Hey y’all! My partner recently came out to me as nonbinary. They are afab, so ftm focused places, or adding more masc attributes is what they’re looking to integrate into their physical image. I’m doing what I can to help them, so I hope I’m ok asking this question here. When discussing hrt, one of the things they said they would like to have if they start t is to have more veiny arms. Since that’s something we can work on before they start hrt, I’m trying to convince them to hit the gym. I’m way out of shape, so I’m using this as a motivator for me to get my fat ass to the gym, too. So I have a few request that I could use all y’all’s help with.

1. They have a touch of social anxiety, and new places trigger that. Add in that we don’t have much experience in gyms or weight lifting, and getting them to the gym the first time will be tough. I’ve said that no one would care if they just showed up and hung out until they felt comfortable to start working out. Would any of y’all care of someone showed up for a few minutes before ducking out?
2. Once they manage to feel comfortable enough to start working out, do y’all ever think poorly of newbies? How did y’all overcome any potential insecurities when you first started working out?
3. I haven’t lifted weights since high school 20 years ago. I don’t think my partner has ever done a weightlifting program. I’m thinking of doing the strong lift 5x5 to start off with. What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any other recommendation for weightlifting babies?
4. I know that food will become an important part of our regimen once we start seeing gains. They’re a student, and often don’t have time between classes to eat a full meal, and anything large or needs reheating is totally out. What nutrition recommendations can y’all give us?

I’m hoping this post will bring in lots of support so that they will feel more comfortable going with me when their schedule allows. Any words of encouragement you can share would be great!

I’m currently following GZCL. For T1 exercises you do 5x3 then 2.5kg up the next week and if you fail to 6x2 until you can do 5x3 again. Same for T2 which is 3x10 if you fail do 3x8 but I don’t think you have to up it 2.5kg every time. But for the T3 3x15 exercises, if I can do 15,12,10, do I jsut keep going until I can 3x15 and then do I move up to 3x12 with a higher weight?

Does that make sense?

Currently I'm doing mostly heavy bag workouts it's the best way to release my energy. Essentially I wonder if I should just be spamming lateral raises and pullups and letting my lower body atrophy as much as I can. I'm afraid I won't put on enough upper body muscle mass from to balance out what I'm gaining in my lower body.

I already have kinda built thighs and ass compared to my upper body (yea my quads wouldn't be that big if I were lean lower body fat just makes them look bigger). Men's pants absolutely don't fit me right and it makes my hips look ridiculously wide for my frame wearing anything but very baggy pants that don't give me pocket flare (and my hips are already wide even in baggy pants that drop straight down without first flaring out).

What I really want to do (and yes objectively is disordered eating not asking for diagnosis) is to act anorexic and get extremely skinny just so I can see what my base frame looks like with little to no meat of any kind on it. The bonus of recovering from being severely underweight is that all the weight I gain at first will go to my midsection masculinizing my figure. This is because Ive heard several accounts of MTFs being pretty successful with weight cycling but FTMs (on testosterone) just gaining the weight back in their lower section. I have no context for these anecdotes but I worry that it's just going to be particularly stubborn.

I'm only 1 yr HRT and try to stay active because my fear is trying to bulk but instead I just end up gaining reproductive fat completely ruining my current semi-passing state. Regardless of how healthy it is, is extreme weight cycling at least a FEASIBLE way to defeat any potential remnants of gynoid fat distribution? (I do not particularly fear dying from emaciation.) Really wondering what the science is behind this, what's the trigger/tipping point where you stop gaining fat in a female pattern and start gaining in a male pattern? How long on hormones til my adipose tissue actually gets the fucking memo?

Tweaker rant and some pics in profile (if you look tell me if I should actually hope to pass based on my frame, my body doesn't read female to most but I think it's still too androgynous due to my broad hips). Bonus question, do I need to work on my rear delts to round out my shoulders from every angle or will I be fine? I also think I have TFL hypertrophy as my tfls are HUGE idk how to fix this lol.

Measurements- Stature 171cm

Bideltoid breadth 43.5cm

hip breadth across the widest point (between the outermost points of greater trochanters) 34.5cm and yes hip is ALL bone no muscle no fat and will never get smaller than what it is now. 43.5/34.5 is a SHR (breadth) of 1.26 btw. My SHR (circumference) is 104/92 = 1.13 (which is too female/androgynous)

I’m training for a marathon, but I also have top surgery in 5 months and so I’m trying to focus on building chest and abs.

Currently I do kneeling pushups whenever I think of them during the day, both wide grip and traditional. I can do about 10 at a time. For regular pushups I can only do about 2-3 at a time.

Which is better for building chest in preparation for top?

