How do you deal with being too short?

[ttim0324]

I disagree. It's your word against mine, but I personally know a female bodybuilder. She is a family friend of ours that I'm very close with, and I know for a fact that she does not use steroids or any form of testosterone or performance-enhancing drugs. She looks great, and her body fat is below 8% which is not too shabby, at all, for a woman. She often competes in competitions and does pretty well. She actually just recently competed in a local competition in NYC and made the top 3. I think she came in 2nd. I'm not sure, you can probably look her up. Her name is Swann Cardot. In all honesty, in some of her pictures, she looks like she's raging on 'roids, but she isn't because her voice is very female-sounding and she has not grown any facial hair compared to others like her who have witnessed testosterone-like changes by using performance-enhancing drugs. Don't get me wrong, some of these bodybuilders, male or female do use them. However, not all of them.

So, I mean, it's all matter of opinion, but I personally don't consider my statements as giving false hope, but more like if someone really wanted to achieve a certain look, it's not impossible if they put in the time and effort. Is it easy? No, it will take twice if not more times the work if you don't have certain hormones such as testosterone working in your favor. That's the suckish part. But you don't have to go as far as Swann or others do. Not even nearly. One can still achieve a very good look or a look just enough for them to help pass with the right diet and exercise. You don't have to dedicate your whole life to fitness, but hey.. if that's something you want to do, then by all means, good for you.

I wouldn't consider her a bodybuilder at all, not by a long shot. That's a fitness model physique. That's hard work and dedication but that's an extremely realistic physique for a woman to achieve if she lived in the gym. I'd also have to challenge your statement that her bodyfat is below 8%, a woman with that low of a bodyfat percentage would fall more into the bodybuiler range but they'd have to be starving themselves. She looks more in the 10-14% range, which would be appropriate.

Lisa Cross, Iris Kyle, and  Alina Popa are some female bodybuilders and they have physiques that aren't possible without a steroid cycle and a strict 6 month diet.

[chuck]

I disagree. It's your word against mine, but I personally know a female bodybuilder. She is a family friend of ours that I'm very close with, and I know for a fact that she does not use steroids or any form of testosterone or performance-enhancing drugs. She looks great, and her body fat is below 8% which is not too shabby, at all, for a woman. She often competes in competitions and does pretty well. She actually just recently competed in a local competition in NYC and made the top 3. I think she came in 2nd. I'm not sure, you can probably look her up. Her name is Swann Cardot. In all honesty, in some of her pictures, she looks like she's raging on 'roids, but she isn't because her voice is very female-sounding and she has not grown any facial hair compared to others like her who have witnessed testosterone-like changes by using performance-enhancing drugs. Don't get me wrong, some of these bodybuilders, male or female do use them. However, not all of them.

So, I mean, it's all matter of opinion, but I personally don't consider my statements as giving false hope, but more like if someone really wanted to achieve a certain look, it's not impossible if they put in the time and effort. Is it easy? No, it will take twice if not more times the work if you don't have certain hormones such as testosterone working in your favor. That's the suckish part. But you don't have to go as far as Swann or others do. Not even nearly. One can still achieve a very good look or a look just enough for them to help pass with the right diet and exercise. You don't have to dedicate your whole life to fitness, but hey.. if that's something you want to do, then by all means, good for you.

swann cardot is a figure competitor. Big difference between her and a female bodyuilder. Not that she doesnt run a cycle here and  there. It is extremely rare that you will ever hear a bodybuilder admit to steroid use. Even though EVERYONE at pro level uses. Yes, I am 100 percent comfortable saying that. It is simply an accepted fact. I find it odd that it's even a question. Since the general public considers steroids "cheating" most bodybuilders will not discuss their cycles with anyone besides other bodybuilders. So I am not sure if you are saying that someone can achieve bodybuilder like status without testosterone or not. No, a natty competitor will NEVER look like coleman, and a pre -T guy will never look like a competitor who claims to be natty.

