I mentioned in a comment previously that I would post some progress photos to demonstrate what a small recomp looked like for me since starting strength training for the first time ever 4 months ago, under the supervision of an amazingly thoughtful, intelligent, encouraging and understanding personal trainer. Here goes!
My progress so far
As someone who has weak connective tissue caused by Ehlers Dahnlos Syndrome (collagen is not laid down correctly in the body) ...injuries are a lot more common and take much longer to heal (if indeed they ever do!) which means that training can be difficult because of this.
I have been suffering since the age of 27 with a cascade of tendon/ligament injuries and cartilage damage (right knee meniscus and probable right hip labral tear) - I walked around on a broken foot for 9 months because doctors couldn't believe that an inversion of my foot/ankle sustained during a fall when bouldering/climbing could cause a navicular fracture (despite me studying anatomy diagrams and poking my very painful foot repeatedly to figure out exactly which bone was broken) and spending months trying to convince them that it wasn't a soft tissue injury, because I knew how such things felt after having sprains and muscular tears as a teenage athlete. Eventually it was diagnosed with an ultrasound (!) by someone who was supposed to be doing cortisone injection! After months of pain and having to give up my physically damanding hard won role as a photography assistant role at a studio, I had to have surgery to remove the bone fragment and reattatch the posterior tibial tendon to the navicular... all of which could have easily been avoided if they had immobilised the foot in a cast when I first injured it.
I had many years of continual injuries (my muscles were strong in my upper body but my tendons would randomly just stretch and tear doing simple tasks) and there was no abatement despite plenty of rest and trying to take care of my body with physio etc. I was eventually diagnosed with EDS in 2015 which I couldnt accept for a while since I didn't seem to have the widespread bendiness that other sufferers do. However, we all present differently and I have always had ridiculously bendy fingers and PoTs type symptoms too - I now realise that it explains a lot of odd, seemingly unrelated health issues.
I have had many, many low points. In addition to constant chronic pain in several specific joints, I experienced more depressingly restrictive issues such as a 10 month period when my hip locked up with excruicating pain when moving my right leg and I couldnt lift my femur past 45 degrees. At times like these I completly abandoned hope of ever being able to excercise again, and the pain from walking even a small distance and worsening injuries even with the most boring (to me) of excercises such as slow, careful swimming ...made me feel that my future was very bleak.
I still feel that way at times. Being strong and focusing on what I could do with my body was what used to help me deal with body image issues... particularly due to feeling overly masculine (muscular arms, large hands, broad back). I had also become quite soft and flabby due to eating the same amount as when I was highly athletic, despite looking reasonably slim in clothes. As someone with aspergers diagnosed in adulthood (explained a lot) excercise was something that enabled me to socialise, get out of my head and connect with others. I often feel a lot of grief at my new limitations since explosive, quick-reaction type excercise used to not only be so much fun, but it provided a huge outlet, boosted endorphins and supported my emotional wellbeing. A large part of it has been learning to manage my frustration, being kind to myself, learning to accept/ask for help and deal with my fears what other people think about those of us with this type of chronic health issue.
A year ago I decided to start lifting having read that strength training could help reduce some symptoms of EDS due to muscles taking over some of the functionality of the lax ligaments and stabilising the joints. I joined an amazingly supportive all-female powerlifting group since I loved the idea of learning to lift heavy with barbells. However, despite being reasonably strong despite my lack of training (bench pressed 35kg for 5 reps, deadlifted 65kg on first go) I quickly had severe pain in my lower back from deadlifting, even though my form was considered very good and I was being pretty careful. I had to stop completely and this took several months to calm down.
My current trainer has been amazing - reading up on my condition and educating himself, listening to my concerns and goals, paying close attention to form, stability and mobility before attempting certain lifts/moves. He has also been helping me to learn when to 'apply the brakes' rather than push myself (which I have a tendency to do) and generally is on my wavelength regarding natural movement patterns, functional strength, concerned with biomechanics etc. I was worried about whether it would be worth it since it is a lot of money for me (luckily I have shared sessions with my partner which makes it more affordable) but it has been absolutely priceless. I would advise anyone who can to invest in just a month with a good personal trainer if they are starting out, just to develop good form and habits.
