most of what we’ve been told about gym exercise and endurance training comes from studies conducted on men by men

When you lift weights, why do you do what you do? Who told you to train this way – a trainer, personal trainer, online exercise guru? And where did they learn how to prescribe exercises?

In fact, many of what we (and our coaches) think of as typical strength training programs are largely modeled after fitness industry governing bodies you’ve probably never heard of: groups like the American College of Sports Medicine, the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association, and the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association.

These top bodies often publish “consensus statements” on what works for resistance training. These statements influence TAFE and university courses and aid shape the education of personal trainers and instructors. The results of these statements translate into what you and I see in the gym every week.

My colleagues and I wanted to take a closer look at these claims and the research they were based on. We wanted to know how many of these studies involved both men and women, and what gender the authors of the claims were.

Our paperpublished today in the magazine Sports medicineI’ve found that most of the information you get at the gym is based on data that comes from men and is written by men.

It is worth noting that the research did not produce the expected results for people diverse in terms of gender and gender identity, but was rather based on a binary approach.

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Read more: Lift hefty or lighter weights with high reps? It all depends on your goal

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What have we done

Gender is a biological construct, while sex refers to the roles and characteristics that society often assigns to men and women. It is crucial to note that neither sex nor gender are binary.

However, data are typically presented in studies in a binary manner. Because our study addressed the literature from a biological perspective, we used the terms “female” and “male” to describe the participants included in these studies. We used the terms “female” and “male” to describe the sex of the authors and reviewed all consensus statements published after 2000. As noted in our work, my colleagues and I acknowledge that our chosen methods of classifying sex and gender based on the above terminology may have resulted in misclassification of some individuals.

We then reviewed the list of studies mentioned in these statements. We analyzed the number of men and women who participated in these studies.

We also collected information on the gender of the authors of these statements. In other words, we collected the gender of more than 100 million participants cited in the reference lists of 11 consensus statements from around the world.

What we found

We found:

• 91% of the first authors of these statements are men

• women made up only 13% of the total authors

• female participants made up only about 30% of all people taking part in the studies on which the consensus statements of adults and adolescents were based

• The guidelines for older people were slightly more balanced, with 54% of women participating.

Some might argue that the 30% female participation figure is probably okay, since women don’t lift as much. In the 80s and earlier, strength training was seen as a male pursuit.

Never again.

In fact, recent study in Australia found that women were more likely to report undertaking appropriate muscle-strengthening exercises in the past 12 months than men.

All of this matters because more and more evidence suggests that physiological differences between the sexes in response to exercise.

Research suggests differences in skeletal muscle structure, how muscle fibers workand in time needed for regeneration after intense exercise.

Our team’s work also showed men gain more muscle mass and strength after participating in endurance training, but the relative benefits tend to be similar or greater in women.

And the latest research has shown that the power differences seem to still existeven when muscle mass is the same in both sexes.

Could prescribing exercises differently based on gender be beneficial?

We don’t know what we don’t know

We know that endurance training is good for our physical and mental health.

But right now we don’t know whether we’re harming half the population by knowing too little about how best to do this.

Due to longer recovery time As mentioned above, should women have more rest days between high intensity sessions?

Considering that women seem to be more resistant to fatigueShould they actually train more than men per session?

Unfortunately, we don’t know yet. Much of the research needed to answer these questions hasn’t been done yet. And the research we do have doesn’t seem to make it into the documents informing the guidelines.

What now?

We need more female researchers whose research includes women.

In other areas of medical research percentage of female authors is connected to more records women participating in scientific research.

The authors are also more likely to provide data by sex or gendermaking this data more useful for real-world interpretation.

The bottom line? What you’re told to do at the gym is probably based primarily on studies that include more men than women. And we can’t yet be certain that it works best for women and girls who work out.

We need more scientific evidence examining gender differences in the context of exercise, as well as tough studies focusing exclusively on groups of women.

This will be a bridge data gapand aid us understand how to fully utilize the potential of exercise for everyone.

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Learn more: How often should you change your exercise plan?

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