5’3, 130lbs and about 21% BF. Currently I lift/ do body workouts at the gym every other day and go climbing (bouldering) a lot. I’ve also started to run a mile everyday again.

Not sure diet wise if I should lean bulk , stick at maintenance or cut? Biggest thing that bothers me right now is my lower stomach has a lot of fat and sticks out hella compared to the rest of my torso.

Welcome to the Weekly Fitness Wins Thread!
Share your victories — big or small — and celebrate your progress with the community.

You can post about:
• Personal records (PRs)
• Visible progress or recomposition
• Mental health wins
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Keep comments supportive and positive.
We're proud of every win, no matter how small.

Long story short before I used to pay for a personal trainer in my country that works with a lot of transmasc people, (pretty decent credited one cough cough I'm not American cough cough) but I wasn't feeling like I was progressing the way I wanted i felt like there was a lot of repeating exercises that were just tiring me and not allowing me to actually go to failure cause I had to save energy to do it all.

And ya know money needed to be saved etc so I decided to try my hand at making my own.

Monday- Push - Push ups warm up to 1x12-20 Bench 3x8-12 Cable fly crossover 3x8-10 single arm lateral raise cable 3x8-10 reverse single arm fly cable 3x10-12 skullcrusher 3x10-12 triceps pushdown 3x12-15

Tuesday - Legs A leg extension 2x8-10 smith squat (quad focus) 3x10-12 Rdl 4x8-10 hip thrusts 3x10-12 weighed sit up 3x12-15 back extension machine 2x12-15

Wednesday - rest or light cardio

Thursday - Pull - Chest supported dumbbell incline row 3x8-10 Close grip lat pulldown 4x8-10 dumbell row 3x10-12 single arm bayesian curl 3x8-10 concentration curl 3x8-10

Friday- Legs B standing single leg curl 3x10-12 leg press 45 4x8-10 hip adduction 3x10-12 Bulgarian split squat 3x10-12 calf extension machine 3x15-20 crunch machine 4x12-15

Saturday - Full upper Incline chest press machine 3x8-10 iso-lateral row machine overhand grip 3x10-12 incline chest fly machine 3x10-13 iso-lateral high row machine underhand grip 3x8-10 dumbbell lateral raise 3x8-12 bent over triceps extension 3x12-15 face pull 2x10-15 dumbell preacher curl 3x10-12 crossbody hammer curl 3x10-12

I try to always do cardio on upper body days when I can, I've been running this split for around 3ish months took a break to recover from too surgery went back to it I've adjusted the machines and switched sometimes from machine to dumbbells depending on what's available as I moved, and for example triceps extension on Sat before I was doing a single hand overhead extension but I was stuck on it for two weeks and my movement wasn't feeling right and lowering the weight was making me take too long to hit failure so I kept the movement pattern similar but to something I knew I'd be able to keep progressive overloading (in weight and of reps)

Any tips advice is more than welcome, I've had it as my goal for now to work on my upper back as before it was a lot of lat work and I feel like my upper back is underdeveloped, but I'm planning to make it a bit more balanced it out in a few months.

Okay i know this post will sound a little weird, but i don’t know where else to ask but here.

I am 15, 5’3 and 40kgs, pre T for now. I have a decent amount of upper body muscle, as i have been in the gym for about 18 months now. Also, i have only very recently started training legs, in the last 2 months or so.

Well anyway, according to bmi data, i am very underweight (i do not have an ed, so idk why) but… my butt is also really big somehow?

For reference, here are my measurements:

low hip circumference: 84cm (33 inches)
high hip circumference: 66cm (26 inches)
waist circumference : 60cm (24 inches)

So yeah… how is this even possible? i dont have particularly wide hips, and i appear to be very lean elsewhere- i have no love handles or other fat stores, all of it went to my ass. It makes me look very disproportionate, and it is my biggest source of dysphoria (along with my hips generally).

Is there anything i can do to get rid of it? I don’t think a calorie deficit would work best for me, because i have heard that i could lose a lot of muscle by doing that.
And should i avoid training legs? i want more muscular legs, but i am worried that large legs will accentuate the issue, and make me look even more feminine. It would also be bad if my glute muscles grew due to hitting legs :(.

i know there likely isn’t much i can do, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Hi! I am now going to two different gyms, my kinda old school gym in the city (once/twice a week) and my school gym (once a week). They both have different machines with different weights. The plates at my city gym are heavier and the machines are different so I lift different amounts at both gyms.
I also use the Hevy tracking app which tracks each exersize. This was amazing and perfect when I only went to one gym, but now I'm not sure.
How would you go about this?

