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Male and Female Differences in Exercise Performance
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Posted on: 02/16/2006
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Many team sports require bursts of power in the arms and legs. More and more female athletes are involved in these sports such as basketball, volleyball, and hockey. In this study researchers in Australia measure the muscle power used by men and women while sprint cycling and arm cranking. They found body mass was the best way to predict muscle power.
We know that most men have more muscle power and strength than most women. But what if these measures were made in relation to body size? Would women be as powerful as men when strength is matched to body mass? Ten men and 10 women were compared to find out. Each subject was given a test on a machine for the legs and for the arms. A special X-ray called dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry or DXA was used to measure active muscle mass.
The authors report men appear to have more powerful muscles for sprint cycling. When the results are scaled to body mass, then men and women have equal power in the legs. Upper body power is a different story. Even when scaled to body mass, men still had more powerful arms when arm cranking.
The authors try to explain why this might be so. Perhaps there are differences in muscle fiber type. Or maybe there are hormonal or enzymatic differences. Data from other studies have shown that women have fewer muscle fibers in the arms compared to men.
The bottom line is that men have more powerful upper bodies compared to women when relative body size is taken into account. The exact reasons for this difference remain unknown.
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References:
Clare L. Weber, et al. Gender Differences in Anaerobic Power of the Arms and Legs -- A Scaling Issue. In Medicine & Science in Sports & Medicine. January 2006. Vol. 38. No. 1. Pp. 129-137.
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