Trans & cis women have comparable athletic ability, major study finds

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Trans & cis women have comparable athletic ability, major study finds

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/trans-cis-women-have-comparable-athletic-ability-major-study-finds/ 🔗

Alex Bollinger  (4 Feb 2026)

A major analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that, after one to three years of hormone therapy, trans and cis women have comparable levels of athletic fitness.

The new systematic review from a team of researchers, entitled "Body composition and physical fitness in transgender versus cisgender individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis," looked at 52 different studies that examined the possible athletic advantage trans women may have in sports over cis women. Those studies involve 6,485 people total: 2,943 trans women, 2,309 trans men, 568 cis women, and 665 cis men. Most of the studies involved adults, but seven involved teens.

The researchers found that trans women likely have somewhat different body composition than cis women and cis men, which included body fat comparable to cis women (so, much greater than cis men's) and some more lean mass compared to cis women. Lean mass is often used as a proxy for muscle mass.

However, that extra lean mass didn't translate into differences in upper- or lower-body strength, the researchers found. Trans and cis women had comparable physical strength, which was lower than that of the cis men in the data sets.

Cardiovascular strength was also the same between cis and trans women, and it was lower than that of cis men.

The researchers also found that several years of hormone therapy resulted in increased lean mass, decreased fat, and greater strength for trans men.

"The convergence of transgender women's functional performance with cisgender women, particularly in strength and aerobic capacity, challenges assumptions about inherent athletic advantages derived solely from [gender affirming hormone therapy] or residual lean mass differences," the researchers concluded.

[Stottie Girl]

It's interesting science but I honestly don't think Trans athletes will ever be accepted at elite level no matter the science.

I'm of the opinion that there are bigger battles to fight at the moment and this one is an easy target for the trans haters.

Trans people have to give up so much to achieve their goals, I'm afraid that competing in professional sport is going to be one of them for a long time.

We don't live in a fair world unfortunately

[Lori Dee ✅]

I'm of the opinion that there are bigger battles to fight at the moment and this one is an easy target for the trans haters.

I agree that this is the low-hanging fruit, so an easy target for haters. But it is only the tip of a long sword that we cannot allow. The bathroom issues are another, and that is why state legislators are passing laws now that will survive long after Trump is gone.

We saw this with gender affirming care for minors. It doesn't matter that it rarely happens; they use that as a wedge. Next, the pull funding and providers get scared. Then they ban it from Medicaid and other federally funded insurance programs. That then reaches beyond "children" and affects adults, too.

Once the precedent is set, they say, "Well, since that is the law, then we can do this..." and they pile on more restrictions.

If we don't fight every inch, the sword gets thrust deeper with each attempt. Eventually, there is no way to undo the damage. However, by keeping up the fight and challenging every little thing, it becomes inefficient to continue. Hopefully, the politics will change, and we can start healing the damage. But it will take a long time.

[Stottie Girl]

Well, I take your point but I wouldn't class the bathroom issue as in the same league as the athlete issue. I think that bathroom privalege is one that should be fought to the teeth over. There is no basis whatsoever for the bans. There is, to my knowledge, no history of attacks on women by trans women in bathrooms (at least in the UK). So what exactly are they protecting cis women from? It is treating trans women as sub-human and not affording them basic human rights.

In all fairness I do think it's possible that, despite this scientific report there could actually be some truth in gaining an unfair advantage however small. It's far from clear. In elite sports small margins can make big differences. I feel we owe it to our CIS sisters to play fair.

We are a small community with a small voice and we should be picking our battles. Once we have our basic rights back then we can look at tertiary issues like elite sports inclusion.

For the record I only believe this for elite sports, not grass roots sports, bans at this level are absurd and prevent trans women from fitness activities that could benefit their health.

Just my two cents worth though.

[Allie Jayne]

While science and facts won't win over the hardcore transphobes, they are useful in affecting policy and law. Though this research shows a general parity between cis and trans females, there are significant variations to provide challenges. Different sports and hobbies have different physical needs, and the variation in peoples abilities, both cis and trans, may cause standout performers in some activities. This is where case by case considerations should be followed.

Remember that most of the furore was started when Lia Thomas won the NCAA 500 yard swimming title, but what is never mentioned is that it was during COVID, and most of the top swimmers had stayed away from the competition. With all due respect to Lia, she was never ranked in the top dozen or so female swimmers, and wouldn't have made the finals in a full field of competitors. But the transphobes ignore relative facts, and grab at what supports their phobias.

While in a perfect world, trans women should be allowed to compete in all women's events, the fact is that there is not yet the climate where this can happen. Lia's win did enormous damage to the worldwide trans community, which was unjust, but the reality of what happened.

Remember that most of the world's medical bodies support puberty blockers for trans youth, but despite the dozens of supporting medical papers and organisations, conservatives are advancing bans worldwide. I welcome the BJSM analysis, as this will help to turn the tide, but nowhere near as much as the US Mid Terms can.

