Over the years, we have seen exponential growth in women opting for gym memberships and also good and regular attendance for workouts, though this was not the case earlier!
If we talk about our country, India, the awareness of health and fitness in general came a bit later compared to other developed countries, and exercising, especially strength training, was mostly done by males. It took quite a few years to clear the myths surrounding women doing strength training and their own need for it.
There are a total of 11 systems in the human body & what separates a male from a female are 2 systems known as
1) Hormonal or endocrine system
2) Reproductive system.
The rest of the systems are the same, though these 2 systems might have a different influence on the other systems, but they don't have any influence on the topic that we are discussing today.
When we exercise, we are primarily dealing with a few systems namely -
1) Musculoskeletal system
2)Cardiorespiratory system
3) Skeletal system
4) Respiratory system
5) Nervous system
These systems are the same and function equally in both males and females
Women looking manly because of training has been associated with them doing strength training. The system that gets involved while doing strength training is the musculoskeletal system, which involves the skeletal muscles, which are the same and have the same functions in both males and females. It is important to strengthen muscles, as they promote anti-aging, and make an individual stronger in performing day-to-day activities. It is especially important for women to strengthen muscles, as they naturally have less muscle mass than men and are thus less physically strong among the two. How an individual looks because of training depends on the nutrition that they follow as well as their hormonal profile. An average woman won't look as muscular as a man due to hormonal differences, as women are at a disadvantage due to having less testosterone (the dominant male sex hormone), which promotes more muscle mass in men. The dominant sex hormones in females are estrogen and progesterone. A woman doing strength training will lead to more muscle & strength over the years, but it will be nowhere close compared to a male, even if a woman wants as much muscle as a male.
We can see a few women who do look manly, have a decent amount of muscle and minimal body fat, and have manly features, but these are female bodybuilders who need to inject synthetic hormones to look a certain way as it is a requirement of that sport. There can be a few exceptions where, without any enhancements, a woman may have manly features, but these are rare cases of genetic defects. (There have been women born without ovaries & having more testosterone than usual yet look like a woman)
So we need not worry about women doing any kind of training, as it makes them stronger, fitter, and healthier.
