Sports, Physical Fitness and the Crossdresser

Linda recounts a conversation with a friend where she extols the physiological and social benefits of physical fitness for today’s crossdresser.

“What do sports have to do with crossdressing?” I was asked when it was announced that the topic of my presentation to the next support group meeting would be ‘Sports, Fitness and the Crossdresser’.
The questioner was the ever-cynical Gina.  She is a terrific person and one of the brightest girls I have met. However Gina has led a rather cerebral life, concentrated on reading, attending the Arts and other more sedentary activities than on getting out for a little jogging, golf or other sporting pursuits. As a result Gina has packed a few extra pounds on to her 6’ male frame.

“You will have to come next month to learn how the two go together,” I replied.

“I would come just to see what gorgeous outfit you are going to wear,” Gina replied, referring to my habit of wearing low cut evening gowns or cocktail dresses when it is my turn to address the group, “But my wife and I will be in Toronto for a theater weekend. So give me the Reader’s Digest version of your presentation,” she insisted.

“Well, I’m still working on it,” I had to admit, “I know what I want to say but I’m not quite sure how to say it.”

“You’re like the sheik with his harem,” Gina winked, “you know what to do but are not sure where to start.”

“That’s about it,” I replied, “plus I don’t want to insult anybody.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m very much involved it sports and I believe in being physically fit. That is a lifestyle choice I made many years ago. A lot of our girls are not so active and it has affected their physical makeup.”

“Comme moi?” Gina interjected in French, mockingly referring to herself.

“Well I don’t want to insult anybody or make it seem as if I’m saying anyone who doesn’t stay active is not as good as I am.”

“No worries there, Linda. We already know what a snob you are.” Gina smiled and I laughed.  I knew she was kidding. “Of course you have to be non-judgemental but if you make the presentation biographical in nature – what sports and fitness has done for you – then they will get the point without feeling as if you are looking down on us slobs. So I will go get us some drinks and then you will get on with telling me about it.” That was an order.

When Gina returned I was ready to give her my thoughts. “You know a bit about me. You know that I have been crossdressing most of my adult life. Do you remember me telling you that my desire to dress was awakened during a trip to Europe?”

“Yes, you were there for a conference or something.”

“I was actually at the tail end of a cycling trip to the wine regions of France. I had left the group and was on my way to see relatives in England when my plans got re-routed by the chance discovery of a crossdressing magazine in a book shop in Paris. The point is that before I was crossdressing I was very active in sports.  Growing up I’d played hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, you name it. I also skied in the winter time and later got in to running, cycling and triathlons.” I paused to reflect on this self-disclosure. I did not usually mix information about my male life and the life of Linda.

“Lots of crossdressers have other interests.” Gina broke the temporary lull. “What is your point?”

“There are two points I want to make to the group. One is the physiological benefit of sport; the other is the social benefit. Like many crossdressers one of my objectives is to fit in as well as possible when I go out in the straight world. That means dressing to fit in. It also helps to blend in if the frame on which the clothes fit is as close to resembling a female frame as possible.”

“Men are men and women are women. We can’t do much about that,” commented Gina.

“Sure there are differences but when we get right down to the skin and bones we are not that different. It’s when we start packing on those extra pounds of muscle and especially fat that those differences become more pronounced. Men tend to have larger skeletal frames, and longer torsos in relation to our legs and arms than women do but these are not universal. You do see tall and large-boned women.” I continued, “the most convincing and passable t-girls – from TS  to CD – are the thin ones, the ones with little fat and muscle on their frames. Even with their small hips they do not look that out of place. Their nature isn’t to play a lot of sports or get a lot of exercise so they don’t build a lot of bulky muscles. Most women, even when they are active, tend not to go for muscle bulk either.

“Males, when they are involved in sports, tend to bulk up their muscles. When I played football in college I weighed around 220 with much larger shoulders, chest and arms than I have now. Over the years my sports have switched to the more cardiovascular ones so I’ve lost a lot of that upper body bulk but have retained size in my legs and hips.”

