Women and overtraining

[Heather]

Hi Coach-

From PP:
"As a practical matter, if daily, weekly, or monthly programming models are used to increase strength or power, some modifications are required for women since the intensities used are based on the individual 1RM, and women can work with a higher percentage of this 1RM for reps.
[...]if increased mass is the goal, a relatively larger amount of high volume work over a longer time at a slightly higher intensity would be needed."

So women have to work more, harder, and longer to get results. My question is, in light of this, are women in general more resistant to overtraining?

Thanks,

Heather

[Mark Rippetoe]

An interesting question. Women, in general are more resistant to overtraining because women, in general, are resistant to training at all. The neuromuscular differences between men and women allow for higher percentages of 1RM to be handled for reps, which means that each rep represents a lower percentage of absolute strength. So women are less likely to overuse the things that lead to overtraining. But women may suffer from a muted recovery ability from the work they can do by virtue of the same lower testosterone levels that contribute to the diminished work capacity.

What is your impression?

[Heather]

Thanks for your thoughts Coach.

I've only got my own experience as a guide, so I'm not sure how easily or often men overtrain. I don't know that I've ever been truly overtrained, but a couple of times in the three years I've been lifting I have gotten to a point where my performance started going downhill, and then an overuse injury would pop up and force me to back off for a few months. These days I am trying to find a balance between working hard enough and often enough to make appropriate progress, and not working myself to the point where I end up hurt. I hadn't thought about the effects of testosterone (or lack thereof) on recovery; but in my case it seems "muted recovery ability" may be something to consider in my programming.

Heather