You’ve probably seen the videos. A female CrossFit athlete clean-and-jerks a weight that would make most gym bros weep, or an ultra-marathoner like Courtney Dauwalter leaves a field of elite men miles behind in the dust. It feels like a glitch in the Matrix because we’ve been told since middle school biology that men are "naturally" stronger. But the reality is messy. It’s nuanced. And honestly, there are plenty of specific scenarios where women that are stronger than men isn't just a fluke—it’s a biological or mechanical reality.
Strength isn't just about the size of a bicep.
If we’re talking about raw, absolute power—like moving a literal boulder—hormones like testosterone give men a massive head start in muscle mass and bone density. However, "strength" is a broad term. Are we talking about pound-for-pound strength? Endurance strength? The ability to survive in extreme environments? When you shift the lens, the hierarchy starts to wobble.
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Why Some Women Are Stronger Than Men in Modern Athletics
Take the world of ultra-endurance. This is where the gap between the sexes doesn't just narrow; it sometimes flips entirely. In 2019, Jasmin Paris didn't just win the 268-mile Spine Race; she smashed the existing course record by 12 hours. She beat every man in the field while she was literally expressing breast milk at aid stations for her daughter. This isn’t a one-off anomaly.
Research, including a massive study by RunRepeat that analyzed over 5 million marathon results, suggests that as the distance increases, women get relatively faster compared to men. Once you hit the 195-mile mark, women are actually about 0.6% faster on average.
Why? It’s likely down to metabolic efficiency. Women are generally better at burning fat for fuel than men, who tend to rely more on glycogen. When a man "hits the wall" because his sugar stores are tapped out, a woman is often still chugging along on her body's fat reserves. She’s literally built for the long haul.
The Power of the Lower Body
If you look at relative strength, specifically in the legs, the playing field is much closer than people think. Most studies show that women have about 60% to 70% of the upper-body strength of men, but that jumps to 80% or even 90% when you measure lower-body power.
In certain lifts, particularly those involving balance and core stability, elite female powerlifters often move weights that put the average "fit" man to shame. It's not just about the muscle; it's about neurological efficiency. Women’s nervous systems are often incredibly adept at recruiting motor units. They can fire those muscles with a precision that bridges the gap created by smaller muscle fibers.
Flexibility and Functional Resilience
Strength isn't just about pushing; it's about not breaking.
Estrogen is often dismissed as just a reproductive hormone, but it’s actually a secret weapon for muscle repair. Studies published in Sports Medicine indicate that estrogen has a protective effect against muscle damage. Women often recover faster from high-intensity bouts of exercise than men do. They can handle higher volume. If a man and a woman do the same brutal workout, the woman is often ready to go again sooner because her muscle membranes are more stable.
The Myth of the "Weaker Sex" in High-Stakes Environments
Let’s talk about the biological "why."
Historically, we’ve framed human evolution around the "Man the Hunter" narrative, but recent archaeological finds are blowing that apart. A 2020 study of a 9,000-year-old burial site in the Andes found a female hunter buried with a full kit of big-game hunting tools. Analysis of other burial sites across the Americas suggested that up to 50% of big-game hunters were female.
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They weren't just "gathering." They were taking down megafauna.
This required a specific kind of functional strength—stamina, core stability, and the ability to carry heavy loads over uneven terrain for days. This isn't the explosive strength of a 100-meter sprinter. It’s the "stronger than men" resilience required to survive a literal ice age.
Pain Tolerance: The Psychological Edge
You can't talk about strength without talking about the brain. While "pain tolerance" is notoriously hard to measure in a lab, clinical data suggests women often have a higher threshold for certain types of chronic, grueling physical stress.
In "hell weeks" for elite military training or extreme survival situations, it’s often not the biggest, most muscular guy who lasts the longest. It’s the person with the highest mental "strength." Because women have lower baseline muscle mass, they also have lower caloric requirements. In a starvation scenario, a 220-pound muscular man will waste away much faster than a 130-pound woman. His muscles are a liability; her efficiency is an asset. She is "stronger" because she survives.
Where the Data Gets Interesting
Look at the Olympics.