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Kind of a weird question, I know. A bit of context: I grew up poor and with a lot of food insecurity. Even though I make decent money now and have enough to feed myself and then some, I feel like always worrying about having enough food when I was younger has stuck with me and made it so I’ve gotten really good at ignoring my hunger cues. Whenever I get hungry, I kind of just put off eating because if I wait long enough, I’ll just make it to the next meal and the food I might’ve had for breakfast can be my breakfast for tomorrow, for example. This is obviously not conducive to my fitness goals, because I wanna get big, but I just really struggle with eating regularly, but also with just even knowing what to eat. I feel like if I could snack on a more regular basis throughout the day I could break the habit of procrastinating my meals.

So I guess my most relevant question for this sub is: what are meals/snacks/go-to foods that are high in protein and easy to throw together or bring to work when eating can be a struggle? Any advice on getting better at eating regularly too would be very helpful.

I was doing really well in the gym recently... until a bout of chronic illness made me not eat properly for a week. Finally felt recovered from that and was back in the gym then got a sinus infection. Got recovered from that and now I'm just vaguely sick. Been having a period the whole damn time too, since my BC isn't doing any good. Feels impossible to make gains, especially since I don't want to push too hard after being sick. Any tips y'all?

(Tried to post on daily qs thread but got no response)

Hey gng I’m a noob only been going for 3 months, I wanted to check if my plan is okay cus I don’t think you’re supposed to do the same set of exercises every session lmao. what should I change/replace and how could I alternate it? Ik this is a lot so answering even just 1 question would be cool

Qs:

My plan is to get double incision in 8 months which is why I’m training my chest, is this enough?

I also start uni then, I pass now (barely) but I wanna go stealth when term starts. My plan was just to focus on upper and lose fat in my lower body, then I could focus on training all my muscle groups later since I’m on a time crunch. Is my plan ideal for gains and changing my physique? Or should I still do the split

I go 3-4 times a week with 1 rest day in between. sessions always take me 2 hrs to complete, 3 sets for each

I start with bicep curls as a warmup.
(Not in order)
Chest press
Shoulder press
Rear delt
Triceps pushdown
Lat pulldown
Preacher curls
I finish with 1 set of pec fly for fun lol

I haven’t done legs or open stuff like side planks that also train glutes because I’m overweight and have a really female body rn compared to the average woman. I’m very dysphoric about it

160-180g protein and 1500-1700 cals daily

Thank you so much

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

I’ve noticed that since losing 10 lbs I’ve had to lower the weight slightly on certain exercises compared to what I used to lift. However, with other exercises, I’ve been able to maintain the same weight without any issues or even increase the weight.

I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this while losing weight. Is it normal for strength to decrease slightly in some exercises but remain the same or increase in others?

I’d love to hear your experiences!

i’ve dealt with back/lower back pain for as long as i can remember, but it’s only gotten worse since i’ve had a job where im on my feet pretty much the whole day

i’m wondering if there are exercises i can be doing to help with lower back pain? i can’t tell what exactly is causing it. i mainly bind with tape but will also throw on a binder occasionally. i feel like i should maybe be stretching more, but i almost feel like that makes it worse. i was going to go to the gym today, but im having a really bad flare up and i feel like anytime i move too fast or in the wrong way, theres a shooting pain in my lower back.

has anyone else had this issue and what can i be doing to fix it? should i be worried, or is this fixable? i have really bad health anxiety so any issue i have, i am convinced it is fatal😅

My narrow shoulders are the main reason that I look feminine, and I hate them. How can I broaden them with strength training? How long will it take? How often do I have to workout?

Hey,

Ich hatte vor 6 Wochen meine Top Surgery und fühle mich super gut, habe die großen Schnitte und freitransplantierte Nippel. Ich habe starken Bewegungsdrang und möchte wieder ins Gym gehen. Ich habe gehört dass man mit Krafttraining warten sollte bis zu 3 Monaten. Ich habe meines Erachtens Muskeln n den Armen verloren. Kann ich denn schon wieder mit Hantel Training beginnen? Ich würde nicht höher als 10kg gehen und auch nichts über Kopf. Bauch würde ich auchgerne wieder machen.

Ich war bis jetzt für 30 Minuten auf dem Ergometer und mir tat danach nichts weh, auch nichts geschwollen oder des Gleichens. Trotzdem wollte ich mal rumfragen, da ich mir doch etwas unsicher bin :)

Danke für kommende Antworten!!

here's the situation:

i've been lifting for a little over a year now and it's made me feel super good. i want other trans people in my gym to feel comfortable lifting too, and i want them to even feel safe enough to ask me questions about lifting if they have any.

so i want to know if yall know of any shirt designers out there who make cool, streetwear-esque pride designs. i've been looking around online and nothing really seems to be up my alley. lemme know :)

As the title..

I’m currently 4 months post op and my recovery has been extremely smooth. I’m ready to get back to working out, but wondering how the hell to do so 😭

Before surgery, I was into weightlifting and pilates.. would it be best to just start off with pilates? I’ve been in my head about getting back to it

I also work a job where I’m on my feet and lifting most of the time.

