Originally Posted by
CJ Gotcher
Just seeing this now. Rip's curt here because it's already explained in the article. The problem is not just the difference in how long women can progress/jump on the program. Even advanced female lifter appear to be able to handle a greater volume of work at the same intensity (%1RM) and have a 5RM that's much closer to their 1RM than a male with an equivalent 1RM.
You also can't explain it as a simple question of difference in lean mass. Even granted a 20% handicap (more than making up for the lean mass differences between a male and female due to minimum-safe-BF%), women's records in maximal strength events (powerlifting, Olympic lifting, etc.) are significantly behind those of men which (again) suggests some factor which limits women's expression of maximum strength relative to men's.
Physiologically, women even appear to develop muscle differently, with certain anabolic hormone factors responding very poorly to training (testosterone) and others (like IGF-1) responding as-much-as-or-more-than a man's.
The differences are complex, but women aren't just "small men."