August 24, 2017
Sure, men can pull more weight than their female counterparts. But a new study shows that women are far more superior when it comes to muscle endurance during workouts.
In a study of eight men and nine women, researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada found that the women were considerably less fatigued after a natural calf exercise than the men were. And yes, researchers said, the men and women studied were of similar age and athletic ability.
"We've known for some time that women are less fatigable than men during isometric muscle tests – static exercises where joints don't move, such as holding a weight – but we wanted to find out if that's true during more dynamic and practical everyday movements," Assistant Professor Brian Dalton said in a news release.
"And the answer is pretty definitive: Women can outlast men by a wide margin."
The subjects were asked to flex one foot against sensors as quickly as they could 200 times while researchers recorded their muscle activity and speed, power and torque of their movements.
Researchers examined chose the calf exercise because it used essential muscles for walking, standing and other everyday tasks.
The study appeared in the June 2017 issue of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism with funds from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Read more about it here.