If you compare the world records, yes, men currently hold the higher numbers in weightlifting and sprinting. But look at the rate of improvement. Since women were finally allowed to compete in these events (let’s not forget, women weren't even allowed to run the Olympic marathon until 1984), their records have been falling at a much faster rate than men's.
We haven't even seen the ceiling for women that are stronger than men yet because the investment in female sports science is still decades behind the male side. We are just now starting to understand how the menstrual cycle affects peak power output.
Imagine training an athlete for 40 years without knowing how their hormones work. That's basically where we've been. As we dial in nutrition and training cycles specifically for female biology, that "strength gap" continues to shrink.
Breaking Down the "Pound for Pound" Argument
If you take a 150-pound man and a 150-pound woman, the man will usually have more lean muscle mass and less body fat. That’s just basic biology. But strength is also a function of leverage.
Women often have a lower center of gravity and different pelvic structures. In movements like the back squat, this can actually be an advantage for stability.
- Neuromuscular control: Women tend to have better control over their medial quadriceps, which helps in stabilizing the knee.
- Fatigue resistance: Type I muscle fibers (slow-twitch) are more prevalent in women’s bodies compared to men’s.
- Recovery: As mentioned, the estrogen factor allows for more frequent training sessions without overtraining.
In the gym, you see this manifest as "density." A female athlete might not hit a one-rep max as high as her male counterpart, but she can often do 10 reps at 90% of her max, whereas the man might fail after three. Who is stronger? The one who can move the most total tonnage over an hour? Often, that’s the woman.
Real World Examples of Incredible Strength
It’s worth looking at specific people who redefine these boundaries.
- Tamara Walcott: She broke the world record for the heaviest powerlifting total by a woman, deadlifting over 630 pounds. That’s more than the vast majority of men on the planet will ever move, including those who spend their lives in the gym.
- Maggie Guterl: In 2019, she was the last person standing at Big’s Backyard Ultra, outlasting every male competitor by running 250 miles over 60 hours.
- Becca Swanson: Often cited as the strongest woman ever, she squatted 854 pounds.
These aren't just "strong for a woman." These are "strong for a human" stats. When you get to the tail end of the Bell curve, the overlap between the strongest women and the strongest men is significant.
The Cultural Shift
We're finally moving away from the idea that "strength" is a masculine trait. Honestly, it’s about time. For decades, women were told that lifting heavy would make them "bulky" or "manly," which is a physiological lie for most people. What happened instead? Women started lifting anyway and realized they were capable of way more than society gave them credit for.
This shift is visible in everything from the rise of the "strongwoman" divisions in iron sports to the way female action stars are portrayed in movies. We're no longer surprised to see a woman deadlifting three times her body weight. It’s becoming the new normal.
Practical Insights for Building Strength
If you're looking to bridge that gap or simply maximize your own physical potential, the takeaways are clear. Strength is a skill, not just a biological destiny.
- Focus on Relative Strength: Don't compare yourself to a different biological blueprint. Focus on what you can lift relative to your own body weight.
- Leverage Recovery: Because women recover faster, they can often benefit from higher frequency training. You don't necessarily need "leg day" once a week; you might thrive on three full-body sessions.
- Don't Fear the Heavy Iron: Muscle mass is the primary driver of metabolic health and bone density. Lifting heavy doesn't turn you into a bodybuilder overnight; it turns you into a more resilient version of yourself.
- Master the Mechanics: Women often have more joint laxity (thanks, relaxin and estrogen). This means form is even more critical to prevent injury, but it also allows for a greater range of motion which can lead to better muscle development.
Ultimately, the conversation about women that are stronger than men is moving past the "battle of the sexes" tropes. It’s becoming a celebration of what the human body can do when we stop putting arbitrary limits on it. Whether it's through the grit of a 200-mile run or the sheer force of a world-record squat, women are proving every day that strength has no gender. It just has work.
Next Steps for Strength Development
If you want to test these limits yourself, start by tracking your volume load (weight x reps x sets) rather than just your one-rep max. This gives a much more accurate picture of "work capacity," which is where female physiology often shines. Prioritize compound movements like the deadlift and overhead press to build a foundation of functional power. Finally, ensure your protein intake is hitting at least 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight to support the muscle repair that estrogen helps facilitate.