Sport Physiology

Authors
Affiliations

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.S. in Kinesiology

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.A. in Neuroscience

Gender

Hormone Differences

  • Testosterone causes increased protein deposition, especially in muscles, which causes men to have more muscle then women due to increased testosterone levels
  • Estrogen

Strength

Strength per CSA

  • There is virtually no difference in gender when measured in terms of strength (peak force duriing maximal contraction) per square centimeter of cross-sectional area
    • 3 and 4 Kg/cm2
  • Thus, the majority of differences in absolute muscle performance is due to the increased muscle to BW ratio of men than women

Overall Muscle strength

  • Compared to BW?
  • Females are typically 23to34 the value of men

Pulmonary Function

Pulmonary Ventilation

  • Females are typically 23to34 the value of men

Cardiac Function

Cardiac Output

  • Females are typically 23to34 the cardiac output of men

Sport Differences

Better male performance

  • In marathons, the top female performer ran 11% slower than the top male performer.

Better Female Performance

  • For other events, however, women have at times held records faster than men—for example, for the two-way swim across the English Channel, for which the availability of extra fat seems to be an advantage for heat insulation, buoyancy, and extra long-term energy.”

Age

1.
Hall JE, Hall ME, Guyton AC. Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology. 14th edition. Elsevier; 2021.

Citation

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