Can girls do more push ups than boys?

[hehehaha]

My friend said that girls can do more push ups than boys since boys are heavy weight. Then in military service, why are there more push ups for boys to pass? That's the question.

 

[Panda]

The ability to do Push-ups is upper body strength versus body mass. Increased Upper-body strength does increase body mass but not as much as the additional strength.
I have never seen anything that has indicated that Women are stronger than Men in any muscle group where equal training has been carried out, hence the majority of sports being separate for men and women.

 

[hehehaha]

The ability to do Push-ups is upper body strength versus body mass. Increased Upper-body strength does increase body mass but not as much as the additional strength.
I have never seen anything that has indicated that Women are stronger than Men in any muscle group where equal training has been carried out, hence the majority of sports being separate for men and women.

But aren't boys heavy weight?

 

[Panda]

But they have bigger muscles assuming an equal level of fitness. If you take a man and women of the same fitness level and same height the man will be slightly heavier but will have more muscle strength that more than compensates for the increased mass.
All anthropomorphic studies have come to the conclusion that in direct comparison men are stronger than women.

 

[russ_watters]

I was in the Navy and I never saw any women get within about 40% as many pushups as the better men (70 - 80 vs 120 - 130). For men, however, the skinnier ones (like me!) were often able to do more pushups because pushups don't actually require much strength, just muscle endurance. A muscle-bound guy may do 5 reps per set at near double his weight in a bench-press, but that doesn't help much if you want to do 120 pushups in 2 minutes.

 

[radou]

For men, however, the skinnier ones (like me!) were often able to do more pushups because pushups don't actually require much strength, just muscle endurance.

Muscle endurance yes, but I thought the mass also plays an important role (?).

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

i'm also surprised with this difference too, i mean girls want equalities! now we demand equality in the army..everyone should do the same excercices!

 

[Moonbear]

One thing to consider in addressing the original question is...at what age? It is quite common for 13 yr-old girls to outperform 13-yr old boys in tests of strength. Boys peak in strength several years later than girls due to a later onset of puberty. This is part of the reason why you'll notice such a big difference in age between girls and boys participating in Olympic level sports such as gymnastics. The female gymnasts are usually at their peak performance levels for such activities around 13-15 years old. The male athletes are reaching peak performance closer to 18 years old.

You also have to ask at what level of training you want to make comparisons. Unless you're specifying a high level of training, among the general population you'll find plenty of men who can't do a single push-up and women who can do 100s.

Keep in mind that push ups are not only dependent on arm strength either, but also the strength of back and abdominal muscles if you're using proper form. You use a little bit of leg muscles, but not much relative to other workouts. So, it's not enough to just look at the size of the muscles in the arms, but also at entire upper body strength.

 

[russ_watters]

Muscle endurance yes, but I thought the mass also plays an important role (?).

Not really. When doing a pushup, you are lifting only perhaps 3/4 of your body's weight. There is just no need to be musclebound. And for those who are, most of that added weight is toward the upper-body, so most of it adds to the amount you have to lift (meaning if you are skinnier, your center of gravity is lower).

 

[russ_watters]

This is part of the reason why you'll notice such a big difference in age between girls and boys participating in Olympic level sports such as gymnastics. The female gymnasts are usually at their peak performance levels for such activities around 13-15 years old. The male athletes are reaching peak performance closer to 18 years old.

It may be worthwhile to note that the specific combination of strength(...to weight ratio), flexibility, and agillity required for gymnastics and similar sports (figure skating) favors women. Women are superior to men in most aspects of those sports.

That said, in gymnastics, anyway, the physique women have is physically damaging to them. It is unhealthy and unnatural. The same is true of both male and female powerlifters.

 

[Azael]

Why do you say male powerlifters have unhealthy bodies? Might be true for the super heavyweights but I don't se how it would apply for the middle weights. The lightweights might be pushing it a bit but only around contest time.

Most powerlifters and weightlifters do not carry any obscene ammounts of musclemass either.

 

[hehehaha]

One thing to consider in addressing the original question is...at what age? It is quite common for 13 yr-old girls to outperform 13-yr old boys in tests of strength. Boys peak in strength several years later than girls due to a later onset of puberty. This is part of the reason why you'll notice such a big difference in age between girls and boys participating in Olympic level sports such as gymnastics. The female gymnasts are usually at their peak performance levels for such activities around 13-15 years old. The male athletes are reaching peak performance closer to 18 years old.

You also have to ask at what level of training you want to make comparisons. Unless you're specifying a high level of training, among the general population you'll find plenty of men who can't do a single push-up and women who can do 100s.

Keep in mind that push ups are not only dependent on arm strength either, but also the strength of back and abdominal muscles if you're using proper form. You use a little bit of leg muscles, but not much relative to other workouts. So, it's not enough to just look at the size of the muscles in the arms, but also at entire upper body strength.

So you mean girls can do more push ups than boys?

