Fitness Lit Breakdown with Dr. Nick Trubee artwork

Do men & women use different muscles during the squat?

Fitness Lit Breakdown with Dr. Nick Trubee

English - February 28, 2022 12:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 17 ratings
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There are some obvious differences between men & women related to exercising physiology. Hormonal, anatomical, and relative strength to name a few, but is there a difference in how each engages specific muscles during exercise? Some recent evidence may provide a window into this as a recent article shows differences in how men engage the hamstring muscles during the lowering phase of a squat compared to women. Now this may be important to note as injury risk to the knee tends to be higher in women compared to men in certain sports, and this could be a potential reason for that difference. In this episode I chat with Chad Trudo, CSCS, the Director of Strength & Conditioning for Aurora University and discuss how he assesses and programs his women athletes with these findings in mind.

Article of reference:
"Electromyography comparison of sex differences during the back squat"
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 36(2)/310-313.