The Difference between Men and women; the Trans perspective. Part 4: Strength and Stamina
Transgender athletes are a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Trans women where born men. Testosterone gives men advantages over…
Transgender athletes are a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Trans women where born men. Testosterone gives men advantages over women in many ways. Which in the same note is why trans men also have an advantage over women. Though a lot of the discussion has to do with people believing that a trans woman on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), for longer than a year, has no advantage over women. At the time of writing this, I have been on HRT for 18 months. I got back in the gym about a month ago, and I want to share my initial thoughts on how men and women differ in the area of athletics and fitness.
Background
I was a fairly athletic male. I started wrestling at the age of four and did that all the way through High School, and places at the state tournament. I started playing football in 6th grade, and quite before my Sophomore year. Played baseball and was selected to be on a youth travel league, I gave that up to enjoy my summers though. My brother and sister are both a lot more athletically gifted than me, but I trained hard. I know the pound for pound the strongest person in our school; as I wrestled at 103 lbs but could bench press over 200. I could pick up most sports fairly quickly and be pretty good at them. In college I was in the weight room all the time between classes, and bulked a lot though. After I joined the Army, and was in for 7.5 years. I maxed my push ups and sit ups every time. (I was never a runner though). I passed Air Assault School by road marching 12 miles with 35lbs on my back in two hours and 45 mins. The Requirement is three hours. At least six mile road marches were a weekly requirement. I was in great shape.
Men
Testosterone offers men so many advantages. In puberty it makes bones grow thicker and overall body build to be bigger. Testosterone also helps muscles recover faster and build bigger. I took six months off from working out when I got out of the Army. I went for a four mile run and was impressed at how my time hadn’t fallen off by that much. I could also lose weight so much easier. We also must remember that more muscle burns more calories. So yes, men burn more calories on average. What I am finding to be true though is that men hold less water. Thus making the scale drop quicker initially. As we know that also has mental advantages when it comes to sticking with a work out.
Women
Ever hear a woman complain that her and her significant other are both working out the same. He is losing weight, but she’s not? First, if they are eating the same things, her standard calorie burn will be lower with less mass. As explained above. Second, is how women work out. Only recently has there been a big push for women to lift heavy. Lifting weights burns more calories than walking on the treadmill. My leg workout burns about 500 calories at the point of exercise. I burn 300 on a six mile walk. Not to mention the amount that is burned with the recovery. (Yes it takes calories to repair the muscles) Last is water retention. When I first started working out again, I gained 5lbs because my body needed it to repair the muscles. Overtime that goes down as your body gets use to the routine. Still after four weeks I am still up one pound. Though I can tell major difference in appearance and strength. (Disclaimer: my body is still developing. Moving moving fat to different areas. I have also grown a half cup in the chest.) As studies show, that mentally makes it more challenging for women to stay with a program. Without Testosterone the muscle still build back stronger, but not at the level as they would. This also causes women to lose gains quicker. My stamina levels dropped very quickly without T. I use to be able to hop in a pool after years off, and swim 10 laps straight. I jumped in four weeks ago and had to do one at a time. Run four miles, no way. It is quite obvious that having more Testosterone makes a big difference for performance, recovery, and weight loss. What about the trans women who are no longer testosterone dominant?
Trans women
As I explained in the first installment of this series, my T levels dropped very quickly. As well my Estrogen levels went up fairly quickly as well. I was in bio female T levels after three months (below 50 ng/dL). After six months, my E levels were in standard female range (between 200–400 pg/ml). My recent Blood work had my T at 17 and my E at 359. As a note, only 25% of trans women can get their T below 50 without having their testicles removed. depending on how well a trans person responds to the meds makes a huge difference in the experience they have. This is my experience, and anecdotal truth.
Work out routine and findings
One thing that I couldn’t find a lot of info about was how muscle would react with different hormones. I had dysphoria over my arms, and lat muscles. I changed a lot in my typical routine. Instead of doing bench, curls, lats three days a week I do legs three days and very light upper body. My current schedule looks like this: mon-wed-fri, five spin classes that coincide with weighted leg days. On Tue-Thur, I do all low impact. Yoga, Pilates, and/or lap swim. Essentially high impact and low impact alternated each day. The arms I do are usually part of two spin classes that mix a light weight Bi/Tri/shoulder workout into it. It is Interesting to me that as I have worked my arms more, they have actually gotten smaller yet stronger. That was awesome news for me. My take away is that hormones really dictate body shape. When I break down the muscle in workout, it builds back in accordance to what estrogen dictates. Is that enough to conclude that Trans women should be in women’s sports?
Conclusion
There are many nuances to that question though. I was visiting family a couple weeks ago, playing golf and my yardages were the same if not more. I hit at least three drives over 280, and out drove my dad and brother most of the day from the same tees. Those are LPGA numbers. Golf is about mechanics though, and not as much strength. Muscles have a memory. I use to use 45lbs on each side of the bar when doing squats. That is where I have seen some very fit women at. After a month I worked my way to 35s for two sets and 45s for one. After the amount of time I took off, I don’t see a woman getting back there that fast. When I graduated college, I coached wrestling before going into the Army. I weighed 135 and could hang with our 185 pound state champ. I feel stronger now then I did then. I would never step in a cage with a woman today to fight MMA. After training and being in top shape, I absolutely would have an advantage. Though, I say this as someone who transitioned after going through male puberty. A person that has never had the advantages of Testosterone, never will.
*I am not a doctor of any sort. These are my opinions based on my experience and research.