When it comes to the old age competition concerning men vs. women, many interesting challenges come up. One being debated lately is the ability to do pull-ups- are women inferior? Or can they set the bar just as high as a man? Let’s take a look at the differences between the sexes and the way it might affect their performance.
Hormones
Testosterone is the primary driving hormone for men, this in particular drives males to be more aggressive, increases energy and helps them to build more muscle mass. Pair it with their adrenalin production, which is 3 times higher than that of a female and you have a lean, mean workout machine. Their body is hormonally programmed to have more energy, strength and muscle building capacity than a female. Let’s assess how female hormones may inhibit their ability to do pull-ups.Estrogen is the major hormone in females. It is designed to hold onto excess weight, typically storing it in the hips, breasts and lower half. This in turn makes weight loss and muscle building more of a challenge to women, as their bodies are still in “early human mode”, designed to survive and hold onto excess energy (fat), not to lose it. This hormone would have been very handy back in the hunter gatherer days, but in today’s society, all it causes is a headache for those females who want to increase their strength, size and endurance to a level comparable to a man’s. However, it does give them an advantage in that it directly affects an increase in endurance!
Muscle Distribution
Men are naturally stronger than women. Females can have up to 40% less muscle mass in their upper bodies, making the ability to build enough strength to preform that much harder than it would be for males.On the flip side, the structure of a female’s body has advantages over a man’s in that their arms are typically shorter and their weight lighter. This would obviously make pull-ups easier to achieve.So, really women are just as capable as men with this exercise on a small scale, as in 1-5 reps. Anymore reps than that would be an impressive feat for a girl, but not so much for a guy. A guy’s abundance in muscle mass allows for more reps.The way in which one works out utilizing other exercises can affect their capability to do this move. Men generally preform max weight workouts resulting in fewer reps, as opposed to women who stick to lower weights and more reps. The result is females preforming fewer pull-ups because of less strength, but having muscles that recover faster and can endure more sets.Men have the muscle to do several more reps, but gas out and recover more slowly than a girl would because that’s how they typically train their bodies.
How Can You Improve
As with everything in life, there is always room for improvement!
Gals:
- Work on your weak points, this is usually the elbow and back. Curls, resistant bands and a quick YouTube or Google search for drills can remedy this.
- Protein, protein, protein! You need it to build more muscle! This will also help you recover even faster.
Guys:
- Work on your stamina, level out your heavy and light weight days to even out your fast and slow twitch fibers.
- Also, same as above, pay attention to your weak areas! There is always something to improve and elbows are generally one of the weakest places.
Do You Have the Right Equipment
Another factor affecting you is the quality of your equipment, is your bar everything you need it to be? Find out by looking through some buying guides and exploring all the unique features of various products.Or you can trust thousands of other fitness enthusiast and select one of the top rated rods, the ProSource Heavy Duty Easy Gym Door Way Chin-Up Bar.
It’s a Fairly Even Match!
Regardless of what you are, you have an advantage in one way or another over the other sex and when it comes down to it, you will excel in ways the other doesn’t. When focusing on pure brute strength and number of reps, sorry gals, but the men will out do you. Rest assured they will tire out faster than you though.There will always be a fierce competition and you can better yourself by ensuring you have the best possible equipment and are utilizing your routine to produce the best results. Follow the tips outlined above and you will soon see great improvements in your abilities with some dedication and a little time. As well as, a good diet and lots of protein! That’s very important, don’t forget. Now, get out there and take your potential to the max.