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Health

11th Jun 2018

Apparently, women have one major advantage in the gym over men

There's no running away from this fact.

Her

Female fitness fanatics will love this news.

According to a study, carried out in collaboration with the University of Guelph and the University of Oregon, women have a greater muscle endurance than men.

The article which was published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism found that women were less tired after undergoing natural muscles exercises compared to their male counter parts.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia tested out the muscle endurance of women and men of similar age and athletic ability.

People in Gym

In the study, nine women and eight men were told to flex their foot against different types of sensors as quickly as they could for over 200 times.

Plenty of physical attributes were recorded from the flexing including the speed, power and rotational force of their movements as well as the electrical activity of their muscles.

Study author, professor Brian Dalton, said:

“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.

“And the answer is pretty definitive: women can outlast men by a wide margin.“

Dalton and his researchers just measured foot movements because it makes use of calf muscles on the back of the leg which is used for everyday actions such as standing and walking.

This may seem like a relatively small study to make such a big claim but Professor Dalton believes that the result would be the same for other muscle groups also.

“We know from previous research that for events like ultra-trail running, males may complete them faster but females are considerably less tired by the end,” he explained.

“If ever an ultra-ultra-marathon is developed, women may well dominate in that arena.“