Male vs Female Strength: 10 Facts Backed by Research

On average, men are clearly stronger than women, but the size of the male vs female strength gap depends on where you look. In untrained adults, women produce roughly half of men’s upper body strength and about two-thirds of their lower body strength.

That gap comes mostly from muscle size, not muscle quality. Men carry more muscle, especially through the chest, shoulders and arms, and their muscle fibers are bigger. Testosterone is the main reason why, and the difference only opens up at puberty.

Below are 10 facts on male vs female strength, from muscle fibers and grip norms to elite lifting and training, each linked to its source with the year of the data.

Male vs Female Strength at a Glance

Upper Body vs Lower Body: Where the Gap Is Biggest

Fact 1: Women have about half of men’s upper body strength

The most cited direct comparison comes from a 1993 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. Researchers measured elbow flexor (biceps) and knee extensor (quads) strength in men and women, then took muscle biopsies and CT scans.

The women were about 52% as strong as the men in the upper body and about 66% as strong in the lower body.

That pattern shows up again and again in research on male vs female strength. The gap is widest in pressing, pulling and punching, and narrowest in the legs and hips.

Fact 2: Men’s punching power is far higher than women’s

Upper body power shows an even bigger split than slow strength. In a 2020 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers measured the power 20 men and 19 women could produce in a punch-like arm cranking motion.

According to the University of Utah’s summary of the study, men’s average punching power was 162% greater than women’s (2020). The least powerful man in the sample was still stronger than the most powerful woman. The difference was smaller for an overhead pulling motion.

Fact 3: The lower body gap is smaller, but it is still there

You will see claims online that women are stronger than men in the lower body. The data does not back that up in absolute terms. Women still averaged about two-thirds of men’s leg strength in the 1993 Miller study.

What is true is that the lower body side of the male vs female strength gap is noticeably smaller. That is why many female lifters squat and deadlift far more than they bench, relative to men at a similar training level.

Why Male vs Female Strength Differs: Muscle Mass and Fiber Size

Fact 4: Men carry about 12 kg more muscle

A 2000 MRI study of 468 adults measured skeletal muscle directly rather than estimating it. Men averaged 33.0 kg of skeletal muscle vs 21.0 kg in women, or 38.4% vs 30.6% of body mass.

The difference was bigger in the upper body (40%) than in the lower body (33%). That lines up neatly with the strength gap in Fact 1. Men do not just have more muscle overall. They have a larger share of it above the waist.

Fact 5: Men’s muscle fibers are bigger, but not better

The same 1993 biopsy study found that women’s muscles were 25% to 45% smaller in cross-section, depending on the muscle. In the biceps, men’s average fiber area was 6,632 square microns vs 3,963 in women.

Strength relative to muscle cross-sectional area did not differ significantly between sexes. The authors concluded men’s greater strength came mainly from larger fibers, not stronger ones. A pound of muscle is roughly a pound of muscle.

Fiber type mix is also similar. A 2000 analysis of 150 young adults found that men and women both had about 41% type I (slow-twitch) fibers in the thigh. Men’s fibers were larger across all major types. In men, type IIA fast-twitch fibers were the biggest. In women, type I fibers tended to be the biggest.

Fact 6: Women are often more fatigue resistant

Strength is not the whole story. A 2014 review in Acta Physiologica found that women are usually less fatigable than men during sustained isometric contractions at the same relative intensity.

The advantage depends on the task, but women can often grind out more reps at a given percentage of their max.

Grip Strength Norms for Men and Women

Grip is one of the simplest ways to measure male vs female strength, and it is tracked in huge population studies.

Fact 7: Men’s grip peaks around 51 kg, women’s around 31 kg

A 2014 analysis of 60,803 measurements from 12 British studies found that men’s grip peaked at a median of 51 kg (about 112 lb) between ages 29 and 39. Women peaked at 31 kg (about 68 lb) between ages 26 and 42.

Both hold that level until midlife, then decline.

Fact 8: The male vs female strength overlap in grip is small

Averages can hide how much two groups overlap. A 2007 German study of 1,654 men and 533 women aged 20 to 25 found mean maximal grip force of 541 N in men vs 329 N in women. More striking, 90% of women produced less force than 95% of men.

