While men may be physically stronger, women have much greater muscle endurance than their male counterparts and burn out less quickly, according to results of a study published in the medical journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.
Researchers from the Okanagan School of Health and Exercise Sciences in the United States conducted a small study with eight men and nine women who were at a similar fitness level to compare physical strength and the endurance of both groups.
“We’ve known for some time that women are more durable than men in isometric muscle testing, static exercises where the joints don’t move, such as holding a weight. But, we wanted to know if this reality was also valid for exercises in movement”, explains assistant professor Brian Dalton, author of the study. “And the answer is quite clear: women are more enduring than men.”
Participants were asked to flex their foot against a suite of sensors as quickly as possible and 200 times. The speed, power and torque of their movements as well as the electrical activity of their muscles were then captured and recorded over time.
Women burn out less quickly than men
The results of this experiment showed that women are much less exhausted and more resilient than men of similar age and athletic ability. If only one isolated muscle group has been studied, the researcher expects similar results for other muscle groups and his results are consistent with what has been observed elsewhere.
“We chose to measure foot movement because it uses the calf muscles on the back of the leg, which is essential for practical, everyday tasks like walking,” explained Assistant Professor Brian Dalton. “What we found was that the men were faster and more powerful at the start of the exercise, but became fatigued much faster than the women.”
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