Walk into any gym, and one thing becomes obvious right away — the men are generally larger, stronger, and more muscular than the women. Sure, there are some unusually large and strong women, and some men that land on the smaller side of the spectrum. But even when a man and woman are the exact same height and weight, the man will normally have more muscle mass (via DrElist). What gives?

走进任何一家健身房，有一件事马上就变得显而易见——男人通常比女人更高大、更强壮、更有肌肉。当然，有一些异常高大强壮的女性，也有一些男性的体型较小。但是，即使男女身高和体重完全相同，男性通常也会拥有更多的肌肉。到底是什么原因?

We can give the sex hormone testosterone most of the credit for the difference. The hormone contributes in a major way to (among other things), growth in both muscle mass and bone mass (via WebMD). Although women's bodies do produce some testosterone, their levels of the hormone are far lower — 90 percent lower on average — than men's. The hormonal difference accounts for men's ability to both build more muscle than women, and to build it faster.

我们可以把这种差异大部分归功于性激素睾丸激素。这种激素主要促进肌肉和骨量的增长(通过WebMD)。尽管女性的身体确实会产生一些睾酮，但她们的激素水平比男性平均水平低90%。荷尔蒙的差异解释了男性比女性更能锻炼肌肉，也能更快地锻炼肌肉。

Strength training is important for both women and men

力量训练对男女都很重要

Sean Fortune, a personal trainer and running coach in New York City, explains "As a trainer, I know some very strong females. But it's safe to say that, generally speaking, it's easier for men to develop not just upper-body strength, but strength in any body part, simply because of the hormonal advantage of having more testosterone."

纽约市的私人教练兼跑步教练肖恩·福琼(Sean Fortune)解释说：“作为一名教练，我认识一些非常强壮的女性。但可以肯定的是，一般来说，男性不仅更容易发展上半身的力量，而且更容易发展身体任何部位的力量，这仅仅是因为拥有更多睾丸激素的荷尔蒙优势。”

While testosterone plays a major role in muscle mass, there's more to the structural and physiological differences between men and women than just a single hormone. Women have (and need) a higher percentage of body fat than men, to maintain optimum health. And their muscle mass tends to be more concentrated in the lower body, while for men it's greater in the upper body. Also, scientists have found more than 3000 unique genes that behave differently in women's muscles than in men's (via Livestrong).

虽然睾酮在肌肉质量中起着主要作用，但男女之间的结构和生理差异不仅仅是一种激素。为了保持最佳健康状态，女性比男性拥有(并且需要)更高比例的身体脂肪。女性的肌肉集中在下半身，而男性的肌肉集中在上半身。此外，科学家还发现了3000多个独特的基因，这些基因在女性肌肉中的行为与男性不同。

In spite of the differences, both women and men can benefit greatly from strength training exercises. Fortune adds, "Strength training is so important in terms of building bone density and strength ... women are going to get the same results as men, just to somewhat of a lesser degree" (via WebMD).

尽管存在差异，但无论男女都能从力量训练中受益匪浅。《财富》杂志补充道，“力量训练对于提高骨密度和力量非常重要……女性将获得与男性相同的结果，只是程度稍低”。