 Ladies and gentlemen silent Mike another video Ladies and gentlemen silent Mike Mike far welcome to the video today We have a little bit different type of topic kind of what's happening in the news right now What's going on in the world? It's very Touchy type subject and so what I'm gonna ask for you guys is I brought this conversation up to my twitch community The other day and we had a very healthy open Conversation and now what we'd like to say around here is you do you me do me and what I mean by that is you can do Whatever you'd like as long as it doesn't bring any kind of harm Influence happiness or someone else's life or lifestyle and me do me allow me to be who I am and do what I do in My life as it does not impact you but some things in life Obviously rules gestures actions can impact others And so I'd like for all of us to be as respectful as we can and again We had a great talk on my twitch, and so let's try to continue that here. I want to hear your thoughts I want to have a healthy conversation on this in the chat or the comments below, but Be as respectful as you can you're more more than right to your own opinion I guess let's start to dig into this thing give this thing a thumbs up if you guys enjoy this type of conversation Be sure to subscribe for more content every Monday and a Thursday Now what more recently the US APL United States Association of powerlifting one of the most common if not most popular drug tested powerlifting associations in America which leads to the IPF Which is arguably the most notable and respected world competition in the sport of powerlifting Basically came out and said that they're following and accepting the medical and rules set by the IPF Medical committee that transgender people are not allowed to compete in their Competitions if they have began to transition if there's no transition, I believe that they're allowed to compete in their biological Category now Before we dig into this again, we're gonna have conversations. This isn't a presentation I've done a good amount of research on this topic for this current video and also in the past interviewing Janae croc world record powerlifter Very competitive strongman a bodybuilder and I never want to offend anybody So if I misspeak, please forgive me I'm just maybe not as caught up on the terms and I mean no offense to anyone I'd like to also state two other things before we dig into the topics one I believe that everyone should be allowed to participate in the sport of powerlifting Powerlifting is something that I believe can really change in shape of human beings confidence Work ethic discipline and if they allow in their open and self-aware enough will really bleed into the rest of the lives to allow Them to succeed whether it's relationships communication business anything they want because of the work ethic because of the monotonous grind That is powerlifting because of the the ever balanced steel that never changes in you It's you against that metal every day every rep every set for years upon years and once you really dig into this sport I've been in it for about ten years now You really start to learn different things and again if you're self-aware I believe it can really build you as a human being the other thing I'd like to say before we dive in is I did a good amount of research on the topic itself the US APL's articles or statement a Bunch of my peers and other lifters influencers Articles statements a couple articles that are just maybe Floating around the internet and what I'm going to try to do here is just open up Conversation and bring up questions that I think need to be answered or perhaps studied or have some science Behind before we give an definitive answer and now there has to be a rule made right because these situations are occurring But basically what I'm trying to do here is just bring up conversations. So if I look like I'm jumping on either side of the topic It's because I don't just follow because I rightfully believe something I do have my own beliefs But what I'm trying to do again is bring up conversation and I'm going to try to almost play devil's advocate a little bit On either side with any kind of questions that pop into me I may not be the smartest guy in the world But I think I'm fairly logical and I can pinpoint what I believe needs to actually be answered and maybe different metaphors Here and there that may or may not make sense to you, but they've worked in my head So I'm going to try to bring some of those up I'm basically diggin in the article the USA powerlifting is an inclusive organization for all athletes and members who comply with the rules policies procedures and bylaws USA powerlifting is not fit for every athlete and every medical condition or situation Simply not all powerlifters are eligible to compete in the US AP out of powerlifting and what they mean by that You know starting off is they're obviously going to top it up in the transgender, but they also they're drug-tested, right? So if you are on TRT or you take any kind of PED on your own, you know They're saying you're not allowed to lift here basically they go on to further say that a trans male someone who's biologically born a female Will have testosterone therapy if they are going through the transformation That that is not legal by them because again Exogenous androgens and hormones are not allowed in the US APL and then vice versa. They say that a trans woman Born biological male is not allowed to compete because of advantages that a male develops significant advantages Including but not limited to increased body and muscle mass bone density bone structure and connective tissue the studies or science that I've seen I've actually never seen real science or studies done on this some of them are just articles I've read and people quote science, but I've actually never seen this done And maybe because it's too new or maybe it's just too hard to control all the variables Well, basically a trans woman a born biological male who chooses to transition has too many