Strength training for women
// What the research shows
Roberts et al. (2020) found no differences between men and women on the same program for hypertrophyHypertrophy (muscle growth) A muscle getting bigger, mainly through thicker muscle fibres. More in the glossary → and lower-body strength. For relative upper-body strength, women even showed a larger effect. A newer BayesianBayesian analysis A statistical method that states how likely an effect is, rather than just “significant or not”. More in the glossary → meta-analysisMeta-analysis A study of studies: the results of many individual studies are pooled statistically. More in the glossary → (Refalo et al., 2025) confirms that men gain more muscle in absolute terms because they start with more, but relative to baseline the gains are practically the same, regardless of training experience.
// In practice
- Women don't need a fundamentally different program. The same principles apply.
- Worrying about getting “too bulky” is unfounded: building muscle is slow for everyone.
- Base the program on goals, experience and preferences, not on sex.
// Limitations & open questions
Many studies used untrained participants. Factors like the menstrual cycle, pregnancy or menopause have their own, partly thin research.
// Sources
- Meta-Analyse 2020Roberts, Nuckols & Krieger – Sex differences in resistance training (JSCR) ↗
- Meta-Analyse 2025Refalo et al. – Sex differences in absolute and relative changes in muscle size following resistance training (PeerJ) ↗