BUT if you are saying that building some muscle can help with passing, than yes i agree. If you are saying that a pre T guy can look like a pro competitive bodyuilder (male or female) then I disagree. And youre right, it's your word against mine. However, I have been involved with the bodybuilding community for the past 7 years. If you want to know more, there are plenty of websites and forums that get behind the scenes. Again, I just think its important to be realistic.

[alexclusive]

I wouldn't consider her a bodybuilder at all, not by a long shot. That's a fitness model physique. That's hard work and dedication but that's an extremely realistic physique for a woman to achieve if she lived in the gym. I'd also have to challenge your statement that her bodyfat is below 8%, a woman with that low of a bodyfat percentage would fall more into the bodybuiler range but they'd have to be starving themselves. She looks more in the 10-14% range, which would be appropriate.

Lisa Cross, Iris Kyle, and  Alina Popa are some female bodybuilders and they have physiques that aren't possible without a steroid cycle and a strict 6 month diet.

swann cardot is a figure competitor. Big difference between her and a female bodyuilder. Not that she doesnt run a cycle here and  there. It is extremely rare that you will ever hear a bodybuilder admit to steroid use. Even though EVERYONE at pro level uses. Yes, I am 100 percent comfortable saying that. It is simply an accepted fact. I find it odd that it's even a question. Since the general public considers steroids "cheating" most bodybuilders will not discuss their cycles with anyone besides other bodybuilders. So I am not sure if you are saying that someone can achieve bodybuilder like status without testosterone or not. No, a natty competitor will NEVER look like coleman, and a pre -T guy will never look like a competitor who claims to be natty.

BUT if you are saying that building some muscle can help with passing, than yes i agree. If you are saying that a pre T guy can look like a pro competitive bodyuilder (male or female) then I disagree. And youre right, it's your word against mine. However, I have been involved with the bodybuilding community for the past 7 years. If you want to know more, there are plenty of websites and forums that get behind the scenes. Again, I just think its important to be realistic.

You're both entitled to what you think and believe.. that's fine. I respect that, however, I stand my ground with my arguments. I didn't state in any way shape or form that if you spend x amount of time at the gym or if you do this or that, that you will look like a bodybuilder. However, I did say, as quoted (referring to female bodybuilders) that "they take it to extremes in order to look good." Vague statement? Yeah, but the implementation of it includes the use of any form of testosterone or steroids. The only reason that I brought up female bodybuilders is because the original poster had asked about the fact that he sees cis-women that can or have built a decent amount of muscle. I automatically jumped to the analogy of female bodybuilders, as that is what I think of when I think of women who have the motive of becoming jacked. I mean realistically, unless they're in the bodybuilding industry which most likely includes the use of steroids, most women aren't at the gym looking to bulk up and due to their body composition, they won't see as great results.

Doesn't mean the OP shouldn't try though. When I was pre-T, I spent a lot of time working out because I wanted to see what I could achieve alone without testosterone. I even pushed back my first shot date because I wanted more time. There was also other reasons on why I pushed it back; I'm a high school wrestler and at the time I was looking to wrestle at a certain weight class and knew that T would make me gain weight and I would not have been able to make that specific weight class for that season, so I waited until the entire season was over to begin. I tried my best, and knew I would have had more success on the mat when it comes to strength if I had just started earlier, but I tested my potential and really wanted to see how strong and lean I could get without the hormones first. Before I decided to do that, I was trying to bulk up and it took me much longer to see results, to the point where I often got discouraged. But you just have to keep going at it and be patient. It's hard to get big pre-T, but overall the exercise alone made me feel a lot better about myself. I guess that's where I meant to get at in my other post.

[aleon515]

I  know of women who have gained substantial muscle mass with no supplements or steroid use. NOt any kind of pro level. But I don't really know if they have high natural T levels. I'm guessing so.

--Jay

[AdamMLP]

I wouldn't consider her a bodybuilder at all, not by a long shot. That's a fitness model physique. That's hard work and dedication but that's an extremely realistic physique for a woman to achieve if she lived in the gym. I'd also have to challenge your statement that her bodyfat is below 8%, a woman with that low of a bodyfat percentage would fall more into the bodybuiler range but they'd have to be starving themselves. She looks more in the 10-14% range, which would be appropriate.

