Do women and men have similar advantages in the weight room?

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The notion that a muscular physique is more desirable in men than in women is one of the main reasons why the weight room was primarily a male enclave. These views are changing. Not only do women feel more comfortable working a few muscles, the health, fitness, and performance benefits of strength training get more attention than its role in building bigger biceps.

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According to a study published in 2020, men continue to outnumber women in the weight room in five of the six countries surveyed (including Canada), with Australia being the sole exception. According to a 2017 publication by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 70 percent of people who weight train on any given day are male. Men also spend more time per week in the weight room than women, a trait common even among top athletes.

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Why are fewer women than men lifting weights regularly?

A 2023 article in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research by James Nuzzo examined how men and women differ in all aspects of strength training, including motivation, participation rates, injuries, and physiology. The goal is to better educate fitness professionals on how to break down barriers that keep women out of the weight room and to help women better understand their potential to become stronger and healthier. Men naturally have more muscle mass and size than women, but that doesn’t mean women have less strength.

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The difference in muscle strength and size between the two sexes is more nuanced than you might think, with female upper body strength being 50 to 60 percent of male strength and female lower body strength being about 60 to 70 percent of male lower body strength . Female core/trunk strength is about 60 percent that of males. The larger deficit of upper body strength versus lower body strength makes sense when you consider that upper body muscle mass in women is 60 percent of muscle mass in men, while lower body lean mass in women is 67 percent of men. Nuzzo says these differences persist even among powerlifters, with the 1RM (the maximum lifted in a single attempt) for women with elite strength training being 46, 56, and 61 percent lower for the bench press, squat, and deadlift (respectively). Compared to men are powerlifters.

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There are many reasons why men are stronger and have more muscle mass than women, including circulating hormones like testosterone, taller body size, bone length, etc., but that doesn’t mean women have less strength than men. An analysis of 50 studies looking at changes in muscle size and strength after a resistance training program consistently found that relative improvements in muscle strength and size were similar between sexes, with women showing greater relative gains in upper body strength.

It’s important to note that most studies that compare relative strength gains between men and women assume that both sexes follow the same strength training program. But in real life, women differ from men when it comes to how they approach strength training sessions, including which exercises they prefer, the types of equipment they use, and the intensity of their workouts.

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Women generally prefer weight machines to free weights and spend more time training their lower body. Men are the opposite, prioritizing upper body training and preferring free weights to machines. Women are more likely than men to prefer training alongside their own gender and are more amenable to training under the supervision of a trainer and coach and/or following a program designed by a professional. Men prefer strength training over other workouts, while women tend to prioritize cardio over strength training.

As for motivation, one study reported that the primary motivation for exercising for men is to gain muscle, while the primary motivation for exercising for women is to lose weight. Put another way, and bearing in mind that there are exceptions, men train to get taller and women train to get shorter. For women, the fear of getting big is often cited as a reason not to strength train or to limit their potential to be as strong as possible. Some concerns about the possibility that weight room training could negatively impact women’s body image are alleviated when women work with a trainer. Women who work with a trainer reported that they are more comfortable working with free weights, working their upper body, and working out with men.

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What can we learn from the differences? While strength training guidelines are gender neutral, there is a gender divide in how and why women engage in strength training. For this reason, coaches, facility owners, and public health messages should consider how to address women’s unique interests, needs, and motivations. Women-only strength training workshops, male and female trainers trained in how to encourage more strength training participation among women, and ensuring a weight room culture and design that welcomes women and their strength training preferences are key to more women to win the weight room.