Hi...um....I'm just starting out. While I want to do hrt, I'm a bit nervous about it because, well, I'm afraid of excessive muscle loss. I want a nice, feminine body, but I'm afraid of losing too much muscle and not being able to continue doing martial arts. It's not just a hobby that keeps me healthy and brings me joy...I'm afraid of being attacked and not being physically strong enough to defend my self. Yes, I'm mtf. Is there any way to predict how much muscle would be lost? In addition to growing breasts, what are some of the other positive effects of hrt?
Muscle loss will happen to some extent depending on how much you have right now. However, strength loss need not be great unless you are a weightlifter on steroids right now.
You can build and maintain a whole lot of strength without testosterone if you tailor your workouts towards that. As a bonus, without high testosterone this strength comes without a whole lot of size.
My testosterone has been below detectable levels for the past 18 months and yet I am now stronger than nearly all women and stronger than most men. Earlier this year I was actually pretty weak but in June started a focused program to increase strength through powerlifting and the strength has increased quickly to the point I am much stronger now than I was even before HRT with high testosterone.
The key is to progressively lift really heavy weights with high volume and lower repetitions per set. This targets improving neurological adaptations that increase strength without having to greatly increase the muscle size.
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There are many women in martial arts who are just fine with having less muscle than the men. Speed and focus is their primary weapons.
@Deborah I did not expect that at all. It sounds great! Can you tell me how that works, medically I mean? By the way, I noticed that you're retired Army. I was a 12-B.
Quote from: Morgana on December 05, 2017, 08:57:41 PM
@Deborah I did not expect that at all. It sounds great! Can you tell me how that works, medically I mean? By the way, I noticed that you're retired Army. I was a 12-B.
I was 11A5S and then later an Operations Research Analyst.
The way it works is that your nervous system adapts to simultaneously recruit more muscle fibers to lift any given weight. The individual muscle cells also adapt to provide more energy by growing more and larger mitochondria and producing more enzymes to convert glycogen and fat into energy. They also adapt to store more glycogen so it's ready to use on demand. These adaptations begin very quickly so with the right training, nutrition, and recovery, you can add a lot of strength really fast, five lbs per lift per workout for at least several months. Unfortunately, it all slows down after a few months and then the grind begins. For really detailed explanations and maybe the best program around I recommend the book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe.
The program consists of just five basic barbell exercises; Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press, and then either the Power Clean or Bent Over Row. There are three workouts a week with Squats every workout and the others alternating every other workout. At first the workouts seem pretty easy but before long the weights get really heavy and extremely challenging to complete and to recover from.
Also you might go to YouTube and search "megsquats". She is a competitive power lifter that weighs somewhere around 145 to 150 lbs. She squats about 300 lbs and deadlifts close to 400 lbs. I think her bench press is somewhere in the upper 100s. Her videos are pretty good and you can see a real person who has developed a lot of strength without the large size you might expect.
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@Deborah I feel a lot better now, thanks much!
*squints through space* hey Deborah is that a super girl costume in your closet?
;)