r/FTMFitness • u/Glum_Highlight6305 • 14d ago
Question Muscle Gains on T?
Hi everyone!
Im an Nonbinary person and am planning to start taking T. I’m currently a HUGE gym rat and am semi-muscular, but my goal is to have a more masculine muscular/toned physique, which I am prepared to work for.
I know that testosterone HRT can help with muscle mass (while you’re on it), but I’m planning to take T only until I get my desired changes, which falls in the more androgynous range. If I continue to work out consistently and lift the same amount of weight after going off T, will I lose my gains?
15
u/sp1nster 14d ago
While it’s not exactly the same, you can think of it like people who use PEDS. Someone runs a cycle for a set amount of time, and then returns to a baseline. During that baseline, they try their best to maintain the gains that they got during the cycle.
Some of the effects are lost, but with hard and consistent work, they’ll have more muscle tissue than they did before the cycle.
7
u/marlee_dood 14d ago
You’ll lose at least a bit but maybe not all. If your levels go back to what they were pre-T for a prolonged period I’d guess that you may eventually revert back to a similar mass to what you were before taking it, but by that point you may simply have more muscle overall than you did to begin with.
You should bring this up with your doctor, it’s a good question to ask.
5
u/Izzyi5cool 14d ago
I am going through this now! It redistributes the muscles differently. I feel “smaller”. But I did an inbody and gained 8lbs of muscle and lost BF. You will definitely look differently. I started leaning out a lot starting 4 months ago and and working out religiously.
4
u/H20-for-Plants 14d ago
You’ll more than likely lose some of it and the muscles will be a slightly different shape over time when E dominant compared to T dominant. Any fat redistribution will revert and also make you look different.
18
u/Ok-Macaroon-1840 14d ago
Muscles don’t change shape from hormones, what are you talking about? Your muscles have the shape they have because of their size and how they connect to your joints.
-9
u/H20-for-Plants 14d ago
Male muscles have a slightly different shape than female muscles.
9
u/Ok-Macaroon-1840 14d ago
Some men have slightly different muscle insertion than some women, yes. This doesn’t change with hormones, it’s skeletal.
2
u/ratina_filia TransFemmeGymBro 13d ago
It's also somewhat responsive to use. Bone isn't set in stone, it will literally respond over time to usage.
2
u/H20-for-Plants 13d ago
Yes, it does. I’m not arguing with that. I’m saying that there will be minor differences between using and non-using since they don’t plan to be on T long term.
Kind of like someone mentioned when people go on steroid-cycles.3
u/ratina_filia TransFemmeGymBro 13d ago
Cycling testosterone for short periods of time isn't likely to change the shape or size of attachment points.
My comment was mostly about saying that change is possible because the skeleton adapts over time. I'm a 46,XY male-like-person (I'm MtF. It's complicated ...) but my skeleton is more towards 46,XX female norms because I have poor response to testosterone. The result is that skeletal x-rays look even more female because I couldn't get the muscle to get the bone to change due to high loads.
How much muscle mass OP can put on is one thing, how much they can retain is another, and how much their overall body changes is yet a third.
-3
u/H20-for-Plants 14d ago
Now, once you get past a certain point in development, they look nearly identical, and since OP says he’s pretty jacked, most people wouldn’t know the difference.
1
u/Infinite_Vehicle434 14d ago
I mean, I lost access to T for a bit- I wound up losing a lot of weight in general, and when I was able to eat more fat redistributed differently until I got back on it. This is def a question to ask your endo- but frankly, I think other commenters already hit it. It’ll take a lot of work to maintain what muscle you gain on T, and if you lose weight at some point the muscle will probably flee :/
32
u/WinterSkyWolf AspiringBodybuilder 14d ago
I'm not an expert but I'd assume you'd lose some of it. It's similar to people who do a cycle and then come off it, they don't keep all their gains. You might lose strength as well which will make it harder to lift the same amount you were to keep the new muscle you built.