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Erratic_Noman OP t1_j4r968s wrote

I don't just mean testosterone. I mean, are men's muscles just structurally different due to testosterone?

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kalysti t1_j4trjav wrote

No. Men just have more muscle tissue. They also have denser bones. But the differences are in quantity, not quality.

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johnk963 t1_j4vv9ov wrote

Men tend to have much higher neuromuscular efficiency than women. The ability to activate more muscle fibers during contraction. This is mostly due to testosterone exposure during gestation.

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BornAgainSpecial t1_j57mveb wrote

Even the fibers themselves are different. You can tell male from female just from the composition.

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reeeeeeeeeee78 t1_j4va0lu wrote

They have massively higher concentrations of androgen receptors independent of testosterone exposure. Amongst elite athletes men tend to have a higher 1rm off of say, an 8 rep max.

IE a man and a woman of equal muscle mass and leverages can both squat 315x8. The man will have a 1rm fairly higher then the female even though rep max was the same.

Men are better at maximal efforts, likely from muscle fiber composition favoring 1rm and the androgen receptors.

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nicuramar t1_j4x9w62 wrote

> men tend to have a higher 1rm off of say, an 8 rep max.

What do these letters mean? Rm? Rep?

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reeeeeeeeeee78 t1_j4xqr8q wrote

1 repetition maximum. A rep being one of a movement type.

Like benching 225 12 times would be 12 reps at 225, for a set of 12.

1 rm or rep max would be the most weight you can lift a single time.

Men who have the same 12 repetition maximum (the most weight they can lift 12 times in a row) as women, will have a higher 1 rep maximum then women. Women seem to have better endurance relative to their maximal strength, while men have better power relative to their lifting endurance.

Female Olympic athletes are just much better at handling total training volume relative to 1rm then men are.

IE attempting 5 reps at 95 percent of 1rm could be possible for women. For men it's likely they would fail after 2 reps and begin to risk serious injury.

The tldr is that women are more resistant to fatigue then men while lifting heavy, but men are capable of producing more power with equal muscle mass. Part of it is cns, part hormones. Women who take steroids still can't equal 1rm of steroid free men when muscle mass is the same.

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ShadowEllipse t1_j4ugvce wrote

The structure of muscles are the same but you have more amounts of it on men, although ofc testosterone is super potent on muscle buildup so unless women get huge amounts of this, they can't build as much muscle as a man. Testosterone is produced in a small amounts in women but not that much.

TLDR: Built different.

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Terrorfrodo t1_j4uw13l wrote

Women gain just as much muscle mass from strength training as men, relative to what they started with. But because they usually start from a much lower baseline, their overall strength will still be lower than that of a comparably trained man.

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layzeeviking t1_j4uzsfh wrote

No, no, no. Unless you're talking about women with testicles. Testosterone is a game-changer, and while teenage boys will grow muscles from looking at a weighted barbell, women take years to grow unless they inject some maleness.

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BornAgainSpecial t1_j57nh6r wrote

That makes no sense. Anyone who has ever lifted weights can tell you the gains come easily when starting out and taper off.

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