Some of the physiological differences between males and females can dramatically affect athletic performance. If you understand these differences, you can determine the appropriate training program for achieving your athletic objectives. These differences also help to define realistic expectations for what you can hope to achieve from a fitness exercise regimen.
Fat Storage
A typical college-age female has more fat stored than an average male of the same age, and a woman's fat deposits are different. As explained in the book "Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications," fat can be classified as either essential or nonessential. Essential fat is important in both sexes for metabolism, conduction of nerve impulses, cell structure and protection from trauma. However, there is also sex-specific essential fat in women that is stored in their breasts, under their skin and in their genitals. Consequently, essential fat represents 40 percent of stored fat in a college-age woman, compared to only 20 percent in a similar male.
Muscle Mass
Most studies have found that muscles in both men and women possess an equal number of muscle fibers. However, a woman's muscle fibers are not as large. This is due to hormonal differences, as men have higher levels of testosterone, which is a potent hormone that causes much of the muscle growth seen during the adolescent growth spurt. This hormonal difference is also responsible for the fact that women will develop less muscle when training with weights.
Muscle Strength
Males possess considerably greater strength than females for all muscle groups. On average, women score about 50 percent lower for upper-body strength and about 30 percent lower for leg strength. However, this does not mean that women have weaker muscles compared to men. Generally speaking, a woman's muscle will be capable of generating the same amount of force per unit of its cross-sectional area. This means that the strength difference relates exclusively to the fact that women have less total muscle to activate. Women will also respond similarly to a resistance-training program when it comes to proportional strength increase.
Endurance
The absolute VO2 max, which is the total volume of oxygen you can consume each minute, is typically more than 40 percent greater in men. This difference persists, although to a lesser extent, when the value is adjusted for body weight. This means that a man's aerobic capacity is greater, and this is reflected in the fact that female performance times are approximately 10 percent less in most track sports. Organ size and body mass are important determinants of this difference, as more weight distributed as fat is a hindrance to endurance performance. Men also have a larger heart, which gives them greater oxygen transport capacity. Conversely, women with smaller hearts require more blood to be pumped each minute at a given level of submaximal exercise because they have less hemoglobin in their blood to carry oxygen.
Thermoregulation
Women start to sweat at higher skin and core temperatures and produce less sweat then men do when encountering similar conditions. A woman's greater amount of body fat also reduces heat loss from the body. However, if matched for body composition, women tolerate heat much like men of similar aerobic fitness at the same exercise level once heat acclimatization has occurred. A likely reason for this is that the typical female build provides for a relatively large percentage of its external surface to be exposed to the environment. This increases the potential for heat loss by means other than sweating.
References
- "Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Application"; G.A. Brooks, et al.; 2005
- "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise: Strength Comparisons in Untrained Men and Trained Women"; James Morrow, et al.; 1981
- "Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance, Seventh Edition"; W.D. McArdle, et al.; 2010
- "Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance"; S.K. Powers, et al.; 2009
Member Comments