DOES SEX MATTER ?
STRENGTH TRAINING
OUTCOMES FOR OVER 50 ’ S
CEC ARTICLE
1 OF 5 ARTICLES
Assumptions that men make greater gains than women from resistance training have been questioned in recent years . Dr Mandy Hagstrom discusses findings by herself and colleagues that older females ’ gains are on par with those of older males .
I t ’ s often thought that men , of all ages , make greater gains than women following resistance training .
However , in recent years research has actually shown that things such as circulating testosterone have little bearing on adaptation . These advances in our understanding have disproven many of the ‘ myths ’ surrounding muscle growth , which previously supported the notion that males tended to benefit to a greater degree compared to females .
My colleagues and I recently conducted an extensive study review , the findings of which were published in
Sports Medicine , that builds on these advances by showing that older females ’ gains from resistance training , relative to body size , are on par with those of older males .
What we found
In summary , we found that while sex differences in adaptations to resistance training are evident in older adults , these differences primarily relate to ‘ absolute ’ gains following training . So , while older males may gain an overall greater amount of muscle size and strength ( i . e ., kgs ), in a relative manner , females adapt at a similar or greater rate , compared to men .
We summarised all of the studies that have ever been conducted in which the same exercise programs were used for men and women over the age of 50 . We excluded studies involving nutritional , aerobic , or any other type of intervention . Our aim was to isolate the effect of resistance training on muscle strength and size in older adults , and to determine if there were any differences in the adaptations between men and women . Overall , we examined the findings from almost 1,400 individuals in scientifically controlled studies .
In order to be included in our review , scan-based ( accurate gold standard ) body composition measures must have been undertaken , and resistance training must also have been performed with weights ( we excluded band and bodyweight-based resistance training as these are difficult to control with respect to progression and adherence to the prescriptive parameters ).
Let ’ s say , for example , you have a husband and wife (> 50 years ) training together . Our study findings tell you that the expected adaptations for both clients should be
22 | NETWORK AUTUMN 2021