Do Women and Men Need Different Training Plans? Blog Banner
For years, the fitness world has gone back and forth on the question, should men and women train differently? Some say women should lift lighter and do more reps. Others argue that men should avoid cardio if they want to keep their muscle. And every now and then, someone throws in something about hormones or the menstrual cycle and suddenly it’s all a bit of a mess.
But what if the science gave us a clearer answer?
A recent 2025 study by Dreher and colleagues might be the most comprehensive look yet at how male and female muscles behave differently, and more importantly, how they adapt the same way when you get the training right.
If you’re looking at PT courses or expanding your knowledge through more advanced personal training courses, understanding the muscle science behind training design isn’t just a bonus, it’s essential.
So, let’s get into what this study tells us, and what it means for how we train women and men.
First up, let’s talk about the baseline. The researchers looked at 25 sedentary adults with overweight or obesity (16 women and 9 men), and took a deep look inside their muscle cells. This was done not just with a microscope, but with full-blown genetic, proteomic and epigenetic analysis. Basically, they got the full picture.
What they found confirmed what many trainers already suspect, men and women’s muscles are built differently from the ground up.
Women tended to have more slow-twitch (Type I) muscle fibres. They’re the ones that are great for endurance and fat-burning. Their muscles showed higher levels of proteins involved in fat uptake and storage, like CD36 and PLIN2, which help muscles run more efficiently on fat.
Men on the other hand, had more fast-twitch (Type II) fibres, and their muscles were primed for speed and power. They also had more enzymes involved in glycolysis and glycogen breakdown, like PGK1 and LDHA. All of this points towards a greater reliance on carbohydrates as a fuel source.
These differences were partly driven by sex hormones like testosterone and oestrogen, but even more interestingly, they were deeply rooted in DNA methylation. These are the epigenetic markings that regulate how genes are expressed. In other words, the difference isn’t just hormonal, it’s written into how our genes are used.
So, when you get two clients, one male and one female, walking through the door with similar goals, should you be thinking about how they fuel differently?
Potentially, yes. Women’s muscles at rest are more set up to use fat as a primary energy source. They also store more fat inside the muscle cells and they tend to have better intramuscular triglyceride turnover. This is great as it gives women an endurance advantage and helps preserve glycogen for when it’s really needed.
Men’s muscles meanwhile, are wired for faster more explosive efforts using carbohydrates. They’re better at breaking down glycogen and have a higher glycolytic enzyme profile, which helps with sprinting, powerlifting and high-output training.
But these are starting points, not fixed limits.
After just one 30-minute bout of moderate-intensity endurance exercise (cycling), both men and women had a typical response. Their muscles switched on genes involved in repair, mitochondrial function and metabolism.
But the men showed something extra. That was a stronger stress response.
Male participants had higher levels of stress-related genes like ATF3 and HMOX1, and their blood myoglobin (a marker of muscle damage) spiked significantly. Women didn’t show the same level of stress signalling.
A few theories are floating around as to why the difference, but the most likely explanation is the protective effect of oestrogen. It’s been shown to reduce oxidative stress and protect muscle membranes from damage, which may explain why women tend to have lower post-exercise soreness and inflammation.
It’s also worth noting that, although men had higher absolute workload during the session (around 143W vs 101W for women), both trained at 80% of their VO₂peak, so intensity was matched to fitness level. This wasn’t about effort, it was about how the muscle responded.
If you’re programming for new clients, especially those who are deconditioned or carrying excess weight, it’s something to be aware of. Male clients might need a little more time to adjust to volume and recovery strategies could matter more early on.
Now here’s the twist!. After 8 weeks of structured endurance training (cycling and treadmill walking, 3 times a week), most of those differences between male and female muscle had faded.
Both groups showed increases in mitochondrial proteins, TCA cycle enzymes, and β-oxidation capacity. All of these signs indicate better aerobic metabolism. Fast-twitch muscle markers that were initially higher in men dropped to similar levels seen in women. Even the male-dominant glycolytic enzymes decreased.
The bottom line? Training works.
Eight weeks was enough to level the playing field. Male and female muscles, despite different starting points, responded in remarkably similar ways to the same training stimulus. The stress markers that were higher in men at the beginning, were gone. The fat metabolism advantages in women were still there, but not in a way that limits performance.
This suggests that while sex does shape how muscles work at rest and how they respond to that very first workout, consistent training brings everyone to a more equal place. It’s like the body says, “Alright, let’s do what works best,” regardless of whether you started off with more fast-twitch or slow-twitch fibres.
So, do men and women need completely different training plans?
No. But they may need slightly different programming in the early stages.
If a woman has more slow-twitch fibres and better fat metabolism, she might handle longer sessions or higher volume better. If a man is more glycolytic and shows stronger stress markers, he might need more gradual increases in load, more recovery or a closer eye on fatigue.
Once they’ve both had a few weeks of consistent endurance training under their belt, the differences shrink. What matters more at that point is personal history, training age, motivation, injuries and goals.
So yes, sex can help explain some of the early variation in how clients adapt but it shouldn’t dictate long-term programme design.
Instead of building “men’s programmes” and “women’s programmes,” we should be building smart, progressive programmes that meet the client where they are and evolve as they adapt.
The Dreher et al. study is a reminder that the human body is complex, adaptable and far more similar between sexes than we often assume and this becomes more obvious once training begins.
For us, it reinforces the value of endurance training not just for cardiovascular health, but for metabolic adaptation and muscle function too.
If you’re working with clients with obesity or those who are just starting their fitness journey, this kind of evidence is gold. It helps you make better choices in programme design, recovery protocols and even how you communicate expectations.
In the end, the real question isn’t “should men and women train differently?”
It’s “how do I train the individual in front of me in a way that gets them results safely, sustainably and backed by science?”
Dreher SI, Goj T, von Toerne C, Hoene M, Irmler M, Ouni M, Jähnert M, Beckers J, Hrabe de Angelis M, Peter A, Moller A, Birkenfeld AL, Schürmann A, Hauck SM, Weigert C. (2025). Sex differences in resting skeletal muscle and the acute and long-term response to endurance exercise in individuals with overweight and obesity. Molecular Metabolism. Click here to review the full research article.
Looking to start a career in fitness? The TRAINFITNESS Gym Instructor & Personal Trainer Diplomas give you everything you need to qualify with confidence. A recent study (Dreher et al., 2025) found that even though men and women’s muscles differ at rest, women burn more fat and men rely more on carbs. It also found that just eight weeks of endurance training significantly reduced those differences, showing how adaptable the human body really is. This kind of insight is woven into our personal training courses, helping you understand not just how to train, but why it works. Whether you study in person or online, you’ll graduate with the knowledge and skills to design smart, effective programmes for any client.
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