Feminization Fitness

[V]

If you can't do proper pushups yet, that's ok.  You can start by doing them on your knees instead of on your toes, then eventually move up to the standard pushup form.  Here's a short video of a woman demonstrating how to do pushups correctly:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZjbGUTsdI

It's not necessary to do a lot.  In the notes for the YouTube video, Dominica writes: "Push-ups are a great upper body and chest exercise for both men and women. They're my favorite exercise for women. Start by doing 3 sets of 10-15 reps 3x per week. Do them on your knees if you have to when you first start. After the first week increase to 4 sets then 5 sets.  Push-ups are also great for your core, abs, triceps, and shoulders."

Thanks for posting that link. I watched the girl doing her push-ups (had to have the volume off so I didn't wake my sleeping boyfriend next to me), and reading your quote, a few things came to mind:

1) That lady is very attractive and has an amazing figure, that sure is an impossible goal to aim for.
2) She has the exact thing that I really want to avoid developing, namely quite muscular shoulders. I am keen to get rid of the flab at the tops of my arms, but not if it it means getting bulky shoulders.
3) I have been doing my push-ups wrong, as I've had my hands much closer together almost under my body. But it's even more difficult if I spread them further apart like she is doing.
4) Just doing partial push-ups like she showed might be the way to go for me initially.
5) "Start by doing 3 sets of 10-15 reps 3x per week"!?!    I can barely manage 5 push-ups in one day! 3 sets of 10 is like 30!!! I'm afraid that's completely impossible for me. I can do 5, then numbers 6 to 10 are just me levering myself up. But 30? Ha ha ha....No.

I'll do my best, but right now it hurts so much I almost couldn't reach up/back to undo my bra!  Yup, pretty pathetic lolz.

[barbie]

While I run outdoors, I sometimes see some new people who run fast, but I seldom see them running again.

Exercise is a long-term goal. More than 10 years. I have run outdoors during the past 13 years. Fortunately without any injury. I have seen some people who ran for 1 or 2 years, but stopped from leg or backbone injury. Slow running prevents this kind of injury, but novices run very fast to achieve their goal in a short time.

Procedures for any exercise should be simple enough to repeat everyday for several years.

My records of running since 2011 when I purchased a GPS-equipped smartphone.



barbie~~

[V]

Yeah, I'm know to charge at things way too fast 
Actually I have decided not to do any of these exercises until next week now, to give my body a chance to stop aching.
Maybe doing them daily is a bit too ambitious...
I got a proper tape measure to measure my body, and had to change my hips measurement from 38 to 37" 
I was a bit ambitious with that measurement!

[V]

After a 3 day break, I started my routine again, and it was a little easier, which pleased me greatly.
Lets see if I can go the whole week this time.

[EmilyMK03]

After a 3 day break, I started my routine again, and it was a little easier, which pleased me greatly.
Lets see if I can go the whole week this time.

That's great to hear!!  Yea, when starting a new routine, it's a good idea to take it slow at first and very gradually work your way up.  The important thing is not to give up in the long term and keep at it! 

[jujubes1986]

ive started eating somewhat healthy... lots of leafy green... chicken breast and only one cup of rice a day... and jogging

[V]

Right, last week (wk 2) I managed the whole week (Mon-Fri), so 5 sessions.
Then after a weekend break, I started again today. It was much easier this time! I can now do the 10 reps of side planking without too much issue. I've added in 10 side to side bends as a warm-up as well. I can now do 5 press-ups consecutively, although it's still a struggle to get to 10, but a big improvement from not being able to do any initially. My body does seem to be responding well to the exercise too. Also I've lost a couple of pounds too.
If things continue to improve as they are, I'll go from 10 to 12 reps from next week onwards.
My eventual target is 16 reps max of each exercise, except for the star jumps, where I can do 60 of them at the end easily. I don't really plan to hold the planking pose for more than 40 secs though, don't want to injure myself. I do wonder if it will help my figure become more feminine though...

[Michelle_P]

Yaaaay!  You're gonna get that trim waistline yet!  Great job.

[V]

Yaaaay!  You're gonna get that trim waistline yet!  Great job.