The researchers also tested 60 elite female judo and handball athletes, sports that demand a strong grip. They averaged 444 N, which only matched the 25th percentile of the untrained men.

The Role of Testosterone

Fact 9: Testosterone drives the gap from puberty on

Before puberty, boys and girls have similar testosterone levels and similar athletic performance. That changes fast. A 2018 review in Endocrine Reviews explains that the testes produce about 30 times more testosterone after puberty, leaving men with circulating levels more than 15 times higher than women’s at any age.

The authors found a dose-response link between circulating testosterone and both muscle mass and strength. They concluded that this hormonal difference largely accounts for men’s advantage in muscle mass, strength and hemoglobin, which gives men at least an 8% to 12% edge in athletic performance. In strength and power events, the edge is much larger.

If you want to understand your own numbers, our guide to free testosterone ranges explains what the different lab values mean.

Male vs Female Strength in Elite Powerlifting

Elite lifting shows the male vs female strength gap at the far end of the curve, where both sexes are trained to their limit. The cleanest comparison comes from a single drug-tested meet with identical rules.

At the 2026 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Druskininkai, Lithuania, the heaviest successful lifts by each sex were:

The pattern matches the lab data. The bench press shows the widest gap and the deadlift the narrowest. Keep in mind that the heaviest men at the meet also weighed more, between about 156 and 186 kg vs about 130 to 143 kg for the heaviest women.

Onuoha’s 292.5 kg (645 lb) pull was, according to the International Powerlifting Federation, the biggest deadlift ever done by a woman in IPF history, classic or equipped (2026).

Fact 10: The biggest lifts on record still show a wide gap

Outside the IPF, the numbers climb, but the gap stays.

• Heaviest deadlift overall: Hafþór Björnsson pulled 505 kg (1,113 lb) at the 2025 Eisenhart Black strongman competition in Germany, using a deadlift suit and straps as strongman rules allow. That broke his own 501 kg pull from 2020.
• Tamara Walcott: The American lifter pulled a 297 kg (655 lb) raw deadlift and totaled 759 kg at a 2025 USPC meet, according to OpenPowerlifting.
• Becca Swanson: Competing in multi-ply supportive gear, Swanson totaled 930 kg (2,050 lb) with a 387.5 kg (854 lb) squat at the 2005 WPO Semifinals, making her one of the strongest women in powerlifting history.

Different federations, rules and gear make these an indirect comparison, but the gap is clear. If you are curious how drug use skews elite numbers, see our breakdown of steroids vs natural bodybuilders.

How Training Changes the Strength Gap

Women respond to lifting just as well as men do.

A 2020 meta-analysis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research pooled studies where men and women followed the same program. It found:

• Hypertrophy: no significant difference between sexes (10 studies)
• Lower body strength: no significant difference in relative gains (23 studies)
• Upper body strength: a moderate effect favoring women for relative gains (17 studies)

A larger 2025 Bayesian meta-analysis in PeerJ of 29 studies agreed. Men added slightly more muscle in absolute terms, mostly in the upper body, but relative increases in muscle size were nearly identical between sexes.

So training does not erase the gap in absolute strength, because men start with more muscle and keep adding it in bigger absolute amounts. But percentage gains are similar, and a trained woman will comfortably out-lift an untrained man in many lifts. As the grip study shows, though, even elite female athletes rarely pass the average untrained man in upper body tasks.

For examples of what years of drug-free training can build, see our list of the best natural bodybuilders.

What These Numbers Mean for Your Training

Male vs female strength data has a few practical takeaways for men who train with or coach women:

• Do not program by copying loads. Use percentages of each lifter’s own max, not absolute weights.
• Expect a bigger gap on the bench than the deadlift. That is biology, not a technique problem.
• Let women push volume. Greater fatigue resistance often means more reps at the same percentage.
• Track relative progress. Percentage gains are the fair way to compare progress between sexes.

How We Checked These Statistics

We rewrote this page in October 2026. Each figure links to the peer-reviewed study, official federation statement or competition database it comes from, along with the year of the data.

We removed the average lift numbers from the old version, such as “the average man can bench 135 lb.” These came from online strength standard calculators, not population studies, and do not represent average adults. We also removed outdated Olympic weightlifting records, because the International Weightlifting Federation has reset its weight classes and records several times since they were set.