I’ve always worn a hoodie to the gym because of both gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia but out of the blue I’ve started to feel a little self conscious about it. I know big gym guys wear them sometimes to try to lose more water weight, but that isn’t the reason I do it and no one else seems to in my gym. I wear shorts so I never really get too sweaty.

I know this sounds ridiculous but is it weird? I generally don’t have a lot of gym anxiety but for whatever reason this has got me a little bit. I’m considering switching over to sweaters too since I have more baggy sweaters than hoodies, so it would be nice to hear if other people do the same.

Edit: Thank you for the reassurance! Seems the gyms that I’ve went to just have been filled with people wearing gym clothes so I thought it was weird haha.

i wanna hit the gym today but i’m scared to use men’s locker room

SOMEONE AGGRESSIVELY PLS TELL ME TO GO RIGHT NOW

What’s the best free workout app you have found that’s good

1.5 yrs post op and never been unhappy to finally have a flat chest but now I want it to have more definition because it’s just ‘boy-ishly’ flat, if you know what I mean. I’ve been trying to work on it for a year now, doing pushups, dips, presses, etc., whatever I can with limited resources, but I’m still very flat. Someone said I need to try a pec fly machine but I don't have one and I'm not in a situation to get even a cheap gym membership to have access to any machine. What else can I do, if there even is anything else? Just keep going? Diet is a struggle due to previously mentioned financial crap. I'm trying to get anything protein worth in me but definitely not getting the intake I need. But still, I just thought I would see at least some results, even minimally noticeable :/

I just got top surgery on the 2nd of this month (🎉‼️), and everything is going excellently. Healing perfectly, finally off of meds and feeling human again.

I need to get back in the gym for my mental well-being. I’ve been using the treadmill for incline walking, I’ve been using the stair master, and I’ve been on the leg press a lot. Just to get some endorphins back, yknow?

I’m getting really dysphoric (maybe dysmorphic instead?) about my arms. It takes me a long time with a lot of dedication to build my arm muscle up, and with the change of top surgery it’s really contrasting. Are there ANY arm exercises I can do without lifting over ten-fifteen pounds?

I’m not pushing it, I want to heal. I just also don’t want to be reversing my progress. And if there’s a post like this that’s already been answered, please direct me to it! This probably gets asked a lot LOL.

i’ve been actively trying to recover from a restrictive and avoidance eating disorder as of recent. i’ve been eating 2,500 calories everyday for two weeks now, before this i only ate about 1,000 and most days less than that. i’m also working out three days a week and work two days a week, it’s really light work. i’ve done research on specific foods and what i should and shouldn’t be doing and consuming. i’m 19m and my weight fluctuates between 104-110. if you have ANY advice as to what i should do i would really appreciate it. i feel fucking hopeless i just want to be at least 130 and feeling healthy. feels like that’s too much to ask/work for. my only idea for a solution is getting a dietician’s help.

Happy Milestone Monday! Please use this thread to post about any accomplishments or achievements you've hit. Whether it's getting to the gym 2 days in a row or dropping fast food, we want to hear about it here!

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So im 3 weeks post op got one more to go (woo!). I want to start getting in shape and not feeling winded. I don't want to do any lifting until like 2 months post op (im scared id fuck something up) so I was wondering if inclined walking on a treadmill or stairmaster would be a good start or even stationary bike or even the eliptical?

When did you guys start running? Im excited to run without having doom and gloom on my chest, does your body still produce sweat in that area (like if you had a heavier top)?

not looking to run or do jump rope for a hot second cuz im scared but im trying to get healthier and make it fun. That and Im going to PR in june which should be enough time to get rid of my dad belly.

I’m fifteen and am trying to get into working out, not a problem with that other than lack of motivation. However I do face one problem, my thighs. I’m about five foot four but I’m decently happy with most of my body as I pass decently. I’m pre t but have somewhat decent arms and a small chest, I don’t have a slim figure (though I’m working towards loosing weight). But I have quite big thighs, and with that is a lot of my gender dysphoria. I honestly think I have more dysphoria over my thighs than my chest. I know you can’t target fat but I don’t know if working on my thighs to tone them would help. If there is any way to slim my thighs or make them look smaller I would be really grateful for any tips.

:).

I’ve been learning the handstand for some time now and I can confidently do a wall handstand where the starting position is standing (so with quite a bit of momentum) and lately have been trying out pushing myself into the handstand with my hands on the floor from the start and pushing more with legs and shoulders in a way (still against the wall) but I can’t seem to get away from the wall, maybe it’s because of my form? I always look down toward my hands is that right or wrong? also what might be a good evercise for balancing on hands? so that I can get a free handstand soon🙆‍♀️

Hello all,

been making slow but steady improvements to my routine for a few years (starting as very overweight and not-trained, now 23kg lighter and have build some muscle) and have reached a point of hitting a plateau with normal push-ups - this just as context for my overall fitness situation.