Unfortunately I have been unable to deadlift from the beginning, and despite getting over my initial difficulties with squats (feeling like I was going to fall over and feeling it completely in my quads) the slight pinching sensation I had in the front of my right hip developed into more severe hip pain and we have had to stop squatting for now. It is super frustrating, since once it 'clicked' mentally for me and I learned to hinge my hips back properly and engage my glutes I started to really enjoy them and progressed from struggling to do a few bodyweight squats to doing 45kg barbell squats with good form. Thankfully for now I am still able to do one big compound move with hip thrusts - although I have been having strange dizzyness/nausea/shock-like symptoms from doing this sometimes, so I am currently getting bloodwork/heart etc checked with my doctor. We are using the leg press machine, step ups etc to try and maintain some lower body strength until I can figure out how to help my hip issues and hopefully get back to squatting.
I am someone who has higher levels of testosterone (approx 3x last time I was tested) than the majority of women, with a naturally broad back, good natural upper body and grip strength which has always been there regardless of excercising. I have learned to appreciate this strength, and mostly accept how I look; but I do have concerns about becoming more muscular in my upper body than I would prefer for myself since I already have body image issues due to the masculinising effects of PCOS.
However, despite going from struggling to do band-assisted chin-ups and incline push-ups to now managing three slow, controlled, unassisted chin-ups (within 3.5 months, which my trainer says is very unusual) and 3 sets of 8x pushups - I have only noticed a very minor increase in bicep curve when my arms are relaxed. Even when I flex - although I look very muscular - I look like this regardless of whether I lift/strength train or not! This tells me that it is absolutely true what people say - it would be astonishing for an average woman (who would have a lot less testosterone than me naturally and a much narrower back/shoulders skeletally) to accidentally become 'bulky' with strength training.
Going forward I hope to continue focusing on lower body strength (my main area of weakness), working around my various injuries to hopefully improve pain levels and build muscle in key areas to balance my upper body. Since I seem to have an aptitude for upper body movements, I also plan to work towards cool calisthenic stuff like muscle-ups (eventually!)
I have long way to go to reach my goals, but I am happy with what I've achieved so far - especially considering the chronic pain/injuries I am working through with hypermobility/EDS.
I have been quite anxious posting about this (in particular the photos of my body). I am terrible at being concise - so well done if you got this far! I personally found it particularly fascinating seeing my body recompose & I hope my documentation of this is of interest or useful to someone. I just think it is so incredibly cool not having to restrict calories overly, but seeing your body shift and change for the better!
TL
R - started training and had encouraging results despite PCOS and EDS. Recomp is absolutely real!
My progress so far
Hypermobility / EDS
As someone who has weak connective tissue caused by Ehlers Dahnlos Syndrome (collagen is not laid down correctly in the body) ...injuries are a lot more common and take much longer to heal (if indeed they ever do!) which means that training can be difficult because of this.
I have been suffering since the age of 27 with a cascade of tendon/ligament injuries and cartilage damage (right knee meniscus and probable right hip labral tear) - I walked around on a broken foot for 9 months because doctors couldn't believe that an inversion of my foot/ankle sustained during a fall when bouldering/climbing could cause a navicular fracture (despite me studying anatomy diagrams and poking my very painful foot repeatedly to figure out exactly which bone was broken) and spending months trying to convince them that it wasn't a soft tissue injury, because I knew how such things felt after having sprains and muscular tears as a teenage athlete. Eventually it was diagnosed with an ultrasound (!) by someone who was supposed to be doing cortisone injection! After months of pain and having to give up my physically damanding hard won role as a photography assistant role at a studio, I had to have surgery to remove the bone fragment and reattatch the posterior tibial tendon to the navicular... all of which could have easily been avoided if they had immobilised the foot in a cast when I first injured it.
I had many years of continual injuries (my muscles were strong in my upper body but my tendons would randomly just stretch and tear doing simple tasks) and there was no abatement despite plenty of rest and trying to take care of my body with physio etc. I was eventually diagnosed with EDS in 2015 which I couldnt accept for a while since I didn't seem to have the widespread bendiness that other sufferers do. However, we all present differently and I have always had ridiculously bendy fingers and PoTs type symptoms too - I now realise that it explains a lot of odd, seemingly unrelated health issues.
I have had many, many low points. In addition to constant chronic pain in several specific joints, I experienced more depressingly restrictive issues such as a 10 month period when my hip locked up with excruicating pain when moving my right leg and I couldnt lift my femur past 45 degrees. At times like these I completly abandoned hope of ever being able to excercise again, and the pain from walking even a small distance and worsening injuries even with the most boring (to me) of excercises such as slow, careful swimming ...made me feel that my future was very bleak.
