Recently, more and more
women have become interested in the sport of weightlifting. A considerable
number of women in many countries have been working out and participating in
contests. This article is to provide further information regarding the influence
of weight training on women.
There are few coaches of
woman athletes who do think of the essential difference between the female and
male body's endurance to weight training. In most cases, only decreasing the
weight loading for women compared with men differentiates the approach. Here
arises the question if this condition only is enough to provide for the
conditions of qualified and highly effective strength training of women
athletes.
Nowadays, most of the
sportswomen apply various forms of weight training in different periods of their
annual training cycle, and some of them even throughout the year. Nevertheless,
the capabilities of the women's nervous and muscular systems and their aptitude
to weight training have not yet been studied completely. We will, therefore, try
to survey what the specialists have established until now, using also the
results of our work with women competitors in swimming, rowing, track and field
and volleyball.
As a result of one study comprising 272 women and 253 men, Tittel established
that the maximum strength of women is by 40% less than that of men. Hettinger
discovered that 19 to 45 year old women possessed a lower training ability than
men of the same age. He found out that women's muscular strength grew
considerably slower than men's. In a word, placed and compared under the same
conditions, women have smaller capabilities of displaying strength than men. We
will clarify the most important reasons for these differences that are of
significance to women's weight training.
According to V.
Korinevsky, R. Motiljanskaja, and T. Hettinger it is obvious that men have a
better ratio of the active muscle mass to the adipose tissue (fat) than women,
whose body fat percentage is higher. Women are of smaller height and have a
relatively longer trunk. The difference of height in standing and seated
position is 12-15 cm for women and 9.5-10.7 cm for men, and because of this the
center of gravity in the woman's body is found lower than in men. Woman's
pectoral girdle is less developed on account of the pelvis, the latter being of
a particular structure.
These proportions in the
woman's body structure provide for the greater stability of the legs, but limit
the speed of walking and running and the height of jump. As was noted above
there are differences concerning the mass of the developed muscles - muscles
provide for not more than 35% of a woman's bodyweight and 42% of a man's. Even
if we assume to compare a man and a woman carrying the same muscle mass, the
strength of the woman will be less because of the bigger fat layer. The general
dynamometrics gives the following indices - 53% of a woman's bodyweight and 72%
of a man's; deadlift power - 135 (woman) and 187.6 (man); average strength of
the two arms - 50.5 (woman) and 83.1 kg. (man). Due to the lower tissue
consistency and the height differences women's average bodyweight is less than
men's (67 kg). In order to ignore the height and demonstrate the lower
consistency of women's tissues we will note that each centimeter of women's
height weighs 366 grams, while men's - 385 grams.
When untrained women and
men are concerned the difference between men's and women's muscle strength
amounts to 20%. Should the woman and man perform the same weight-training
regimen for a week the man will achieve growth of 5.8 percent, while the woman -
only 3.9 percent. Should weight training be applied for a prolonged period of
time, women's strength will constitute 45-47% of men's strength.
The results achieved by
women last for a shorter time than those achieved by men. Woman's training
condition is lost more quickly. For that reason she has to train systematically
and regularly. Since women's growth stops earlier and hence their trunk remains
relatively longer, weight training causes greater strain on the spinal column,
wherein exists the danger of intervertebral disc injury. The structure of the
pelvis is inconvenient for the execution of some exercises, as it is broadened
in its lower part, its outlet being closed by a muscle barrier, formed by
muscles of the pelvic bottom. With the strain on the higher-located muscles the
internal abdominal pressure is increased, whereas the lowest muscles are most
loaded. For that reason it is better to look for such exercises to develop the
different muscles that would provide women, beginners in particular, with the
possibility to train in a lying position.
