On par in strength
IN the first ever study of its kind, US researchers have found that with training, women can develop the type of muscle fibres needed for heavy weightlifting just like men, and in some cases, may even have more than their male counterparts.
Carried out by researchers at San Francisco State University and California State University, the new small-scale study analysed muscle fibres from thigh muscle biopsies performed on six world/ Olympic-class female athletes, nine national-calibre female athletes, and six national-calibre male athletes during the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships.
Humans have three main types of muscle fibres, each containing a different variety of a protein called myosin heavy chain (MHC), which the researchers explained is the “microscopic motor” that makes your muscles move. The three types include MHC I (slow-twitch fibres), IIa (fast-twitch) and IIx (super-fast twitch).
The amount of each fibre type influences muscle performance, with fast-twitch fibres especially suited to fast and powerful movements, such as those in “clean and jerk” weightlifting moves. However, the researchers pointed out that how the fibres influence performance has not been well explored in elite athletes, particularly those from strength and power sports.
The findings of the new study, published in the journal Plos One, showed that the weightlifters had the most fast-twitch fibres ever reported in athletes — 67 per cent on average.
According to the researchers, this abundance of fast-twitch fibres partially explains how elite weightlifters are able to generate high forces in short time-frames.
In addition, they also found that the elite women weightlifters had the same amount of the muscle fibres needed for the sport as men, and in fact, with over 85 per cent fast-twitch fibres, two of the World/Olympic-class women actually had more than any of the men.
DISPROVE STEREOTYPE
The authors commented that the findings now help disprove a stereotype about female athletes. “Despite no highlevel data, people thought that women had fewer fast-twitch fibres and that was seen as a negative thing,” said study co-author Jimmy Bagley. “We’ve shown that that is not true.
“These findings suggest athlete calibre, training experience and body mass determine the percentage of fast-twitch fibre more than gender,” said Bagley. “It used to be thought that fibre type was what you were born with, but we show that’s not the case — training has a huge influence.”
Kaylie Zapanta, who helped perform the muscle fibre analysis in the study, added that although men and women are different in terms of hormones and body type, the study shows that in terms of muscle, women are pretty much the same as men.
“When you look at muscle tissue, you can’t really differentiate between a man’s muscle fibres and a woman’s,” she says.