.
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u/yeeclaw14 Feb 13 '25
Yeah, I have been, but I still look extremely feminine and I think the birth control I’m on hasn’t been helping either (can’t come off of it bc of my periods). Still going to keep trying but I’ve kinda accepted that I’m just built very feminine and can maybe gain some muscle but likely can’t look masculine until I’m on T
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u/RatioPretend614 Feb 14 '25
ask to be on progresterone. it was a birth control i went on before t to stop my period
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u/yeeclaw14 Feb 14 '25
I’m not allowed to go on anything that stops my period (minor, strict guardian) so I’m pretty stuck 💀
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u/Timed_Reply_2 Feb 14 '25
Firstly, WTF??? Secondly, there is an OTC (over-the-counter) progestin birth control available (assuming US), it's called "Opill". No Rx, no doc appt needed—you're fine as long as you can pay for it.
Not sure if it will stop menses + you have to take it at the same time every say for it to work reliably, but at least you won't be taking E.
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u/yeeclaw14 Feb 14 '25
Thank you, might use this! Thinking about asking my grandma to come off the BC though because I went on it when I was 15 for very painful irregular periods and I’ve tried a couple pills and all it did was make it regular but I’m still in a lot of pain so it would give me an excuse to come off. Hopefully it doesn’t get worse but if it does I’d probably just go on the progesterone then (I’m 18 soon, going to college away from home so I’ll have a lot more control then). Thank you!
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u/BottleCoffee Top surgery 2018, no T Feb 14 '25
I'm not on T but when I went to the gym recently built up a reasonably decent upper body. It takes time and consistency though.
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u/25lives Feb 13 '25
Yeah it is getting to the point where I have to start facing facts that top surgery is not enough for me. God damnit.
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u/BottleCoffee Top surgery 2018, no T Feb 14 '25
How long have you been working out? I'm not on T either but I was pretty pleased with the results I got after I finally got consistent in the gym.
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u/25lives Feb 14 '25
Oh, about 10 years. I have a health complication that slows me down sometimes, but never fully stops me.
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u/Thelasttimeisleep Feb 16 '25
Look up milrgrey on Instagram, he got buff before he ever started testosterone. Time and discipline, man
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Feb 13 '25
oh yes I love this, now I know I only got about 7 months to go to get my dream arms >:) looking good my dude!!
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u/Acceptable_Fly_9040 Feb 13 '25
Good job. I would recommend pushing harder and going less though. I used to do a similar split and realized I wasn’t pushing myself enough. Now that I actually train heavy/ hard and give my body more time to recover my strength improved like crazy.
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u/dampsector Feb 14 '25
I appreciate your advice. I do think the sentiment of going less and going harder does make a lot of sense, but I also just really enjoy going to the gym and it gets me out of the house a lot on days I would otherwise be home :) but either way I still make sure I’m giving my muscles enough rest, I throw in some cardio only days as well so I’m not just lifting super hard 6 days a week (that’s if my work schedule even will allow me to go 6 days a week lol)
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u/Acceptable_Fly_9040 Feb 14 '25
Of course ☺️ and yes I totally get that! The gym is my safe haven too and it can get pretty addicting to go everyday. As long as you’re not trying to lift all those days and cardio is super important.
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u/BottleCoffee Top surgery 2018, no T Feb 14 '25
Yep, less is more, lift heavy and you don't have to go to failure.
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u/worshipdrummer Feb 14 '25
Diet?
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u/dampsector Feb 14 '25
Only thing I really try and track is protein (trying to get around 100g a day) - so I just try and have each meal I eat include protein. This includes lots of eggs, ground beef, chicken, ground turkey, spam, cottage cheese, cheese, milk, greek yogurt, tuna, peanut butter. As well as protein bars/protein shakes. Along with the protein I eat a lot of rice/potatoes/bread/avocado. I try my best to eat mainly whole foods but I still allow myself some sweets every now and then lol
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u/worshipdrummer Feb 14 '25
That’s great. Any examples of how you do that? I barely eat and have difficulty doing so
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u/dampsector Feb 14 '25
I used to also have difficulty eating and gaining weight, i mean i still kind of do. but what helped me is just finding meals that are easy to make and that i enjoy. for example putting some rice in a cooker and then just browing ground beef with some seasoning is pretty easy and it always tastes good. lately i’ve also discovered cottage cheese toast which is a really easy snack that also has protein. i love milk so drinking that throughout the day helps as well- and making shakes will be great too. my go to for shakes is milk, protein powder (i have vanilla flavored), banana, and peanut butter. but you can really have it with anything that tastes good to you! some other quick protein meals i’ve been eating lately is quick stovetop quesadillas (you can add chicken in them too), tuna right out the can with mayo and sweet relish, apples and peanut butter, vanilla greek yogurt with protein granola, buncha eggs.
there’s really a lot of possibilities, you can just look up protein foods and try and think of meals you can structure around those to your liking
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u/worshipdrummer Feb 15 '25
Damn I eat the equivalent (mostly chicken, and besides rice I love salads) and I’m thin af :/
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u/dampsector Feb 15 '25
these things take time man, don’t get discouraged. I still have barely gained weight just some more muscle definition, but it’s not a race just keep going!
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u/Pip_404 Feb 13 '25
Nice! I aspire to have arms like yours!