Thanks Michelle 

[warlockmaker]

I have been a pro surfer, 3 Ironman World Championships, club champ golf, pro horse show hunter and jumpers .  When I was a male I was just an over achiever to compensate for dysphoria.I am fortunate in that i have a slim physique, my measurements below are my cis male v post op.

                    Cis.                  Post

Height.       5ft 7ins.           5ft 6.5ins
Weight.       147 lbs.            129 lbs
Chest.           38 ins.              35.5ins
Shoe size.    6.5 (m)                 8.5 (f)

I studies the differences between male and female body structure and muscle mass. T is the builder of bulky muscles, removing T will cause muscle to diminish and change shape to muscles with a lot less bulk. In fact you will have to exercise alot more to maintain quality female muscles and if we do we will have finer muscles.

Metabolism slows down. We get fat with alot less food.  Our drug and alcohol tolerance greatly diminishes. To not gain weight we have to be constantly concious of what and how much we eat.

Like all gym activities we must shift from heavy weights to high reps with little or no weight. That way we avoid unwanted fat and bulkier muscles..this is important as cis males we have a strong muscular base.

Exercising specific area with high reps  will result  in the fat burn not exercising areas will allow fat build up. With that in mind and a knowledge of where fat build as a female allows you to design a program. For example ...women build up fat in their thigh, butt and lower abdomen. Men build up fat in the whole area below the sternum. Also in the love handles.

One quick exercise would be to lose the love handles and let the new waistline develop . So there are exercises. ..eg hula hoop. 

Flexibility ...females tend to be more flexible than men so we need to work on that with Yoga or Pilates.

I workout 6 days a week. I do aboit 45 minutes of yoga and pilates and then work on a x trainer for 6 kilometers in 30 mins. I m working with another health and fitness professional to write a short workout book for TG ...both M  to F and F to M.

We need as M to F to work out harder to maintain a fit body...exercise theory believes that Females have better endurance but this has in reality not been so. Remember as post op females on female hormones we can compete as a female in the Olympics and World Championships.

[jujubes1986]

I have been a pro surfer, 3 Ironman World Championships, club champ golf, pro horse show hunter and jumpers .  When I was a male I was just an over achiever to compensate for dysphoria.I am fortunate in that i have a slim physique, my measurements below are my cis male v post op.

                    Cis.                  Post

Height.       5ft 7ins.           5ft 6.5ins
Weight.       147 lbs.            129 lbs
Chest.           38 ins.              35.5ins
Shoe size.    6.5 (m)                 8.5 (f)

I studies the differences between male and female body structure and muscle mass. T is the builder of bulky muscles, removing T will cause muscle to diminish and change shape to muscles with a lot less bulk. In fact you will have to exercise alot more to maintain quality female muscles and if we do we will have finer muscles.

Metabolism slows down. We get fat with alot less food.  Our drug and alcohol tolerance greatly diminishes. To not gain weight we have to be constantly concious of what and how much we eat.

Like all gym activities we must shift from heavy weights to high reps with little or no weight. That way we avoid unwanted fat and bulkier muscles..this is important as cis males we have a strong muscular base.

Exercising specific area with high reps  will result  in the fat burn not exercising areas will allow fat build up. With that in mind and a knowledge of where fat build as a female allows you to design a program. For example ...women build up fat in their thigh, butt and lower abdomen. Men build up fat in the whole area below the sternum. Also in the love handles.

One quick exercise would be to lose the love handles and let the new waistline develop . So there are exercises. ..eg hula hoop. 

Flexibility ...females tend to be more flexible than men so we need to work on that with Yoga or Pilates.

I workout 6 days a week. I do aboit 45 minutes of yoga and pilates and then work on a x trainer for 6 kilometers in 30 mins. I m working with another health and fitness professional to write a short workout book for TG ...both M  to F and F to M.

We need as M to F to work out harder to maintain a fit body...exercise theory believes that Females have better endurance but this has in reality not been so. Remember as post op females on female hormones we can compete as a female in the Olympics and World Championships.