advantages With again what the US APL is saying and the counter argument is that with a year of estrogen and hormone therapy that those advantages disappear And from my logical sense, I would really need a full study to do to actually agree and say that I think that there's so many things with bone structure bone density tendons and ligaments Let alone the overall amount of muscle mass that a male is born with typically we don't really lose muscle mass whether you are detrained or perhaps go through estrogen therapy typical we do is our muscles may shrink and We may need more stimulus or the potential for them to grow or be stronger may diminish slightly with some of these therapies But again tendons ligaments bone bone structure how our hips are set how our shoulders are set as males tend to give us an advantage to be more powerful And in some explosive movements not all obviously these are all blanket statements, but typically speaking These things cannot be changed and so with the transition Will take away some of the androgens right some of the testosterone may disappear So some of the stimulus we may not adapt as quick or recover as quick or have the potential to grow as much muscle Or be as is explosive, but I think these other factors obviously it may depend on when the transition occurs If you transition much younger in life opposed to much later the development of a human But typically the development of a man happens through puberty obviously our teens and that's when we not only game Most of our muscle mass most of our testosterone, but again our bone structure ligaments tendons are all strengthened And more so genetic again if we could run a study or get some real research done that proves What length and what type of hormone therapy may equalize any biological advantages from male to female then? I think we can have a more in-depth discussion of Perhaps a transgender going through transition and how they can compete in this Sport that is powerlifting again You know I think another thing we might have to dig up and this may not go well with everybody is is is is the rule blanket statement for every sport There probably are different advantages or disadvantages depending on biological Circumstances based on the sport right I've talked about this a lot in the past in terms of PEDs and also muscle fiber types Just talking Penedotal in my own survey type research that the numbers and marathons from male to female is very very close If you take the world records or if you look at the elite or if you look at the best squat ever done by a male Let's just keep it in the US APL and we have Ray Williams with I think a 1052 and you take a female. It's more like 600 so nearly double the squat Which is quite a a big margin Which you may argue is physical advantage and you could go to body weight same Ray Williams is larger and heavier than perhaps the female That's quite a 600 which also I think is just another biological advantage that a male may be able to carry or gain more mass Whether it be muscle or just general mass, which can be an advantage in powerlifting where if you're looking at you know UFC you might look at basketball WMA to the NBA obviously there tend to be a little bit taller males right the average NBA player might be around 6-6 in the average WNBA player may be 5-9. I'm not sure of that, but it's something to that nature So we may have to take this sport by sport basis Reading a couple articles To oppose this ruling by the US APL Someone was bringing up that there has not been a dominant Trans woman in any sport that they could think of they brought up a certain amount of Names that I wasn't familiar with and then they mentioned Fallon Fox and they mentioned that she wasn't dominant But I believe she is her record is 5-in-1 and dominant is kind of a blanket statement. What does that necessarily mean? I think 5-in-1 is a pretty dang good record I don't believe she's competed in the UFC and that might be a ruling again by the UFC So for her not to be able to fight the best in the world Isn't necessarily her option to know if she's dominant or not and again, I do think it Depends sport by sport, but my argument or conversation opener for something like that when someone brings up an article That says that it's equal playing field if a trans woman has transitioned and gone through hormone therapy my argument is just that we don't know because of the pool of Talent that is involved in this, you know Observational research or this survey that we see or the San Ido to evidence that these people aren't dominant Now here's the metaphor I go to and it may not work with some of you, but it worked in my head so basically what happens is Whatever sport these people are playing as a biological or competing in biologically may not even be the best sport for them And so when they transition, they may not be any better Hypothetically speaking, let's take me and let's say biologically right. I'm a male. I was pretty good at basketball I had some looks to play in college I played a little bit of junior college and I played against some NBA players some XNBA European and even some WNBA players So let's hypothetically say that I transitioned to a female. I went through all the Hormone therapy now even if I think that I lost a certain amount of my vertical jump a certain amount on my Sprint speed my power, etc Which is kind of what they're Saying in this article I read because of the hormone therapy that it levels the playing field in terms of those natures, I still think that I could have a shot at playing in the WNBA if we do that same procedure to me and I lose some of my Explosiveness or physical attributes, whatever it may be I have no chance to do something on the competitive level of long-distance running I'm just not a good long-distance runner And so my point being that we don't have a pool of talent to survey enough or to have enough evidence either way Just because Fallon Fox is or is not dominant again dominance just a blanket word in MMA Maybe she's just not