Weight Training Benefits Older Women, Men Equally, Study Shows

A study in Sports Medicine compared the results of women and men ages 50 to 90 who started resistance training exercise programs, and learned that while men were more likely to gain absolute muscle size, their gains were equal to women's relative to body size, reports HealthDay News . "Historically, people tended to believe that men adapted to a greater degree from resistance training compared to women," said Amanda Hagstrom at the University of New South Wales. "The differences we found primarily relate to how we look at the data — that is, absolutely or relatively. 'Absolute' looks at the overall gains, while 'relative' is a percentage based on their body size," The researchers reviewed more than 650 older men and 750 older women across 30 resistance training studies, and most subjects had no previous resistance training. "Older men might benefit from higher intensity programs to improve their absolute upper and lower body strength," Hagstrom noted. "But older women might benefit from higher overall exercise volumes — that is, more weekly repetitions — to increase their relative and absolute lower body strength."