“Do you mean that lovely ass isn’t padded?” winked Gina.

“You know it isn’t,” I winked back. “But the big difference is in how males and females accumulate fat in different ways. When men talk about their beer belly and women comment on how a dessert will go straight to their hips they are not kidding. Without the beer belly and the dessert on the hips we are not that different and therefore women’s clothes will fit the slim male’s frame without too much problem. However you must have seen t-girls among us who like to wear mini-skirts with blouses tucked in the waist of the skirt but it all has to fit over a rather large belly. Combine a large belly with a small butt and skinny legs you have a rather bizarre effect.”

“Like Barbara?”

“Well yes, but I wouldn’t single anyone out. She loves that style and is comfortable with it at a support group event but can you imagine the looks she would get if she were to venture down to the mall?”

“So what can she do about it?”

“She has three choices: do nothing which eventually will not be good for her health. She can change her style of clothing so that she is not bringing so much attention to her waist or she can lose the weight off that waist.”

“What do you mean by change her style of clothing?” I got the feeling Gina was asking about Barbara but also for herself.”

“This is getting away from my topic but next time you are going somewhere look at the heavy set women. They have big bellies too but if they have any fashion sense at all they will be wearing blouses with no waistline or one with an ‘empire’ or ‘princess’ waist crossing the torso right under the breasts. Their belly is hidden under a small tent of fabric.”

I continued, “Back to me: when I decided I wanted to go out in public and look more passable I determined that I would have to lose a bit of weight. I went on a very low fat and low carb diet and I took up doing a lot of distance running and cycling. Running and biking for several hours a day and a few times a week and at a relatively low intensity is a great way for the body to burn off fat and to develop good slim muscle tone.  The cycling helped me develop those muscles in my ass and it had one other great advantage for my crossdressing as well.” I paused for effect and to see if Gina was paying attention.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“For some reason cyclists love to shave their legs. Cycling gave me a ready-made and legitimate explanation for why I was showing up on the golf course with no hair on my legs. I shave them for cycling, I would say. Then when I took up swimming I found many of them take off all their body hair. Me, too!” I smiled, pointing my hands to my low cut neckline to highlight my hairless chest.

“So I see the physiological benefit of sport and fitness but where does the social aspect come in. Surely you don’t go around telling all your sports buddies about the latest shoes or dresses you have bought?” Gina was ready to move on.

“No, I do keep the two parts of my life very separate. I’m not able to dress too much around home so I’ve developed a reputation of traveling to participate in far-flung sporting events. I’ve gone to marathons in LA, Florida, Vancouver and Montreal golf holidays in San Diego, Palm Springs, Virginia and the Carolinas, triathlons all across Canada and the States, ski holidays in Europe and to many other locations, too. My explanation to my straight world friends and to my family is that I’m going for the sports. However I always manage to bring along an extra bag so that Linda can get out and about. The LA marathon trip involved one day of the race and nine days as Linda visiting the clubs and getting together with friends I’d met on line. Sports are a great cover for my en femme activities. Liz (my wife) knows the real purpose of these trips and helps with my cover stories. She tells our friends she is not interested in going along to be a spectator and besides now that she is a grandmother she is very happy to stay home and help with the little one.”

“It sounds perfect.”

“Yes and from time to time I have been able to broaden my femme experiences by drawing on my male interests. Linda plays golf a few times a year. I have gone skiing as Linda, cycling as Linda and even gone to an NHL hockey game.”

“Has Linda ever run a marathon?” shot back Gina. She sure knew how to find the Achilles Heel.

“That’s not going to happen. It would not be a pretty sight: all that sweat pouring out from under a wig. However once I met a guy from Texas when we were both in Montreal to run the marathon. We participated in a marathon of love making on a Friday night and then both ran the marathon on the Sunday.

“But that’s another story.”

Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Opinion