that good of a fighter Maybe it has nothing to do with the transition itself Which is just so common because what we're doing oftentimes when we when this article was talking about people being dominant in different sports They're looking at the very elite level and that's my you know, I know I'm bouncing back inside on what argument I'm making I'm not making argument. I'm just pointing up points Is that powerlifting? I believe again, everybody should be able to participate should everybody be able to compete at the highest level Or win money or win trophies or titles. I don't know I think that's where the gray line is for at least me in my opinion But I do believe that everyone should have the option to participate on the platform as it is them versus the iron It is them versus the poundage that they're trying to lift It is very different than every other sport Obviously a combat sport brings up different things Any kind of physical sport football etc etc a lot of people in my twitch chat We're bringing up the argument that there's an NFL and obviously a female Biological female has not played in the NFL and that is because males have such a physical advantage in that type of Contact sport and so whether one way or the other Trans male trans female compete in the NFL it's one obviously there's just genetics involved in general whether you're good enough to Play at the highest level and then to The other one is the trans male argument is if you're born a biological female and now you're taking loads of testosterone How do we know exactly how much that testosterone is? Benefiting you or not benefiting you if it's going to supernatural levels Again, PEDs, you know, it's something we do have to look at I believe that there is a lot of argument to be made that if someone takes a lot of testosterone or Different steroids that they will have an advantage in sports. So whether they have an advantage Beyond what a biological male would have that is up to the scientists and not little like Because of the nature of the topic and the sensitivity of the topic I just do think that maybe I do think that powerlifting is the sport that should lead the way in this in this venture that To allow anybody to participate again I don't know if money Trophies world titles should be involved, but I do believe that everyone has the right to participate Other sports it does get a little bit more hairy in my opinion because of the physical nature of some sports and Because of the the money on the line. There's a large career in a lot of other sports So how and when we fit that in I'm not sure because again I believe the pool is too small the biggest factors that I see are the issue right the pool of Athletes is too small to say whether there's advantage or not just by surveying Again, this one article the main article I see floating around the guy talks about not having dominant athlete trans athletes But the pool is too small to argue that and the the amount of sports and variety of sports is too small to actually Say that in my opinion and the other one is the science. We don't know the advantages or disadvantages For a trans male who takes a bunch of testosterone biological female or trans woman who takes a bunch of hormone therapy estrogen in particular To take away some of the maybe biological advantages that a male may have I think we can all agree that a biological male does have some advantages and even more Advantages depending on the sport or activity and so I think these things do need to be addressed now I don't think it's an argument of what is fair and not fair I think it's just an argument of how to go about this right and as everything that comes to light in life over history It does take time and so I don't know if the US APL is necessarily making the right statement here by saying that they can't even Participate I understand and I use the word participate because I again I want people to step on the platform I want people to have goals. I want people to continue to strive to be better in the gym and allow that work ethic discipline and Self-awareness to bleed into other aspects of the life as a huge teaching tool That's why I'm not saying the word compete and I don't know about the Competitive activities and whether that's a different topic or not or maybe that's just how my head works And I think that's a good stepping stool to where we may go once we understand And survey the larger pool or get some actual science done again. I appreciate you guys for listening to me ramble a little bit I just want to get my thoughts out on it and I know a lot of you are interested in this topic I do love the sport of strength and conditioning. I love the barbell. I love power lifting I love the community out there in the fitness community And I think that it's better that we can be as inclusive as we can and the participation of Competitive powerlifting because it really does teach you a lot about yourself to sign up getting that ugly singlet and hop onto The barbell in front of a couple people because it is it is very telling. It's a big it's a big courage step And I think that everybody should go through it if they want and have the choice to go through it So there's my thoughts on it, please, please, please do your best to be kind give your opinion Let me know thoughts maybe different points that I missed that you think I'll be in the comments commenting And having hopefully a conversation with you guys. I just want to bring up these points again This is not a presentation. This is just my thoughts after reading a bunch of it all week long If you guys enjoyed it be sure to give this a thumbs up also comment below what you want to cover in upcoming videos I'm open. I've been in this this game a very long time And so a lot of these things are near and dear to my heart, so I appreciate you guys I hope you have a great day Catching the next one new videos Monday and Thursday catch me every day on twitch Silent Mike on twitch and also 50% fax new podcast every Wednesday. Have a good one y'all