 

[Monique]

I once beat a classmate with arm-wrestling But I am not that delusional to think that I am stronger than guys, I always need to ask a male-labmate to help me open the liquid nitrogen tank. As for push-ups, I'd be happy if I could do a single proper push-up.

 

[pakmingki]

what exactly is the difference between muscle strength and muscle endurance?
How mutually exclusive are they from each other?

 

[russ_watters]

what exactly is the difference between muscle strength and muscle endurance?
How mutually exclusive are they from each other?

The muscles are physically different: http://members.shaw.ca/bodybuilding/Muscles/structure.html

That's why distance runners' bodies and sprinters' bodies are very different from each other. Different workouts yield different muscles.

 

[russ_watters]

Why do you say male powerlifters have unhealthy bodies? Might be true for the super heavyweights but I don't se how it would apply for the middle weights. The lightweights might be pushing it a bit but only around contest time.

Most powerlifters and weightlifters do not carry any obscene ammounts of musclemass either.

Yes, it was probably an overgeneralization. A lot has to do with diet, drugs, and suppliments screwing with your body chemistry, but too much exercising alone can do that too. I probably shouldn't have limited it to powerlifters - too much running (I'm not sure if it is the exercise itself or the low body fat) can be harmful as well.

 

[russ_watters]

So you mean girls can do more push ups than boys?

In general, the answer is no. But when you ask broad, vague questions, you get a lot of caveats.

You seem to be very hung up on the issue of physical strength differences between the sexes. You shouldn't be - it isn't a big deal.

 

[Moonbear]

You seem to be very hung up on the issue of physical strength differences between the sexes. You shouldn't be - it isn't a big deal.

On that note, I'll mention that women find ways to compensate for lack of physical strength, so aren't limited in what they can do when it comes to a work environment.

I work with a male technician out at the research farm, and he's suffering the consequences of a lot of past injuries now (he's fairly close to retirement age). When he started working here, it was mostly with men. Because they had the strength to just do whatever they needed to do by brute force, they did...and as a result, he has had shoulder injuries, back injuries, etc. Nobody thought about it then, as he will explain it...they were tough guys and you don't complain about the pain.

Now, we have a predominance of women working out at the farm. I'm pretty strong, but not as strong as some of the other men there by a long shot, and the other women I work with are not nearly as strong as I am. Yet, we still can do everything we need to get done. Our technician will say, "You work so much smarter; why didn't we do this years ago?" Two of us women can't carry an anesthetized sheep from the surgical prep area and then lift them to a surgery table on our own without hurting ourselves (I have done it in the past, but I'm going to be awfully sore the next day), while two of the men who previously worked there could. So, we use other methods. We anesthetize them next to a cart and as soon as they get a bit tipsy, we give them a nudge sideways so they lie on the cart for surgical prep, then bring the cart up to a hydraulic table, roll them on, and then raise them to the surgery table with that.

As a more common example...carrying a heavy sack of groceries or something else of similar size. Men might have better forearm strength to just hold onto the sack using their arms alone, but women can rest it on their hips and use less arm stregth to carry the same size sack.

With regard to the boys vs girls question, just to reiterate, age matters. Since you asked about "boys" vs "girls" and not "men" vs "women," you could have been referring to children. There really is no difference in young children. Pubertal girls briefly surpass boys of the same age, because those boys are still pre-pubertal. Once boys go through puberty, they gain the advantage, and that remains the case throughout adulthood...assuming all else is equal in terms of fitness and training.

 

[jim mcnamara]

The whole question is non-sequitur. Humans are sexually dimorphic, males generally larger than females.

Female spiders are generally much larger than males and usually eat the males after they mate. So, spiders are sexually dimorphic, too, just like humans.

So, can female spiders do more push-ups? And if so, what the heck does it prove? Answer: nothing.

 

[tehno]

Female spiders are generally much larger

And suddenly spiders pop up in thread like this from thin air!Again.
Mystery.

 

[Mk]

As a more common example...carrying a heavy sack of groceries or something else of similar size. Men might have better forearm strength to just hold onto the sack using their arms alone, but women can rest it on their hips and use less arm stregth to carry the same size sack.

Uh, what? How can you rest a sack of grain or a heavy sack of groceries on your hip(s)?

 

[Moonbear]

Uh, what? How can you rest a sack of grain or a heavy sack of groceries on your hip(s)?

Are you serious? Stick your hip out and rest the sack on it. It's that simple. You have noticed that women's hips are shaped differently than men's hips, haven't you?

 

[davey92]

Boys Vs. Girls Pushups

Okay not exactly true.. My friend weighs about 40 pounds more than I do and were BIG kids but I'm more muscular ( x 10 ) :P than he is we were both born the same year and live the same life style. We are both 15 and right now I can do 47 push-ups (army) in 42 seconds (yes we are that bored to actually time it. ) My friend on the other hand can do like 7 before he's done. So I don't see why not. It all depends on how much muscle you have vs. how much you don't not if your a boy or girl. Hope that help
<3