Fitness isn’t a battle of the sexes

Women and men are different, that’s a given. Women’s bodies, their physical and emotional experiences through life and the attitudes society has towards them are inherently different from men.

When it comes to sport and fitness, it’s easy to make assumptions about what men can achieve and what women can’t.

Where are men and women different?

There are some clear physical differences between men and women, notably when it comes to height, weight and anatomical bone structure – such as women having a wider pelvis and shorter foot length. On average, women have smaller hearts and heart volume and, therefore, a lower cardiac output than men – by about 30%. We also have a smaller lung capacity – by about 25% – a lower blood volume, and less haemoglobin in that blood – that’s the bit that carries the oxygen around our body.

So, overall, as females, we have less oxygen-carrying capacity, which translates on average to a 20% lower aerobic capacity (VO2max)

The female filter

But rather than focus on what sets us apart, we really need to focus on how we, as women, can harness our own powers and capabilities to perform at our optimum and pursue our goals.

We need to drill down and take a good look at health, wellbeing and performance through the female filter – taking into account female anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, psychology, behaviour and cultural attitudes towards women. It’s through this filter that we can truly start to understand how we tap into our strengths and manage the unique challenges we face as women. We’ll always have physical differences to men, but equally, we’ll always have the same determination and ambition to achieve great things.

Let’s take marathon running. It’s totally possible that a man and a woman could be training to achieve the same marathon time – whether that’s a swift 3 hrs or a more conservative 5 hrs. For both the man and woman it is possible, both would be able to achieve the aerobic fitness and conditioning necessary to achieve their desired time, both would have to adopt a mindset in training and the race itself which allowed them to achieve their goal. Their biological sex doesn’t limit any of these things. But what it takes to succeed is different for the man and the woman.

There’s plenty of evidence to show that women may recover differently, adapt to training differently and fuel their marathon running differently to men. They need breast support, they need to develop excellent pelvic health, they need to minimise their increased risk of injury. They need to eat to support female hormone health they need to manage periods during long runs. This is health and training with the female filter on – optimising all of these things to ensure women can fulfill their performance potential. Does all this mean that women are at a biological disadvantage? The short answer is nope. The only reason it sounds more complicated to train as a woman is that we haven’t ever really considered it fully before. We haven’t prioritised the female part of being a female athlete. It’s a different approach, not a difficult one.

Each of us is unique and free to pursue our own dreams

I love this quote from the evolutionary biologist Bernd Heinrich, “Running is not a biological destiny. Rather, it is a biological capacity. Women, it turns out, are as eager and competitive runners as men are. Each of us is unique and free to nurture their own gifts and dreams.”

Essentially, what he is saying is that – yes – the biggest and strongest males are bigger and stronger than the biggest and strongest females. But step outside of that top tier of extraordinary specimens, and you find that your peers, both male and female, are equally your competitors, your training partners and your teammates. And you can be equally competitive with them.

Your success in sport, exercise or fitness isn’t defined by your biological sex, rather by your ability to imagine your goals and dreams and then pursue them. Commitment and the ability to endure are not things limited by our sex. None of us achieve hard things without hard work, fitness and sport are no exception.

And as the great Ruth Bader Ginsburg said “sex, like race, is a visible, immutable characteristic bearing no necessary relationship to ability”.