Clearly, anyone who thinks that a man and a woman are equal must be living on Mars.
Sure, we have equal rights, blah blah, but when it comes to fitness training, nature designed the male and female body in pretty different ways. As you would guess, this has some implications on how a female should train versus how a male should train.
This post touches on 2 main areas which I think are common areas where pitfalls occur. This is not a scientific post, and it is mostly a matter of my own opinion. Hopefully I will not have to go into too much detail to get my points across, since this can become a technical discussion if need be. Finally, this isn’t a post explicitly giving concrete recommendations for female trainees, for that, look at this post by JC of jcdfitness.
I will try to keep this post succinct. What I will cover in this post these 3 areas:
- Some Notable Physiological Differences – Differences in hormonal environment, bone structure, etc
- Differences in Goals
Do note that I will be generalising. The weakest man is certainly weaker than some (if not many) females, and the strongest female is stronger than many men. Since genetics are largely predictable (you get a couple of freaks, but they are few and far between), it is pretty safe to generalise for the average man and the average women.
Physical Difference
It’s pretty obvious that men and women are different in this respect. I’m going to generalise here, but we can safely assume 2 obvious differences:
- Women tend to have a harder time building muscle and losing fat.
It is pretty obvious from sporting events that women will always be weaker than men. The female species evolved that way unfortunately. That means that rates of muscle gain are slower for females. A typical value thrown out is half that of men. For example, a typical beginning male trainee can gain probably 0.5-1.0lbs of muscle per week, a female about half that amount.
When it comes to losing fat, women’s bodies tend to fight back harder. I’d note that this is only when it comes to the leaner extremes of body fat, around the teens for women (anywhere from 10-16%). At this body fat, conversion of the thyroid hormone T3 may be low, leptin is almost non-existant, and a whole lot of hormonal crap is going on. Whereas, a man at a comparable body fat, say 7% body fat may not run into these problems, or at the most, do not suffer the same negative effects.
Evolutionarily, this makes sense. A women at that body fat is basically useless reproductively speaking, and the body is fighting to bring itself back to a setpoint which is higher and more conducive for reproductive success. Women are a tough species, but unfortunately that sort of toughness isn’t exactly what we deem favourable in today’s modern culture (something I touch on at the end of this article).
Needless to say, though a man may experience some problems at very lower body fat percentages, his problems are certainly nothing compared to a female.
One more thing to consider in the fat loss department is that a man is typically heavier, and carries more lean mass than a women. This means that the amount of food needed for caloric maintenance is typically higher for a man and a women. The corrollary is that men can more easily create a larger caloric deficit compared to a woman.
Say for a 130lbs female with a maintenance caloric intake of 2000kcal, eating at 1000kcal creates a 1000kcal deficit. Whereas for a 170lbs male with a maintenance caloric intake of 2700kcal, eating 1000kcal creates a 1700kcal deficit. Again, creating a significant caloric deficit is easier for a man without needing to drop to very low calories (1000kcal is pretty low for a man, but sometimes has to be resorted to with women)
Other than that, there is a whole host of hormonal differences between men and women which I don’t think needs to be touched upon.
Finally, women tend to have a different bone structure than males, most notable in the hips but also in other areas like the knees and lower spine. This mainly has implications for weight training activities, but generally speaking, it does not play a huge role. Besides, we still have 50kg females lifting 140kg above their heads in the Olympics.
Physical Similarities
There’s only a single point that I want to make here, and that is that in terms of muscular growth (hypertrophy), both men and women are identical. A muscle grows by the same mechanisms, with the most important factor being progressive tension overload. This means that exercise safety aside (and already taken into account), a women looking to gain muscle would train in the same way as a man.
For a detailed account of how a muscle grows, I would recommend these articles by Casey Butt: Muscle Growth part 1 & part 2.
A Difference in Goals – Psychological Differences and the Media
But then, what are the goals of a woman? Does she really want to build muscle?
In my previous series of articles, I touched on setting unspecific goals. I must admit however, that it is hard for a woman to set specific goals. Do note that here I am referring to the goals of the general fitness community.
We know that ‘toned’ isn’t a good goal at all. To achieve that look, some may have to add 10lbs of muscle while losing 10lbs of fat. Others may just need to lose the fat, while others may need to just gain muscle. Obviously it isn’t that specific; just look at the anorexics who have so little fat and so little muscle too. Yet a woman typically doesn’t want to become big and bulky like an Olympic lifter. I attribute all of this to the media telling us what a disireable female physique should be.
For a man, it’s pretty simple. more athletic, bigger, stronger, whatever. It is basically more of something. More muscle is a good thing if you are a bodybuilder (alright not always, but generally), better performance in the sport, jumping higher, etc.
Even outside the realm of athletes, a male can basically improve his physique by simply building more muscle mass and losing the fat to get ‘ripped’.
But a woman isn’t sure. Some try to avoid the muscly look, and others just think that they are fat regardless. Unfair as it is, there is no true ideal female physique. I’m sure if you take a look at fashion/fitness magazines, the ladies who stand out won’t fit a certain range of body fat, muscularity, etc.
Image Credit: Rev. Voodoo
Image Credit: Sgt. Gooch
Image Credit: Jeff Henshaw
Some women will feel that the left image is repulsive, others strive for it. Of course this is the same for the second image and for the third…. and I got tired to trying to look for images because there are so many variations which people strive to become. As said before, the muscularity and body fat percentage in each greatly differs.
I don’t think I need to give an image of a big muscly male model or bodybuilder or athlete to show what an average male wants. He has a much more straightforward path.
Final Words – What to do About it
Honestly, I hate the way the media objectifies a woman’s physique (moreso than a man’s at least). It is so much harder to tell a woman to train sensibly and build muscle because the goal of most people is to look good, and doing that for women is such a subjective goal. It is then equally hard to tell a woman to be satisfied with what she was endowed with because the media is busy shoving down its ideals in her face.
Though men face this difficulty, I will gaurantee that it is a lot more explicit and palpable in a women’s perspective.
That said, the only real advice I think is to first and foremost erase those ideals and start from scratch. Compare yourself to yourself, while setting an ideal physique that you will want to achieve. The second step would be to educate oneself on the principles of training and fat loss.
In general, anyone, male or female, will look good with some added muscle mass, not to mention the additional functional health benefits. In general too, a body fat tending towards the lower end to expose some muscular definition also doesn’t hurt.
At the end of the day, the only thing we can do is stick by these general areas, strive towards various goals, and then adjust along the way as we see fit. And Oh, don’t forget to get a second opinion (or third, fourth and fifth) about your progress, since we often see ourselves in a different light.
So that wraps it up. This is reality and I guess we have to face it, let’s deal with it the best way we can.
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