Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hey there! I'm looking to get a more defined waist, but unfortunately, hormones are still a little ways off for me (and even then it could take years for any noticeable results) I was wondering if there were any exercises or workout routines I could do to create a more feminine waist and a more feminine and defined torso shape in general. It's kind of a big insecurity of mine that my torso isn't really all that feminine. My legs and my hips are pretty feminine, but my torso kind of detracts from than and it seems like it hides a good portion of my hips, so I'd like to start some sort of workout that would make those areas more feminine and shapely, instead of having to wait for hormones to do that over the course of months or years. I did look around and found some routines, but they all were more aimed at ciswomen, and I don't know if they would work for me.

I am on T-blockers (spiro) and have been for a few months (although it's low dosage. With the place I'm going to they usually start lower dosage for psychological relief, and then ramp it up before starting actual estrogen and they have not ramped it up yet) but other than that I'm not doing anything.

Help?

There is a video on Youtube, called smth like "Body feminisation exercises"... I only picked up a couple of exercises from there, both involving a long wooden stick. In both of them You place it horizontally upon Your shoulders and "anchor" Your elbows onto it. Then, in the first one You do sideway rotations in Your waist and in the second You lower one shoulder, raising the other one instantly and sort of stretching out Your waist. I will see if I can locate that video...

There it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udQ-h4Y4BY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udQ-h4Y4BY)
You can pretty much skip till 3:00 :P

I can't get/dont have room for a stick :/

The stick does not have to be that looooong as in the video - I am using simple broomstick, which is barely up to my rib section. Works like a charm and no I am not using it to fly around at night :P.

My house is very, very cramped. Also, we don't have brooms D:

Is there an alternative? Can I do these without the stick or something?

Thanks for the tips Emily!

You are all welcome :). I believe that the essence of those exercises is to fix Your hands somehow, so as long as You keep them... lets say behind Your head or smth like that, You could... Why not? :)

Thanks Emily. Wow, I feel exhausted just watching it... and the number of repetitions... yow!
I was doing a lot of walking and it was great, but then work got too busy and I stopped... :-\
Really need to get back to it.

Thanks Emily - very useful indeed!

Quote from: Ms Grace on November 11, 2013, 04:26:30 AM
Thanks Emily. Wow, I feel exhausted just watching it... and the number of repetitions... yow!
I was doing a lot of walking and it was great, but then work got too busy and I stopped... :-\
Really need to get back to it.

I just turn on my MP3 player, put the plugs in and go for it :) Distracts Your mind from counting and makes the illusion that You complete the routine faster :). And if You wanna add something spicier, try the 30 days squat challenge going from 50 to 240 in one month :).

Stella Lunaris: If you do not have the stick you can place both hands behind the back of your neck, where the head begins and the neck ends, am not sure how to describe it better in English. I've actually tried that routine a couple times a week for a couple months and it does show results, my GF and friends tell me some comments about it without me saying anything.

I've been looking into the science behind this for a while now... and the reason why there are so many reps is as follows:

The body has two types of muscles... fast-twitch muscles and slow-twitch muscles.

Fast-twitch muscles are the ones responsible for quick, powerful movements. They are designed for quick bursts of motion because they use energy less effectively, and therefore have to be bigger in order to work well. These are the large muscles of the body. And this is why people who want to build muscle usually do small numbers of reps with a lot of weight.

Slow-twitch muscles are the ones responsible for endurance, for repetitive motion with low resistance over a long period of time. They use energy more effectively, and thus can be much smaller because they don't need the same kind of power. These muscles are much more slim. So when you develop these, usually through endurance exercises which use a large number of reps with low weight, you develop your lean muscles.

Basically, look at a sprinter versus a marathon runner. Sprinters have very large muscles, because they need a lot of power fast. Marathon runners are built extremely skinny, to the point that a lot of them almost look malnourished. This is because their body mass is dominated by the smaller slow-twitch muscles.

So basically, what you need to do in order to cut the body's large muscles and slim it down, is to develop these endurance-specific slow-twitch muscles. This is why in the body feminization video, there are like 100 reps in some of the exercises. It's because you're basically trying to make your muscles tired not because of high resistance, but rather through persistent use. This means that your body is developing its leaner muscles.

Muscle development works through a continuous cycle of damage and then repair. That muscle soreness that you feel after exercise is actually finite amounts of damage. You build muscles by fatiguing them, and then your body repairs them. In order to do this muscle repair after a workout, your body needs protein. (Which is why bodybuilders take protein supplements.) If your body does not get this protein that it needs to repair the muscles through your diet, however, it will actually take it from other muscles to repair the muscles that have been damaged. So basically, doing these extremely-high-rep no-weight exercises will literally eat your body's big fast-twitch muscles away, and use that protein to rebuild the smaller, slimmer, lankier slow-twitch muscles.

That's the science behind this body-feminization video. The high-rep workouts are all about fatiguing the body's slow-twitch muscles, while the low-rep workouts like the butt-builder are typical resistance training to build up the bigger muscles on the body.

Quote from: Stella Lunaris on November 11, 2013, 01:53:03 AM
My house is very, very cramped.

Er, go outside?  ???

This workout seems very similar to a series of Ballet workouts that I have been following.

I really enjoy the graceful feminine feeling I get while doing these exercises and my flexibility has improved considerably.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnKa6pwuB7EZck4pveBLkpzOgVceuhdIM (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnKa6pwuB7EZck4pveBLkpzOgVceuhdIM)

all the best,
J.

Focus on core exercises (you can Google examples) but don't push yourself to the max. Most of these will help to give a flat stomach, if you develop some definition that's fine cuz nothing looks sexier in a bikini, but i would also suggest looking for something full body to help tone your arms, legs and lift/tone your butt too. Focusing on one area/zone can make others look out of proportion, especially if one day you go to wear a bikini and have an amazing core, but flabby arms or a saggy butt.

Just tossing out my 2 cents lol.