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Beginner Strength Training

I got this ask and I wanted to make this into a post. I’m sure a lot of other trans guys will find this useful, too! Starting off, I would like to emphasize that there are a LOT of gym programs that can accomplish this goal, as well as a lot of diets (if you want to even go on one, some may find it to be unnecessary), so my advice and workout spread is just one of many options out there.

When it comes to diet, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, honestly. With how much you’ll be working out, you won’t necessarily need a caloric deficit to lose weight. You might actually gain weight because muscle is denser than fat, and so people say it weighs more than fat. You’ll develop more muscle mass from strength training, so you’ll probably gain a few kilos in your first few months doing this, while also achieving a leaner appearance because exercising burns fat. As long as you’re eating a varied diet and staying away from junk foods, you’ll be fine. I would also recommend getting a multi-vitamin to take every day just to fill in any gaps in your nutrition, but that’s up to you. It’ll also be important to eat a lot of proteins and carbohydrates for mass building, since those are what build up muscle and help your body grow and have energy. Definitely don’t cut too many calories from your diet when doing any kind of exercise. There’s a difference between a cutting phase and doing your body actual harm from not eating enough.

A decent workout spread that I think would be easy for a beginner to follow is a 4-day spread split between upper body and lower body days. With this, you’ll have 3 rest days in the week, so place them wherever you want. Rest days can be used to do literally nothing, or you could go for a walk, go swimming, bike someplace, etc. If you wanna go to the gym that day anyway, maybe use lighter weight and focus more on endurance (15-20 reps) than mass-building (8-12 reps) or you could do some cardio stuff like jogging or a HIIT circuit like the ones in the linked post. For any beginners here that don’t know what sets and reps are: a rep is 1 repetition of the exercise. For example, 1 push-up would be 1 rep. 10 push-ups would be 10 reps. Sets break up reps with at least 20-30 seconds of a break before starting the exercise again. 3 sets of 10 push-ups means doing 10 reps, waiting 30 seconds, and then beginning your next set, until you’ve done all 3 sets. Common shorthand for this would be 3x10, with the set number coming first, then the rep number. Using sets like this allows you to push yourself for a short burst of energy each time, so you don’t fatigue right away.

The workout spread is under the cut. I think this spread is good for a beginner who wants to focus on muscle mass gains and also get stronger. The exercises I picked are so you can build a decent strength base, and I view many of them as essential to mass-building in general, regardless of your experience level. I’ve linked the exercises to videos of how to do them:

Upper:

Warmup:

10 of each Rotator cuff exercise (can be done at a cable machine or with light dumbbells; can also be done at the end of your workout)

3x20 Wrist curls (light dumbbells)

4x10 Rear delt flies (light and slow)

3x12 Face pulls (light and slow, hold 3 seconds at peak of movement)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x8 Bench

4x8-12 Rows (any variation, but the how-to video is dumbbell rows)

4x10 Pec Flies (the how-to video is cable flies, which I think are easier than dumbbell flies)

5x8 or 4x10 Lat Pulldowns

3x10-12 Skull Crushers (on a bench like in the video OR standing)

4x10-12 Curls

4x10-12 Triceps Pushdowns

Lower:

Warmup:

25 Bodyweight squats

3x10 Goblet Squats (light or moderate weight)

3x12 DB Romanian Deadlift (light weight, same movement as barbell, just hold dumbbells)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x8 Squats

3x12 Split Squats (unilateral - aka one side at a time, do 3 sets per side)

4x8-12 Romanian Deadlifts (moderate or light weight, go slow)

6x8 or 4x10 Leg Press

4x10-15 Calf Raises (could also use dumbbells and hold them at your sides instead of the barbell)

4x10 Leg Extensions (don’t go super heavy on these)

4x12 Lunges (can use dumbbells or do these without any weight)

Upper:

Warmup:

10 of each Rotator cuff exercise (can be done at a cable machine or with light dumbbells; can also be done at the end of your workout)

3x20 Wrist curls (light dumbbells)

4x10 Rear delt flies (light and slow)

3x12 Face pulls (light and slow, hold 3 seconds at peak of movement)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x10 Bench

4x10 Lat Pulldowns

3x10-12 DB Incline Bench

4x8-10 DB Rows (unilateral, try to go heavy)

3x12 Shoulder Press (seated or standing; if seated, try and go heavier)

3x10 Face Pulls (go light with weight and go slow)

3x10 Curls

3x10 Hammer Curls (seated at an inclined bench or standing)

Lower:

Warmup:

25 Bodyweight squats

3x10 Goblet Squats (light or moderate weight)

3x12 DB Romanian Deadlift (light weight, same movement as barbell, just hold dumbbells)

Workout:

5x5 or 5x8 Squats

4x8 Hip Thrusts (barbell, just wrap the barbell in a towel so it doesn’t feel like it’s crushing your hips, try and pause 3 seconds at the top)

4x8 Romanian Deadlifts or Conventional Deadlifts

4x8-12 Leg Press

3x10-12 Calf Raises

3x10 Leg Curls

3x10 Leg Extensions

You’ll notice the first exercise on the lists is 5 sets of 5 reps. This focuses more on strength building than muscle mass. You can do 8-12 reps to focus more on muscle hypertrophy, but you’ll want to go lighter, since your focus for hypertrophy should be the contraction and stretch of the muscle, not necessarily driving a ton of weight. Doing 5 reps, or even just 3 reps, allows you to go heavy because the focus is on driving the weight. But what’s heavy will be relative to everyone, and beginners should focus on form more than focusing on how much weight they can move, that way you’ll have a good foundation of proper form/technique before you can go super heavy so you don’t hurt yourself. I’d say take at least a month or two on the main compound movements (bench, squat, deadlifts of any variation) before going as heavy as you can. You’ll learn your limits the more you’re in the gym working on these movements.

For your first year, maybe a bit longer, you’ll notice more strength gains than mass gains for sure, because you’re building your base, which takes time. You’ll notice a dramatic increase in strength and technique for your movements. Building strength will happen faster than building muscle mass/size. Don’t let that discourage you! It can take years to achieve your dream physique! If you’re a pre-T trans guy, it’ll take a bit longer to gain noticeable size, but I promise you it is possible. There are tons of athletes out there with bodies like yours who look athletic as hell and are strong as hell because of how well they train!

Stretching after you exercise will help you with the soreness and with your muscle recovery on rest days. Stretching on days you feel sore can help, too, regardless of if they’re rest days or gym days. Drinking lots of water helps with the soreness from the lactic acid as well.

If any of y’all have any questions about these exercises, just hit up my ask box or message me directly. I’ll be glad to help as much as I can, but please keep in mind I am not a personal trainer, I’m just a gym bro. None of my advice is professional, and may not be as tailored to you as it could be. Good luck on them gains, y’all!

Some pointers to keep in mind:

Triceps make up more of your arm than biceps, so bigger triceps will make your arms look bigger.

Larger rear delts will also help give an appearance of larger arms. Rear delt flies are a fav of mine for this. Go light and slow for 4x12 or 3x15. Can incorporate these on your upper body days as a warmup before bench.

Push-ups and pec/chest flies can help create a more masculine-looking chest.

Strong legs are the foundation of any good lifter/athlete.

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