A new study claims that transgender women exhibit strength and overall physical fitness comparable to cisgender women after several months of gender-affirming hormone therapy.
In the landmark study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Brazilian scientists reviewed existing research comparing the body composition and physical fitness of transgender people before and after hormone therapy with that of cisgender people.
Overall, the analysis examined 52 studies involving 6,485 people — including 2,943 transgender women, 2,309 transgender men, 568 cisgender women, and 665 cisgender men — ranging in age from 14 to 41.
The pooled analysis showed that transgender women’s body composition differs from that of both cisgender men and cisgender women. The researchers argued that the findings “do not support theories of inherent athletic advantages” for transgender women who have undergone hormone therapy.
As reported by The Independent, the study found that transgender women had significantly greater amounts of body fat than cisgender men, but amounts comparable to cisgender women.
The researchers noted that while residual musculoskeletal differences exist between transgender women and cisgender women, those differences did not appear to confer an athletic advantage in terms of physical fitness.
Transgender women appeared to retain more lean mass — including greater muscle mass — one to three years after starting hormone therapy, but did not show observable differences in upper- or lower-body strength compared to cisgender women. The analysis also found no difference between the two groups in maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max), a key measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.
“This refutes the logic behind blanket bans on transgender women in sports,” Bruno Gualano, a physician and researcher at the University of São Paulo who co-authored the study, told the Spanish newspaper El País. “Most of these policies are based on the assumption that transgender women retain inherent physical advantages and would therefore dominate women’s competitions. The data does not support this idea.”
The study also found that transgender men experienced reduced body fat, increased muscle mass, and greater strength after one to three years of hormone therapy.
The scientists noted that a key limitation of their analysis was its focus on physiological outcomes, “with little consideration of the social, psychological and cultural factors” that also shape athletic performance. The reviewed studies also did not address muscle memory, or the capacity for previously exercise-adapted muscles to retain advantages after hormonal changes, highlighting an area for further research.
The researchers also called for future long-term studies examining performance-specific metrics in transgender athletes.
Experts not involved with the study urged caution in interpreting the findings.
“Although this review included a large number of transgender participants overall, most were adults,” Kim Meredith-Jones, director of the Bone and Body Composition Research Unit at the University of Otago, told The Independent. “This means the results cannot tell us what happens for young people who use puberty blockers or begin medical transition during adolescence. That remains an important evidence gap.”
Other scientists sharply criticized the study as flawed, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Alun Williams, a professor of sport and exercise genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University, told the newspaper that the fitness levels of participants were not tracked over time or before treatment began, calling it “almost worthless to compare groups without tight assessment of training history.”
“I don’t agree with the authors that the studies published to date, or their review of them, overturn the evidence for inherent athletic advantage in transgender women,” Williams said.
The study’s findings contrast with earlier research that reported significant athletic advantages for transgender women over cisgender women. For example, a study published in 2022 found that transgender women were faster, stronger, and fitter than most cisgender women, even after undergoing hormone therapy.
Blair Hamilton, a research associate in applied sport and exercise physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, welcomed the study’s findings while emphasizing the need for further research.
“Overall, the findings make sense and are consistent with what we’ve seen in the wider scientific literature and in my own research, although there is fierce debate in this area,” Hamilton told the Daily Mail.
Hamilton added that more research is needed to examine potential differences among elite athletes, including whether transgender women who transition after reaching a high level of fitness might retain performance advantages over cisgender women. However, he noted that the small number of openly transgender elite athletes makes such studies difficult to conduct.
A man shopping in the cereal aisle of an Alexandria, Virginia, Giant supermarket on Christmas Day was accosted by an angry woman who hurled anti-gay slurs at him while shoving his cart and placing her hands on him.
The confrontation was captured in a video later posted to TikTok. "Just got hate-crimed in the grocery store. TikTok do your thing," wrote the user, who goes by the handle @deonteiy.
Same-sex pairs will be permitted to compete in British ice dance events, British Ice Skating -- the national governing body of figure skating, synchronized skating, and speed skating -- announced last week.
However, same-sex pairs will only be allowed to compete at the national level, as International Skating Union rules require pair and dance teams to be made up of one man and one woman, reports The Guardian.
The rule change was announced as part of British Ice Skating's updated championship requirements for the 2026-2027 season. The move follows similar changes adopted by Canada and Finland, with Canada becoming the first country to allow skaters of any gender to form a competitive pair or ice dance team in 2022.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into Seattle Children's Hospital over its alleged provision of gender-affirming care to transgender minors, a practice the Trump administration has aggressively sought to end.
In a post on X, the HHS official account said the hospital had been referred to the Office of the Inspector General for "failure to meet professional recognized standards of health care" under a declaration issued on December 18 by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., according to The Hill.
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