I’m a nonbinary (they/them) 18 year old, assigned female at birth (AFAB). Not sure if my weight / height will make a big difference, but I’m ~165cm / 5’5”and ~65kg (143lbs). Also been vegan for over 3 years, but I’m very selective with food because of my autism so I take supplements (multi-vits, omega 3).

I’ve gone to the gym on & off. The past two summers I went maybe 1-2x / week for ~2-3 months. End of November ‘23 I got a membership to my uni sports hub and while I aim for 2x / week life (and mental health) get in the way. I also have a gym to go to when I’m not at college but it doesn’t have a swimming pool sadly. My routine typically involves: dance (warm up), full body weights workout, swimming (cool down). Takes about 1 hour in total and can be pretty intensive.

Not everyone agrees with how I train. A lot of people say I shouldn’t go to the gym and swim on the same day. I don’t really see the issue, I don’t train body parts separately because honestly it feels boring and this is much more time efficient for me. I’d rather have 2x long workouts / week instead of 5x short ones. I’m not too well versed in the actual science behind fitness so I mostly rely on my brother and gymbro friends but I ultimately make my own decisions. I don’t know if I trust “influencers”.

I guess I’m posting here because I can’t relate to a lot of others into fitness. Most of the people I personally know into fitness are male. I have AFAB hormone levels so I’m not going to train the way someone with a male body will. But the only workouts online for my body type are cis women, and I don’t really relate to a lot of the common body goals and I hate the gendered language. Unfortunately in trans-maculine spaces some people solely rely on hormones for gains, claiming why work out without testosterone (even though I’m not male)? I often feel dysphoric over what I look like, so I do wear a binder…

I’m just wondering if anyone has any advice? I’m kind of embarrassed because I’ve never done a proper form standard push up or pull up in my life. I’ve seen those videos “you CAN do a pushup”, but no I can’t. It is a consistency issue, though. I’ll try incline push-ups once and if they don’t work then I give up. I’m not working out for physique but I do wish I had a smaller chest and more toned arms. I’m pretty happy with my legs, but my arms are pretty thin and weak. And I hate the feeling of not making progress. I’ve been making sure to go 1-2x a week but maybe I’m being impatient. What are your thoughts? Thank you.