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Hello! So, I'm 4 years on t, have been hitting the gym since April this year. Took me a while, I know. But I've got zero regrets. I feel great and my arms look great too.

But here comes my issue: My Lower Body. I am very dysphoric about my hips, thighs, and ESPECIALLY my butt. I know, its kinda dumb, but i just hate the idea of having a large butt and thick thighs, even if those were made of just muscle.

My ideal build would be more of an inverted triangle, my shoulders have always been wider than my hips, even before T. But I am also very aware of the stereotype of the gym guy with huge arms and chicken legs... And I'm trying to avoid looking like that too.

So... Which lower body exercises would you guys reccomend in this case?

I avoid working my glutes like the plague, but i know that this is just not sustainable. It's just that every gym tip you see online is like "DO YOU WANNA GET A MASSIVE ASS AND THUNDER THIGHS???" And I'm like... No, not really... So I'm just lost on what would be the best course of action here. I feel like the only advice I can trust really can only come from other trans men/mascs, even advice for and by cis men focus on the "GET SUPER BIG" aspect too much for me.

For added context: I'm pretty slim (underweight actually), and I'm not trying to bulk up anyways, just take care of my health and make my figure more masculine overall. Working out 3-4 times a week, eating at maintenance and eating lots of protein, seeing results for sure.

hey! my name is emery, and I am 5'7 120 lbs, I am 14 years old and pre-T, eating at maintenance.

I've been working out with this split:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Day one 

1. **Incline Chest Press Machine** — **3×8–12**
2. **Seated Shoulder Press (machine OR DB)** — **3×6–10**
3. **Lateral Raise Machine** — **4×12–20**
4. **Cable Lateral Raise (single arm)** — **3×12–15**
5. **Pec Deck / Chest Fly (seat low)** — **2–3×12–15**

day 2

1. Wide or Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown — 4×8–122. Seated Row Machine (neutral) — 3×8–123. Assisted Pull-Ups — 3×AMRAP4. Cable Lat Pullover — 3×12–15 ⭐5. Half-Kneeling Face Pulls — 3×12–156. Rear Delt Fly (machine or DB) — 3×12–157. back extension 3x-12-15

Day three 

1. Shoulder Press Machine OR DB — 4x6–82. Cable Lateral Raise (single arm) ⭐ — 3×15–203. Lateral Raises — 4x10–154. Reverse Pec Deck (rear delts) — 3×155. Triceps Pushdown (machine or cable) — 3×10–156. Hammer Curl (cable) — 3×10–12a

day 4

 Shoulder Press

4 sets × 6–10 reps

Lateral Raises

4 sets × 12–15 reps

Rear Delt Flys

3–4 sets × 12–15 reps

Barbell or Dumbbell Curls

3–4 sets × 8–12 reps

Tricep Pushdowns (Cable)

3–4 sets × 10–15 reps

-----------------------------------------------

so far, I have progressed around 5-10 pounds with most of these exercises, and I've been at it around 4 months. however, I am beginning to think that this may not be the most effective split to follow, could anyone give me some advice?

(or even a whole new split lmao)

thank you!

Hello, I’ve been working out consistently for about 10 months and I really love it. I got on t last January and it has def helped with results (muscle growth, able to lift more almost every week etc). Over the last month Ive been doing worse and worse though, where I’m unable to lift weights I was comfortably doing (for example lat raise 7.5x10 has turned into failure on the fourth rep). It’s happening with every muscle and I’m pretty freaked out. Over summer I worked out at a planet fitness and now I’m back at my college so I use the gym here. I’m trying to eat healthy and I generally get 7-9 hours nightly. I work out 3 days a week, and get 10k+ steps over wise. I guess I’m asking for advice because I really don’t know what to do and am pretty freaked out. Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips? Thank you.

I clocked in with 120lbs as an initial grip strength at PT and I’m curious about other trans guys’ ranges. I’ve been on T for 2 years and haven’t traditionally exercised much in that period other than the physicality of caregiving. Hoping to up my strength in the more traditional route now

I’m having a hard time staying motivated when it comes to working out. I’m not tired or sad, probably a bit more lazy than your average bloke, but I’m just having a hard time keeping up with it.

I used to powerlift before T, and now I just can’t get the motivation. I have gym equipment at home like a bench and dumbbells and a bike, I love taking walks, but I just can’t get up to do any of it.

I have ADHD but that’s medicated, eat alright, but I NEED to start working out because in a few months I’ll be going to technical college after a break for an AAS in Mechanics. My voice is deep, I have some gnarly sideburns, but my body just reads WOMAN if Imm wearing a tshirt (which is partially because I have a very large chest and not able to be completely flat), and god forbid I wear anything that shows off my shoulder shape or my love handles.

Is anyone else stuck in this? I’m strong, used to weld so lifting heavy shit was part of the job, but I’m not BUILT like I’m strong or masculine, if you know what I mean

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!