Trans, brainy,buff and beautiful .. Indian Lawyer and bodybuilder Aryan Pasha.
Queerstion Media interviewed Indian Lawyer, LGBT rights activist and gym enthusiast Aryan Pasha a transman. Below he shares about his life, fitness journey , health and workout tips.
ABOUT ME, balancing my profession and hobby
I am Aryan Pasha and I Identity myself as a transman which means I was born in female body in which I was not comfortable so I had to align it with my brain and soul. I am a Lawyer, however i just recently changed my field to focus on my father’s business. To balance my work and workout i have to put in a lot of work , that also means setting my prioritise right. For example i minimise going out and and clubbing because I have to give proper rest to body and i also need to maintain a proper diet.
MY FITNESS JOURNEY AND SELF ACCEPTANCE
From a young age, I was always into sports. I used to play in boys team which made me more comfortable in that group not many people knew i was female. Accepting myself gave me peace to accept myself this boosted my passion towards fitness . Its been four years since i started working our seriously and i am content with who i am.
SELF-CARE TIPS FOR TRANSMEN PRE AND POST TOP SURGERY
Its simple l no junk food at all. This is because when we are not on testosterone our body fat distribution is different than cis-male and we will get fat on love handles, hips and breast making one appear more feminine. Eat lot of salad, boiled breast chicken, eggs and lot of water. Add multi vitamins and calcium supplement on regular basis.
ADVICE TO COPE WITH FITNESS, SOCIAL AND MEDICAL TRANSITION
Exercise regularly,take care of yourself this might boost up your confidence (we always have that body dysphoria). During medical transition some experience a lot of mood swings and increase in appetite some may begin over-eating. That is why its important to eat clean and exercising to burst out your daily life stress.
SUGGESTED CHEST WORKOUT ROUTINE
You can’t reduce your chest size completely. However you can reduce fat in it and you can work on your pectoral muscles which will help your surgeon to give you scar on right place and after your top surgery that scar won’t be much visible.
Push ups
Barbell bench press
Incline bench dumbbell press
Pec-deck machine
Decline bench dumbbell press
Pull over
(each 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps)
IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD DIET
In building muscles 70% is your diet, in gym we just break our muscles and it is repaired by what we eat. Your diet should include high protein intake as per your body weight (example if you are 65kg then your protein intake should be roughly around 130gm) fibre and good fats should be a part of your diet.
ABOUT TESTOSTERONE AND FITNESS
I am taking only testosterone. Testosterone is a male hormone which my body doesn’t produce naturally so I have to inject it regularly as prescribed by my endocrinologist and which has very important role to play in building muscles, strength power.
MESSAGE FOR TRANS* GUYS
Eat healthy, keep consistency and don’t rush to lift heavy metal first learn how to do proper form of each exercise.
Interview by Queerstion Editor Sumair Ali Khan