"Female" Training

Edited by: Luca Giovanni Bottoni

One of the most misunderstood concepts in fitness is the effect of training with overload on women. The unmotivated fear of muscular development is supported on the basis of widely demonstrative studies (Wilmore 1975), in which it is clear that the woman lacks the hormonal structure apt to provoke a hypertrophic response equal or similar to that of man. In women, the level of Testosterone (T hormone with a strong anabolic action, crucial for muscle development) is 10-30 times lower than that found in men. Surely the increases in strength of a muscle are accompanied by an increase in the size of the fibers that make it up, but this phenomenon is much less pronounced in women. The available data reveal that the muscular potential in women can induce an increase in strength, without causing a marked hypertrophy. Speaking of women, we must never lose sight of the biological function of the same: nature has designed the woman by preparing her for pregnancy. The distribution of body fat in women, mainly located on the hips, denotes this functional energy reserve for childbirth, which is difficult to metabolize, as it is maximally preserved by the body. That being said, there are differences between the sexes that are outside the physiological response to exercise and that cannot be underestimated in the female fitness context. The woman with respect to the man presents:

- Percentage of highest fat (5-7 kg more);

- Lower Muscle Mass (18-20 kg less) ;

- Lower stature (7-10 cm);

- Lower body weight (11-14 kg less);

- Capacity of lower energy systems;

- Lower basal metabolism (5% -10% less) difference related to% of fat;

- Hypertrophic response to training with significantly lower weights.

In light of what we have seen, we can start talking about the practice in the gym, both as training with the Weights and with Power Plate «vibrating platform», to understand how to set an effective programming. The purpose of the woman in the gym is almost never hypertrophy; the most requested goals are slimming and toning. There is an intensity threshold above which remarkable results are obtained and below which the improvement is zero. The results of numerous studies show that training sessions of short duration, but of high intensity, with Power Plate or / and overload, or circuit "cardio + overload" have a positive effect, both on the toning and on the mobilization and metabolization of fats, with relative increase in basal metabolism, compared to a predominantly cardiovascular training, in women. The average duration should never exceed 30-40 minutes with a frequency of at least 2-3 times a week, preferably not consecutive.