I've been skiing a lot this year, cause I have a pass to pay off. I keep getting injured and feeling like a gimp on the slopes. Normally, I can do double black diamonds after a little getting in shape. This year, it's a struggle doing intermediate runs.

FINALLY someone figured it out, why I keep getting injured and why I don't feel comfortable. She watched me on two slopes. One, I was absolutely awful on (like I've felt all season) and one where I said, that was it, I felt right again finally. Occasionally in the 10 times I've been up this year, I've had that, this feels right feeling. Mostly I've been fumbling and stumbling and getting injured. Anyway, my ski buddy said, when you're struggling, you ski like a woman. When you feel right, you ski like a man. It's weight distribution and yours has changed. Didn't even occur to me that of course my centre of gravity has changed. So I have to change my balance, my stance and everything I know about skiing.

Maybe it's time to take up snowboarding.

Dennis

Dennis, your post is very interesting!

What you've noted kind of ties in with some things I've been noticing and thinking about, so bear with me whilst I 'groove' on your topic... 

While I've never spent the time practicing martial arts (with the exception of Marine Corps bootcamp, where we got Tae Kwan Do for Dummies, the Trailer,)  I've had friends and acquaintances who have practiced various types and styles.  One acquaintance mentioned that a key aspect of their martial art was to become an efficient 'floor interface' -- in other words, to figure out how best to use your body to interface the floor to whatever 'business end' you're using, be it a hand or fist, a foot, a forehead, or a hip.  And every body is unique, so 'you' have to figure out what works best and most efficiently for 'you'.

On Sundays I go to a 6-story parking structure at the university campus to do stairs.  The staircase is on the outside and goes up straight with no knee-wrenching turns (and no F#<%in' TeeVees, either!).  Anyway, on the way back down the stairs, I can see the campus tennis courts.  Last summer there were two young ladies there every Sunday, one coaching the other in tennis.  The thing that I noticed about the coachee was that she concentrated more on appearing female/feminine in her movements than she did on efficiently whacking the ball accurately back into the other court (NB; I was still denying my transsexuality at this time.) Consequently, her returns went every which way with little power, and they spent a lot of time retrieving balls that had sailed over the fence or into other courts.  The coach's form, on the other hand was more focused on delivering/returning the ball.  She still appeared female/feminine but she had figured out how to use her body to effieciently conduct the court floor through her body to the intersection of the racket's sweet-spot and the tennis ball.  And unlike the coachee, she didn't seem self-concious about her body posture -- she was there to whack the ball hard and accurately, not to look feminine.

My point is you've got to be in tune with YOUR body NOW (whatever gender/configuration it may be), and not with what you think is 'supposed to' or 'ought' to be.  Dennis, I think you'll enjoy exploring your new interfacing with the mountain (double-diamond, eh?)  As for me, I'll co-exist with snowboarders (as long as they're considerate of me,) but I need two long thin sticks at least 5 cm taller than me  .  I wonder (with the weight distribution changes & such,) how I'll be skiing three years from now?...

Haz

(P.S., I tried to make some sort of joke about wearing a fashionable/expensive Bogner after transition, as those ski suits were a standing joke at the ski resort I once worked at  -- rank beginners renting skis for their very first ski experience whilst wearing a $500 ski suit... )

Ahhhhhhh,

Dennis, you seem to have lost the female poise and grace that you once had...  darn testosterone

Steph

Well, I tried snowboarding. I am not very good at it. In fact, I spent more time with parts of my body other than my feet in contact with the snow.

I was in so much pain for the next two days that I could barely get out of bed and my butt still hurts 8 days later. I'll give it a couple more tries and if I don't get any better, I'll go back to skiing and try and find my stance again.

Dennis

Wow!  Now this is a really wild approach.  I'm a student of aikido.  For a long while now I've been training "like a guy" and am dissapointed with the results.  It's always seemed that my body has been "awkward" moving as a male.  I think I'll let the real me do the training from now on.   Thanks for the insight.

K

As the saying goes, "Feel the force, Luke."

Teri Anne

Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but I wanted to ask you, Dennis, did you have your skis set up for a woman before you started T? And, if so, did your center of gravity shift far enough that you had to have the bindings moved back to a male setup?

I just happened to be wondering about that the other day, so when I saw your post I had to ask. :-)

I find this fascinating.  I used to be a downhill instructor, and have been on T for about 15 months.  I haven't tried skiing in the past two winters, though.  Would love to try soon, though, after reading this.  Would LOVE to go skiing with a bunch of other transsexuals, and see how we all feel as we are doing it........unfortunately, snows are melting here, so can't go here, and there is the fact I am still healing from top surgery.....

If I may be so bold, I would suggest trying to go back to some basics for some runs.  Especially try without your poles, and just doing simple over exaggerated up and down movements while doing nice wide parallels.  What I remember is that men and women use poles slightly differently, so that may also be affecting things.  And yes, I would definitely make sure your bindings are set properly for you now.

Would love tohear others' experiences about this.
Joseph

Ok I don't know skiing, I don't see any point in straps pieces of wood to my feet and going very fast down hill. More to the point though the ligaments and muscles don't grow at the same rate and your risk of serious injuries increases in the first year to 18 months on testosterone. The reason is that your muscles are actually stronger then your ligaments when you are first starting T. This might account for why you are having injuries and struggling to control the skis.

->-bleeped-<-boy

You'll get it down Dennis.  Those new muscles will eventually work in fluid motion.

My sis talked me into watching Dancing with the Stars last week.  A female tennis player was one of the competitors.  I can't remember her name, but she is adorable.  On the tennis court she is very powerful and competent.  On the dance floor she danced like my husband.  Her muscles would not allow her to do anything feminine and refined.  I felt sorry for her in some way..... NOT.  Being good at tennis and making her millions is WAY better than doing well in a stupid dance contest.

Cindi