Male vs. Female - Sex Differences in Sports Performance! (New Study Explained)

Are there differences between men and women in sports? The American College of Sports Medicine published a brand-new landmark paper which provides an important scientific base for the discussion. So let’s look at what the science says!
The expert consensus statement explores the current state of research on the athletic differences between biological males and females. In this video, I will share the five main findings with you!
Before puberty, boys and girls perform similarly in sports. Around age 12, boys experience a steep increase in testosterone, a powerful anabolic steroid. During puberty, testosterone levels in males rise about 20-30 fold. By age 18, they are 15 times higher in males than females.
Testosterone has a number of effects on the male physiology and anatomy during puberty. It increases skeletal muscle mass, especially in type II or fast-twitch muscle fibres. It also leads to lower body fat in males compared to females. Higher haemoglobin levels, a larger and stronger heart, larger airways and bigger lungs lead to improved endurance. On average, males also develop greater body height and longer limbs compared to females. Girls see a rise in the hormone estradiol with their first period. While it’s important for bone mass, muscle mass and tendons, it doesn’t have the same anabolic effects as testosterone.
At the elite level, males generally outperform female in endurance activities such as distance running. A larger and stronger heart leads to more blood being pumped with each heartbeat. Higher blood haemoglobin leads to greater oxygen carrying capacity. Larger airways and lungs increase the oxygen intake and fuel the aerobic energy system more effectively. Consequently, elite male athletes have a higher VO2max than their female counterparts.
When it comes to sports heavily reliant on muscular power males have an even greater advantage over females. this goes for sports such as weightlifting, jumping and throwing, as well as sprinting or swimming sprints, This is mainly due to more muscle mass, faster contracting muscles, longer limbs and taller stature.
The sex difference in athletic performance at the elite level ranges from 10% for endurance events to up to 30% for sports requiring muscular power. To illustrate this: in the year 2019, over 10,000 males, including boys under 18, ran faster than the three fastest recorded women across 400 metres. Based on this, the paper concludes that the fastest and most powerful males outperform the fastest and most powerful females in power and endurance sports. This is why many sports have separate male and female categories.
However, in sports that don’t require much power and endurance but are mainly skill-based, like archery, the performance gap between the world's top male and female athletes is minimal. There are even two instances where females may have the advantage over males. Females may be able to sustain a higher percentage of their maximum effort for longer during isometric exercises. Females also seem to recover faster from dynamic efforts. However, these findings are mostly based on recreational male and female athletes.
Historically, women have had fewer opportunities in sports and higher dropout rates than men, which also contributes to the performance gap. Athletic research has also typically prioritised males, so the understanding of the female physiology and training responses is limited. More research is needed here in the future.
Speaking of women and sports performance, watch this video here next for the ultimate protein guide for women: • How Much Protein Shoul...