I still feel that way at times. Being strong and focusing on what I could do with my body was what used to help me deal with body image issues... particularly due to feeling overly masculine (muscular arms, large hands, broad back). I had also become quite soft and flabby due to eating the same amount as when I was highly athletic, despite looking reasonably slim in clothes. As someone with aspergers diagnosed in adulthood (explained a lot) excercise was something that enabled me to socialise, get out of my head and connect with others. I often feel a lot of grief at my new limitations since explosive, quick-reaction type excercise used to not only be so much fun, but it provided a huge outlet, boosted endorphins and supported my emotional wellbeing. A large part of it has been learning to manage my frustration, being kind to myself, learning to accept/ask for help and deal with my fears what other people think about those of us with this type of chronic health issue.
Getting into lifting / strength training
A year ago I decided to start lifting having read that strength training could help reduce some symptoms of EDS due to muscles taking over some of the functionality of the lax ligaments and stabilising the joints. I joined an amazingly supportive all-female powerlifting group since I loved the idea of learning to lift heavy with barbells. However, despite being reasonably strong despite my lack of training (bench pressed 35kg for 5 reps, deadlifted 65kg on first go) I quickly had severe pain in my lower back from deadlifting, even though my form was considered very good and I was being pretty careful. I had to stop completely and this took several months to calm down.
My current trainer has been amazing - reading up on my condition and educating himself, listening to my concerns and goals, paying close attention to form, stability and mobility before attempting certain lifts/moves. He has also been helping me to learn when to 'apply the brakes' rather than push myself (which I have a tendency to do) and generally is on my wavelength regarding natural movement patterns, functional strength, concerned with biomechanics etc. I was worried about whether it would be worth it since it is a lot of money for me (luckily I have shared sessions with my partner which makes it more affordable) but it has been absolutely priceless. I would advise anyone who can to invest in just a month with a good personal trainer if they are starting out, just to develop good form and habits.
Unfortunately I have been unable to deadlift from the beginning, and despite getting over my initial difficulties with squats (feeling like I was going to fall over and feeling it completely in my quads) the slight pinching sensation I had in the front of my right hip developed into more severe hip pain and we have had to stop squatting for now. It is super frustrating, since once it 'clicked' mentally for me and I learned to hinge my hips back properly and engage my glutes I started to really enjoy them and progressed from struggling to do a few bodyweight squats to doing 45kg barbell squats with good form. Thankfully for now I am still able to do one big compound move with hip thrusts - although I have been having strange dizzyness/nausea/shock-like symptoms from doing this sometimes, so I am currently getting bloodwork/heart etc checked with my doctor. We are using the leg press machine, step ups etc to try and maintain some lower body strength until I can figure out how to help my hip issues and hopefully get back to squatting.
PCOS / extra testosterone / muscle building
I am someone who has higher levels of testosterone (approx 3x last time I was tested) than the majority of women, with a naturally broad back, good natural upper body and grip strength which has always been there regardless of excercising. I have learned to appreciate this strength, and mostly accept how I look; but I do have concerns about becoming more muscular in my upper body than I would prefer for myself since I already have body image issues due to the masculinising effects of PCOS.
However, despite going from struggling to do band-assisted chin-ups and incline push-ups to now managing three slow, controlled, unassisted chin-ups (within 3.5 months, which my trainer says is very unusual) and 3 sets of 8x pushups - I have only noticed a very minor increase in bicep curve when my arms are relaxed. Even when I flex - although I look very muscular - I look like this regardless of whether I lift/strength train or not! This tells me that it is absolutely true what people say - it would be astonishing for an average woman (who would have a lot less testosterone than me naturally and a much narrower back/shoulders skeletally) to accidentally become 'bulky' with strength training.
The future!
Going forward I hope to continue focusing on lower body strength (my main area of weakness), working around my various injuries to hopefully improve pain levels and build muscle in key areas to balance my upper body. Since I seem to have an aptitude for upper body movements, I also plan to work towards cool calisthenic stuff like muscle-ups (eventually!)
I have long way to go to reach my goals, but I am happy with what I've achieved so far - especially considering the chronic pain/injuries I am working through with hypermobility/EDS.
I have been quite anxious posting about this (in particular the photos of my body). I am terrible at being concise - so well done if you got this far! I personally found it particularly fascinating seeing my body recompose & I hope my documentation of this is of interest or useful to someone. I just think it is so incredibly cool not having to restrict calories overly, but seeing your body shift and change for the better!
TL
R - started training and had encouraging results despite PCOS and EDS. Recomp is absolutely real!