Training and Nutrition for Performance: Males, Females, and Gender Differences

The number of participants in sports, whether amateur and professional, or in highly demanding exercise modalities, such as high-intensity functional training or ultra-endurance racing, has increased in recent decades. Both males and females have become increasingly engaging in fitness exercise programs to improve their health and wellness, continually pushing themslves to reach their limits. Therefore, specific knowledge about nutrition and training strategies, including training programs, training methods, and the optimal concurrent nutrition interventions to enhance performance, health, and wellbeing in males and females, must be developed extensively. Further, females and gender differences have been investigated to a lesser extent, meaning that it is common in practice to apply similar strategies for both sexes. Due to the physiological, anatomical, and biological differences between males and females, it becomes essential to independently study males and females in order to establish specific approaches.

Along these lines, there is an increasing demand to adapt combined training programs with nutritional control, the ingestion of nutritional supplements, and/or use of ergogenic aids to address the peculiarities of females and males (e.g., hormones regulation, nutritional demands, ...) in order to help competition and fitness, enhance adaptations, and thus optimize improvements in performance, wellness, and health.