New research from the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) campus suggests that while men may be generally stronger than women, females tend to have greater muscle endurance.
Researchers at UBC Okanagan in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences found that women were less exhausted after natural, dynamic muscle exercises than men 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. “And the answer is pretty definitive: women can outlast men by a wide margin.”
The study was done in collaboration with the University of Guelph and University of Oregon.
Eight men and nine women of similar physical fitness were brought in for the study.
They were asked to flex their foot against a suite of sensors as quickly as they could 200 times.
The speed, power and torque of their movements and electrical activity of their muscles was captured and recorded over time.
“We chose to measure foot movements because it makes use of calf muscles on the back of the leg, which are essential for practical, everyday tasks like standing and walking,” Dalton said. “What we found is that males were faster and more powerful at first but became more fatigued much faster than females.”
While only one isolated muscle group was studied, Dalton said he would expect similar results for other muscle groups because his results are consistent with other similar studies.
The study appeared in the June 2017 issue of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.