It turns out the official guidelines for strength training are—like many other fields in health—largely based on the male body.
If you strength or resistance train, chances are the ins and outs of your workout—like what weights to lift, how many reps to do, and how frequently you should do them—are based on official guidelines from peak exercise science bodies. But a UNSW Sydney research project, published in Sports Medicine , found the guidelines for young people and adults are based on about 70% male data — data that might not even apply to half the population.
- Female participants are underrepresented in resistance training research cited in both youth and adult guidelines," says Dr. Mandy Hagstrom, senior lecturer in exercise science at UNSW Medicine and senior author on the study. “In many cases, the guidelines don’t even acknowledge this bias. We’re making assumptions the male data is appropriate to everyone, where the fact is, we simply don’t know.”*
The understudying of female bodies is rife across the health and medical field, says Dr. Hagstrom.
- “There’s the assumption that the male biology is the standard, and everything deviates away from that,” she says. "The problem runs so deep it even shows up in cellular research—when basic science researchers are doing single cell studies, they’re more likely to use male cells.
Changing the game
The study has opened more questions for Dr. Hagstrom—like whether our gender influences the way we approach research and present it in the field. She plans on digging into this further in her research over the next few years.
Previously, Dr. Hagstrom’s research largely focused on ways people can improve their exercise routines—like how frequently they should switch things up, what weights to opt for, how women can achieve the best strength gains.
But now, she wants to move away from specific exercise outcomes and focus on the research field as a whole.
“I’m thinking bigger picture now,” she says. "Not just the effects of individual exercises on the body, but how our research practice can move the field forward.
As sports science students, lets advocate for more diverse research studies!