Strength training for female athletes. A review of selected aspects.

Women and men respond to strength training in very similar ways from their individual pretraining baselines. Women on the average have smaller bodies than men, have less absolute muscle mass and smaller individual muscle fibers, and display approximately two-thirds of the absolute overall strength and power of men. In addition, children are enculturated to view strength as masculine, an outlook which has depressed the pursuit and performance of strength activities by women. However, unit for unit, female muscle tissue is similar in force output to male muscle tissue, and there is some evidence to support similar, proportional increases for the sexes in strength performance and hypertrophy of muscle fibre relative to pretraining status. Strength training can also provide beneficial alterations in bone, body fat and self-concept in women. There is no evidence that women should train differently than men, and training programmes should be tailored for each individual.

Frequency of physical activity, exercise capacity, and atherosclerotic heart disease risk factors in male police officers.

A total of 171 male police officers volunteered to (1) assess risk factors for developing atherosclerotic heart disease and (2) evaluate the relationship of fitness to risk. Results revealed substantial numbers of officers with elevated risk: 22% were smokers, 76% had elevated cholesterol, 26% had elevated triglycerides, 16% had elevated BP, and 60% had elevated body fat. Increased fitness was associated with decreased risk. Compared with Group II (moderate fitness) or Group III (low fitness), Group I (high fitness) had significantly lower values of body fat, diastolic BP, total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins, lipid ratios, triglycerides, and smoking incidence. Low fitness was associated with the highest prevalence of abnormal exercise tests. The results suggest (1) police officers have a high prevalence of risk and (2) increased fitness is associated with reduced risk.