Thank you for this... I need to screen shot this... Need this after my surgery

[V]

Right, so I've been doing my little workout routine every weekday for about a month now, and I've gone from 10 reps of each to 11. And it's still difficult, but it's getting easier each time. Especially on Mondays after I've had the weekend to rest from it. So I tried out my tape measure, and my waist has gone from 31" down to 30"
YAY!
So it is actually doing something. I've also lost weight too, I'm now 135 pounds.
It's all thanks to this thread.
Lets see how I get on in a month's time...

[barbie]

Right, so I've been doing my little workout routine every weekday for about a month now, and I've gone from 10 reps of each to 11. And it's still difficult, but it's getting easier each time. Especially on Mondays after I've had the weekend to rest from it. So I tried out my tape measure, and my waist has gone from 31" down to 30"
YAY!
So it is actually doing something. I've also lost weight too, I'm now 135 pounds.
It's all thanks to this thread.
Lets see how I get on in a month's time...

Yes. It's good news. It is surprising that you can see the effects immediately.
For me it takes a month and running a total of 200 km (125 miles) to decrease my weight from 68 kg (150 lbs) to 65 kg (143 lbs).

Anyway, go on!

barbie~~

[EmilyMK03]

That's great V!!!  And such amazing results after just one month!  You're going to look and feel even better as you keep going! 

[V]

Yes. It's good news. It is surprising that you can see the effects immediately.
For me it takes a month and running a total of 200 km (125 miles) to decrease my weight from 68 kg (150 lbs) to 65 kg (143 lbs).

Anyway, go on!

barbie~~

I am lucky in that my body has always responded quickly to changes in exercise and diet. The downside is that the beneficial effects disappear very quickly too. But if you are already fairly fit, you need to do a lot more to see a small improvement, whereas with me, I was very very unfit, and so any changes I make at the beginning will have some effect quickly, because I'm starting from a very low level. I'm sure the next inch loss will be much much harder to achieve.

But also with me, when I get depressed, I can lose a lot of weight very quickly because I just stop eating altogether. That's not good, but it does go some way to explaining my rapid weight loss at times.

That's great V!!!  And such amazing results after just one month!  You're going to look and feel even better as you keep going! 

Thank you Emily, that's a pretty name by the way.
I must admit, it is a bit addictive, seeing results and then wanting more.

[barbie]

But also with me, when I get depressed, I can lose a lot of weight very quickly because I just stop eating altogether. That's not good, but it does go some way to explaining my rapid weight loss at times.

Yes. Exercise is nice for overcoming depression. In my case, I tend to be depressed if I do not exercise for > 3 days. Exercise boosts both my mind and body.

barbie~~

[becky.rw]

Ok.. now I'm depressed.
5'8" 225lb, not fat, I can cut to 200, but muscle striations show.  I hide it well with loose, xl shirts.
I really dug a hole for myself trying to fit in; even though I may be the only one I ever fooled.

doooooomed.
ok, well maybe not doomed, but I have no idea how this will work out.

[V]

Things are going very well with my new exercise routine I must say.
I am now up to 12 reps of each exercise, and I steam through the whole routine with much less trouble and a faster recovery time afterwards. My body really seems to like it.
I'm now 134 pounds and waist is 29.5"
Target is 130 pounds and 28" waist.
I thought it would take me ages to increase my rep count, but at this rate, I'll be on 13 reps next week.
My target is 15 reps of each, and I honestly thought it would take months to get to that, not weeks.

[Michelle_P]

Wow!  You are really getting results.

Now I've got to catch up.  Oh, how embarrassing... 

[V]

Wow!  You are really getting results.

Now I've got to catch up.  Oh, how embarrassing... 

You and Emily are my inspiration.
You don't have to catch me up, it's your 28" waist measurement that is my ultimate goal.

Because my chest measurement is 33" underbust, my waist had virtually no definition when it was 31", hence my target of 28".
Although, I'm not sure exactly where to measure my chest size. Just under my shoulders (above my bust) it is 35", which I think is on the small size for a male skeleton. However, my shoulder width is 17", which gives me a broad shouldered look when teamed with the small chest. I shouldn't be bothered though I suppose, because it isn't something I can change.
My bust measurement is 38", and my hips are 36.5", so a target figure of 38-28-36.5 sounds acceptable no?