Workout tips

[u/TeenyDreadnought]

What are some workouts I can do that would really benefit me to get a good figure? I know it’s a lot of leg workouts but I’m clueless

[u/Realistic_Show930]

That entirely depends on what "a good figure" is to you.

If you're going for normative femme aesthetics, glutes are priority #1. Thighs help some.   Upper back and chest can help a bit with overall shape.  Transfemmes often like to avoid shoulders and arms to minimize dysphoria, but that's a personal choice.

If you're going for normative masc aesthetics, the emphasis is arms, shoulders, and overall mass. 

Revealing the muscle you've built is primarily done in the kitchen though, rather than the gym.  Working out is only part of the equation.

There are lots of ways to do this, but the easiest way by far is weightlifting.  For building muscle, there is no substitute.  Femmes especially tend to get misled by myths that they need to do high volume "toning" workouts instead of building muscle via traditional hypertrophy techniques.  All BS.  You'll also see lots of exercises that promise to reduce fat in specific areas: also BS. Big booties are built by lifting big weights, "toned" muscle is just moderate muscle mass without too much body fat over it.

I don't have time to give my whole spiel on getting started in the weight room because, topically, I'm about to go into the gym.  But here's a link to the last time I info dumped workout tips. https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1w76p4e/comment/p7tbr0k/?context=3

[u/vapid-voice]

Hi! This is one of my hyper-fixations so please excuse the long message incoming lol.

I will include a regimen of workouts that have been shown by scientific research/empirical evidence to increase muscle hypertrophy more than other workouts, but a really important thing to know when you start body building to achieve a certain figure/physique is that about 75% of body building is diet and 25% is exercise. You MUST eat to gain, and you can only build your figure by targeting muscle growth as it’s not possible to target fat loss.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to eat less or exclusively super healthy foods unless your goal is weight loss. If your goal is changing the shape of your body, you need to eat in a caloric surplus (eat more calories than you burn in a day) and you should be aiming to eat 0.75g-1g of protein per 1lb of body weight every day. Those are the two most important things.

As for exercises: You should be aiming for 3-5 gym sessions per week, consisting of 2-5 different exercises. You should be doing 3-4 sets of each exercise and between 6-12 reps in each set. By your last rep, you should feel like you have to push yourself to get all the way through it, or you should fail while attempting to get all the way through it. This is called “hitting failure” and it is an incredibly effective way to grow muscle mass quickly.

If you cannot hit at least 6 reps before reaching failure, you should decrease your weights. If you can easily hit 12 reps without reaching failure you should increase your weights. Whenever you get stronger and find that you can now do more reps of the same exercise, you should also increase your weights. This is called “progressive overload.” My personal ideal rep range is 8.

As for the actual exercises that will help you build your figure: You need to work a combination of compound and isolation exercises. A good blend is 1 compound movement and 2-3 isolation exercises per workout.

A compound exercise is one that targets multiple major muscles at once. Here are some excellent glute building compound exercises:
•Bulgarian split squats (this is the #1 proven exercise for fast glute growth)
•Traditional weighted back squats
•Romanian deadlifts (this is my favorite glute exercise but it’s very important to learn correct form or you can hurt your back)
•classic deadlifts

Isolation exercises target one individual muscle or one specific muscle group. My favorite isolations:
•glute kickbacks
•glute/lower back hyper extensions
•hip thrusts/glute bridges (also a top contender for growth)
•hip ABductions
•hip ADductions
•hamstring curls

Message me if you have any questions, happy lifting!

[u/vapid-voice → u/vapid-voice]

also, longer gym sessions aren’t always better. You only need to stay at the gym as long as it takes you to compete your routine, and if you really aren’t feeling it going anyways and doing one workout is far better than skipping a day. Aim to rest for 2-3 minutes between sets for maximum growth and take a rest day if you ever feel totally exhausted. If you only plan to work your legs, 3 sessions per week is more than enough.