Here are some interesting facts on female physiology when it comes to strength.
Women can do sets of 5 closer to their 1RM than men. Females can do a higher amount of reps using a higher percentage of their max than males.
Why is this.. Because a 1RM for a female is not at the same level as that of a man. A man's 1RM is going to be significantly higher and therefore percentage wise a 5 rep max will need to be at around 75-85% of a 1RM as oppose to that of a woman who can work upto that of about 90-95% of their 1RM.
Women can do more eccentric work (negatives) when fatigued. Even after concentric failure, women can continue doing negatives.
Why is this.. This is partly due to the fact that a man's power output (the ability to recruit motorneurons more effectively) is significantly higher than a woman's, therefore a male working to failure on a set will have exhausted their system more severely than their female counterparts.
Women require less rest between sets. Women can recover faster between sets than men.
Why is this.. It comes down to the simple fact that although women can put in the same amount of effort, ultimately they are unable to train as hard as men (testosterone has profound effects on neuromuscular efficiency) neuromuscular efficiency is the primary physical difference between men and women.
Women can train heavier more frequently than men. They get less sore, they recover faster, and they can deal with more frequent exposures to a training stress.
Why is this.. As above, since woman are unable to train to the same intensities of a man, a female athlete will not place as much stress on their system. For adaptation to take place the volume of work needs to increase comparatively to that of a man. What we know for sure is that women respond to the stress of strength training in a different way, because they produce a different quality of stress from which to recover and thus adapt. The adaptation curve is different, but it still trends upward, like that for all humans exposed to an adaptive stress.
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Mankel Over Matter - Getting Stronger Together.
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