Lisa Cross, Iris Kyle, and  Alina Popa are some female bodybuilders and they have physiques that aren't possible without a steroid cycle and a strict 6 month diet.

I have to disagree on the bodyfat part there, I'm at 15% bodyfat, and I look no where near as good as she does.

[ttim0324]

I have to disagree on the bodyfat part there, I'm at 15% bodyfat, and I look no where near as good as she does.

Less than 10% bodyfat for a woman is moving into dangerous territory. Most female bodybuilders compete at that,around 5-8 usually, but figure competitors (which she is) usually go for 10% and over. Theres a few pictures where she looks like she might be that low, but definitely not during off season and definitely not all the time.

As for you being at 15% and not looking that good, I'd say that's to be expected. Unless you're busting your ass in the gym for years you're not gonna look like that. For example: a casual gym goer at 5% bodyfat wouldn't look half as good as say, Flex Lewis, at 15% bodyfat during off season.

[Magnus]

I  know of women who have gained substantial muscle mass with no supplements or steroid use. NOt any kind of pro level. But I don't really know if they have high natural T levels. I'm guessing so.

--Jay

I was pretty much always like that pre-T. I did ultimately turn out to have a TT around 69.5 ng/dL which was not a whole lot but enough for the increased mass to a point. But I also had a fasting serum Insulin about 16 mu/L; when its higher than normal it has anabolic effects not to mention a slew of other and far less desirable ones (this had actually spiked to the dangerous territory of 24 mu/L [fasting] just a while before T. I was a real mess at that point). I took weights in high school and had one of my female teachers squeeze my bicep and say "I want those!" lol. There were two cisgirls in that class with me and for a while it really confused me as to how they could struggle so much with just a 45lb barbell. I'd thought they were acting it up (my logic was if I could do it and considerably more they surely could too?) but they weren't. They were really petite though, so maybe that was a lot of it. Then again, I also wondered just why they would have elected for that class if they really weren't the type inclined for that workout (must have been trying to land boyfriends?). I kept up just fine to my cismale peers in that class. I can't be sure but I think I was the only one that could touch 600lb leg-press there. 135 over-head and bench wasn't too shabby either and 200lb dead lift was the average for cismale peers also.

I expect to be able to do a lot more now on T, despite the lack of my sickeningly too much Insulin which is no longer a problem for me directly thanks to T. I'll find out soon enough.

[aleon515]

I was pretty much always like that pre-T. I did ultimately turn out to have a TT around 69.5 ng/dL which was not a whole lot but enough for the increased mass to a point. But I also had a fasting serum Insulin about 16 mu/L; when its higher than normal it has anabolic effects not to mention a slew of other and far less desirable ones (this had actually spiked to the dangerous territory of 24 mu/L [fasting] just a while before T. I was a real mess at that point). I took weights in high school and had one of my female teachers squeeze my bicep and say "I want those!" lol. There were two cisgirls in that class with me and for a while it really confused me as to how they could struggle so much with just a 45lb barbell.

I'd guess the insulin is kind of a dulling factor, but obviously didn't hurt (in this respect much). This friend of mine is kind of impressive. Short but strong. I am pretty sure she's much stronger than most cismales and does handywork as a second income. I'm thinking of strength like a bell curve and there are the strongest males and most kind of go in the center of the curve. Women's strength is in curve too, but it's a different curve. But the strongest females will be stronger than the mid range of males but not as strong (I mean upper body strength-- we know other kinds of strength isn't strictly like that) as the strongest males.

--Jay


--Jay

[1234]

I'm about 5'4. I'm short and skinny. I'd love to be 5'7, but there's nothing I can do since I'm an adult.
So, I try to look at cool guys with same height as me, for ex: Michael J. Fox.

Or Hyde from Laruku, who's 1,57m and he looks so nice and young:




Also, I love to check this tumblr: http://->-bleeped-<-yeahshortguys.tumblr.com/

[em444]

thank you all for your input, very interesting conversation. I guess the only way for me to know how muscled I can get is by trying to workout...ouch xD

1234 I will definitely check that tumblr out! thanks a lot