Sex differences in response to strength and hypertrophy training: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Roberts BM, et al.
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Summary
A systematic review and meta-analysis examining sex differences in responses to resistance training. While absolute strength and hypertrophy are greater in men, relative strength improvement rates (corrected for body weight and size) are approximately equal between sexes, or favored women in some studies.
Key findings
- 1
Absolute hypertrophy and peak strength are greater in men, but differences diminish when scaled for baseline muscle mass
- 2
Relative strength improvement rates (% change, body weight corrected) are approximately equal or favor women
- 3
Higher testosterone in men (~10–20x) is the primary driver of absolute differences, but relative adaptive capacity is shared
- 4
Women tend to recover faster and show higher within-set repetitions at the same absolute load
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