Hugs,

Allie

[Stottie Girl]

While science and facts won't win over the hardcore transphobes, they are useful in affecting policy and law. Though this research shows a general parity between cis and trans females, there are significant variations to provide challenges. Different sports and hobbies have different physical needs, and the variation in peoples abilities, both cis and trans, may cause standout performers in some activities. This is where case by case considerations should be followed.

Remember that most of the furore was started when Lia Thomas won the NCAA 500 yard swimming title, but what is never mentioned is that it was during COVID, and most of the top swimmers had stayed away from the competition. With all due respect to Lia, she was never ranked in the top dozen or so female swimmers, and wouldn't have made the finals in a full field of competitors. But the transphobes ignore relative facts, and grab at what supports their phobias.

While in a perfect world, trans women should be allowed to compete in all women's events, the fact is that there is not yet the climate where this can happen. Lia's win did enormous damage to the worldwide trans community, which was unjust, but the reality of what happened.

Remember that most of the world's medical bodies support puberty blockers for trans youth, but despite the dozens of supporting medical papers and organisations, conservatives are advancing bans worldwide. I welcome the BJSM analysis, as this will help to turn the tide, but nowhere near as much as the US Mid Terms can.

Hugs,

Allie

You're not wrong there. The sooner Trump is declawed at the mid-terms, the sooner the damage he is wrecking to trans lives can be halted and eventually rolled back. The right wing movement and media saturation is infulencing people and governments all over the globe.

[Iztaccihuatl]

Y'all need to realize that the elite sports argument is the wedge here. Under that mantel they introduce legislation to ban trans folks from any sports activity. They exclude trans girls from any school sport activities. And via the pressure campaign on national governing bodies delivered by the USOPC this impacts all trans folks nationwide, not only minors. Any event sanctioned by an NGB these days categorically excludes trans women of all ages, although trans women do not have any measurable advantage over cis women after having been on HRT for 6-12 months.

[Susan ✅]

A study which will immediately be ignored by TERFs and Transphobic politicians

[Sephirah]

A study which will immediately be ignored by TERFs and Transphobic politicians

Yeah that's almost certain. Science is great until it tells you something you don't want to hear.

[Jillian-TG]

It's interesting science but I honestly don't think Trans athletes will ever be accepted at elite level no matter the science.

I'm of the opinion that there are bigger battles to fight at the moment and this one is an easy target for the trans haters.

Trans people have to give up so much to achieve their goals, I'm afraid that competing in professional sport is going to be one of them for a long time.

We don't live in a fair world unfortunately

This is an emotionally charged topic on both sides but I get the point you are making. To large degree it's difficult to win a war when fighting too many battles across multiple fronts. You have to pick your battles and win them one at a time and then defend the territory you have won. Perhaps fighting for elite sports participation isn't the early battle ground you want to tackle. There are other more pressing issues at hand.

But I've read the other responses and I get their concerns too.

[Iztaccihuatl]

This is an emotionally charged topic on both sides but I get the point you are making. To large degree it's difficult to win a war when fighting too many battles across multiple fronts. You have to pick your battles and win them one at a time and then defend the territory you have won. Perhaps fighting for elite sports participation isn't the early battle ground you want to tackle. There are other more pressing issues at hand.

I understand that it is tempting to forego the elite sports issue and focus on more pressing needs. However, we all need to be aware that once this is settled in an exclusionary manner with no resistance from the political left and LGBTQ community a precedent has been established sending the message that it is okay to discriminate against trans women. And the focus will shift towards other areas where it hurts even more.

And this already has spread way beyond elite sports, it already impacts high school, college and club sports and the message that trans women are not welcome will cross over into recreational sports too. Is this the world we all want to live in?

[MaryT]

At least some of the claims of unfair advantages of trans women have been blatantly false or irrelevant, such as Martina Navratilova implying that the average cis female boxer will be fighting trans women with the strength of average men, even though opponents have similar weights and muscularity.  Drawing attention to reports like this is good for anyone who likes truth, regardless of whether they are trans. 

Those who argue that fighting for trans women in sport is currently futile and is a smaller issue than bathrooms, since the latter affects the lives of all trans women, may be technically right.  However, the right to participate is a big issue for the trans women who have trained all of their lives to compete.  I think that the trans community will not be weakened by supporting the rights of all its members, regardless of how few they me be or how hopeless things seem at present.

[Stottie Girl]

To be clear, I'm not suggesting the fight isn't revisited at elite level, it is just that it is a easy thing for the trans haters to point at and there is so much visual information they can supply such as the boxing mismtches, Tia in the swimming and even Semenya in athletics all of which rightly or wrongly get rolled out to point at and say look trans bad!

I'm saying let it simmer on the back burner and get the public back on side over issues like basic human rights first. Let us go to the loo for gods sake! Maybe it is different in other countries at the moment but in the UK the atmosphere around trans issues is becoming toxic and it is heading in a dangerous direction.

I think I might be outnumbered here but this is only my opinion I'm sharing. I respect all the opinions on this we all have valid points.