SIB #413- Strength Gains In Men VS. Women

The Study:  Comparison of Upper Body Strength Gains Between Men and Women After 10 Weeks of Resistance Training                 

The Facts:

a. Both men and women can derive benefits from resistance training (RT).

b. The present study looked at strength increases of the elbow flexors in both men and women following ten weeks of resistance training.

c. Subjects were 44 men and 47 women, all of whom were college aged.

d. Strength training was performed two days per week for 10 weeks with at least 48 hours between training sessions.

e. Elbow flexor strength was evaluated before and after the completion of the study.

f. As expected, men were stronger on average than women in both the pre and post evaluations.

g. However the increase in strength was approximately the same for both men (11.61%) and women (11.76 %).

h. “In summary, the present investigation shows that untrained college-aged men and women experience similar elbow flexor strength gains when performing the same RT program for 10 weeks.”

Take Home:

Men and women both show similar improvement in elbow flexor strength from resistance training. 

Reviewer's Comments:

A year or so ago I might not have expected this result. However, a reading of some literature in the field has convinced me of the myth of the old “men have more testosterone than women argument” when it comes to physical strength. So here’s some advice. When a woman starts going to the gym don’t even think about handing her the little pink weights. (BTW, my wife wears stylish pink and grey weightlifting gloves as she tells me to hurry up because I’m slowing her down at the gym. She tells me its because I’m so much older, but 11 months doesn’t seem that much older to me.)

Reviewer:  Roger Coleman DC

Editor: Mark R. Payne DC 

Reference: Paulo Gentil,l James Steele, Maria C, Pereira et. al. Comparison of Upper Body Strength Gains Between Men and Women After 10 Weeks of Resistance Training. PeerJ. 2016 Feb 11;4:e1627. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1627. eCollection 2016.

Link to Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26893958/

Link to Full Text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756754/pdf/peerj-04-1627.pdf