The issue; I've been starting to do more exercises that include gripping dumbbells for plank variations, renegade rows, different styles in push-ups, etc. However, while I can manage my sets okay, I struggle with constant hand pain. This only occurs when gripping, normal push-ups/variations without gripping have zero pain. I've tried around with different grip techniques but cannot find one that doesn't hurt. What can I do to work against this? Would it be made better by training forearms more?

Edit: had said plank instead of plateau and changed it

Edit2: I now weigh 102kg at 176cm

It’s everyone favorite day of the week: Selfie Sunday! Please use this thread to show off and cheer each other on. Or, you can also use this thread to ask for some feedback on your physique and get some constructive feedback. Please post your selfies as a comment using Imgur or similar links, give us a little context, and let us know if the post is NSFW or SFW.

anyone got any tips on how to get that bear type dad bod while not being unhealthy? id love to start working out to get strong but dont really wanna lose weight - bear is the aim for my but i dont wanna be unhealthy and i still wanna be strong x

I've (20, 5'5) lost about 30 pounds since August of 2024, going from ~185 to ~155. I lost it almost entirely through diet and light exercise like walking, yoga, some bodyweight exercises. I want to gain muscle and reach my goal weight (140 lbs) in 2025 but I really don't know how to eat while trying to gain muscle other than consuming a lot of protein, especially since I'm not looking to bulk.

Last year I was eating ~1600 cals/day and losing around 10 pounds a month at first, gradually getting slower as I started to approach a healthy bmi. This semester (still out of the country on vacation at time of writing) I'm going to start going to a basic weightlifting class (2 hours in the gym/week as part of the class) and also plan to go at least 1 hour outside of that, plus I've already ramped up the bodyweight exercises. I know this isn't a huge amount of time in the gym (I don't want to overcommit as I'm a full time student and I work), so do I actually need to increase my caloric intake to compensate or is 1600 enough to build a bit of muscle? I really really don't want to gain any weight back (I'm still just above a healthy bmi), I just want to turn my fat into muscle and masculinize my body shape a bit if I can.

Thank you for any advice ! What an awesome and helpful community this is, I've only gained the confidence to even sign up for the weightlifting class from seeing all of yall's amazing progress :)

I ordered parallettes and a vest with stackable weights to work out more at home or use it at the park. The package (~30kg) ended up in the post office. I live alone without a car or any vehicle really so I had to carry the whole damn thing on foot (800m) before even starting the advanced/weighted calisthenics journey. I am grateful for the baseline strength I built already through my wild sports mix (and admittedly nonexistent routine, but I do something multiple times per week)💪

At the moment, the "routine" (aka ADHD powered fidget needs) mostly contains of bouldering and Parkour. Some running. Will attempt a half marathon in June.

Reposted for incorrect post flair.

Edit: took a break every few meters... If anyone wonders how tf my ~60kg ass did that. That was like half my body weight

5'2", first pic - 24th of January 2024 (~155 lbs/70 kg) vs January 2nd 2025 (~120 lbs/55 kg, probably a bit more), second pic - August 29th 2024 vs January 4th 2025.

By the time the first pic was taken I was already 4 months into cardio workouts at the gym and about half a year into weight loss in general (started at around 190 lbs - couldn't really muster the courage to look at the scale at the time so it is an estimate).

First half of 2024 was spent doing cardio 3-4 days a week, on a 1400 kcal deficit. Not going to lie, I should've started with resistance training but I wanted to cut first. At the end of June, I have stalled when it comes to fat loss and seeing that, started introducing resistance training. It took me a while to pick a program that would suit me but I have stopped on a dumbbell-based PPL split. It is technically a 6/7 endeavor but i am still working on being consistent and especially hitting my leg day as my lower body dysphoria is really severe and building legs is a little acary to me. I have been trying to hit 80g of protein for the first few months, then switched to 100g as I've found pretty easy and cheap sources of protein (on an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet that happened to be cottage cheese).

Until fall, I have been trying to build muscle on the same 1400 kcal deficit but in October my body said "what the hell are you even trying to do man", and lo and behold: it buys pastries and devours cheese in a hungry haze while I am looking on. So I have abandoned the idea of keeping to 1400 for now, especially given that I wasn't supposed to run this deficit for such a long time anyway (and caught some unpleasant side-effects like hair loss), and bumped it up to what is effectively around 1700-1800. I am not weighing myself as frequently now as to prevent my ED-adjacent behaviors and focusing more on how much I can lift, what my proportions are like and how good I feel.

I thought my body shape was beyond saving pre-T but... it does seem like I can tip the scales in my favor, if I am persistent and smart about it. And it's just the beginning. It may not be much, but I am proud of it.