Today, complete
interruption of workouts during the menstruation period is not recommended. It
is normal to reduce the loading, however, exercises are to be continued,
provided the menstruation takes its normal course and no gynecological changes
occur. Certain physical exercises even ease the indisposition usually felt by
women in this period. Weight training normally increases the blood flow in the
abdominal and pelvis areas and could cause prolonged bleeding and injury to the
whole cycle. That is why light training is recommended: arms to be trained by
lighter weights at a lying position.
An important feature of
the characteristics of the woman's body is that the absolute and the relative
share of the adipose tissue is bigger than that of a man's - 28% against 18%
accordingly. The fat is found predominantly in the areas of breasts, pelvis, and
thighs and is a reserve required in the great energy consumption periods of
pregnancy, giving birth, suckling and menstruation. Interesting to compare the
weight of separate parts of a woman's body to the man's (according to data by L.
S. Ivanova, V. N. Papisheva, L. I. Stogova, A. F. Fominih, R. S. Chumakova and
G. A. Stavlev:
Parts
of the Body |
Men |
Women |
Skeletal
muscles
Bones
Internal Organs
Adipose tissue |
23
kg
11 kg
9 kg
6 kg |
20
kg
8 kg
7 kg
16 kg |
In
contemporary training great loadings, to speed and power in particular, put
requirements not only on the supporting and motor systems, but on cardiovascular
and respiratory systems as well, in which some anatomic and morphological
differences are noticed too. For example, the diaphragm of a woman is normally
placed higher and therefore we have the relatively transversal location of the
heart. The weight of a woman's heart is 10-15% less than that of man of the same
bodyweight and height (U. N. Novoronnikov, S. P. Letunov). The same applies to
its volume (U. N. Arhunski). The smaller size of the woman's heart stands for
the smaller number of heartbeats. That is why the larger minute capacity is
achieved through the higher frequency of contractions. Nevertheless, studies
have shown that the female blood-minute capacity is lower than that of men. It
is noted in the table below (data by G. A. Goncharova) that there is an
essential difference between the functional indices of the cardiovascular
systems of men and women at a rest.
Research results show
that these differences are most obviously manifested in the speed and weight
loads when the woman's body reaction is expressed mainly through the pulse
frequency, while men's contractions are slower but more powerful. Similar
differences are noticed in the recuperation period, especially if the loading
implies higher strain for a longer time.
There are differences in
the respiratory system's operation. The number of breaths in women is larger.
According to data of A. G. Dembo the vital capacity of women's lungs is
2500-5000 cm3, while that of the men's lungs is 3200-7200 cm3. This peculiarity
influences the lungs ventilation (3-5 lt. for women and 5-7 lt. for men at
rest). Hence the oxygen intake is different (150-160 cm3 for women and 180-250
cm3 for men). With high intensity physical loading the percentage of growth of
women's oxygen consumption is bigger and, to a certain extent, compensates the
lower percentage of its utilization.
Indices |
Men |
Women |
Frequency
of heart contractions
Systolic pressure
Diastolic pressure
Speed of arterial blood |
55.1
115.55
71.0
7.35 |
62.3
106.95
66.95
5.75 |
The prolonged studies of M. V.
Elkina, C. A. Jagunova and I. N. Startseva, and E. Zaharieva, show that heavy
training loading does not influence the menstruation cycle negatively. However,
menstruation has a considerable impact on working capacity (especially strength
resistance). The pulse becomes quicker, the arterial blood pressure is lowered,
and the beats and minute capacity of the heart is reduced (mainly during the
first days of the menstruation period). There exists data on the decrease of the
vital capacity and the basic metabolism. In the first days of the menstruation
cycle the erythrocytes number and hemoglobin percentage is reduced. Therefore,
the physiological capabilities of the oxygen supply to working muscles in these
days are reduced. That is why the reactions of the cardiovascular system to
bigger resistance are expressed mainly by the following: quickened pulse and a
prolonged time of its recovery, small increase of maximum blood pressure and
large increase of minimum blood pressure. In fact this is an extremely
unfavorable reaction of the body that brings about undesirable sequences
sometimes.
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