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Show Women Pursue Exercise 1H DR. DALE NELSON Utah State I niversity Do you remember when girls wouldn't be caught dead in a physical conditioning class and when they were not even allowed to run distance races'.' No one ever saw thmlv clad girls running dow n the road in those ancient times. That was reserved for a few odd ball men or. at best, track athletes. I CAN E EN remember when I could beat all pills at any distance fw ith ease. Of course. Ml years of water under the bridge allows for a slight narrowing of the cap hut. still, tunes have changed radically. radic-ally. I can no longer beat all of the girls at any distance and the female enrollment in my D na-mic na-mic Fitness classes exceeds that of men. In addition, in those classes some of the girls beat many of the men at distances of three or four miles. Furthermore, you can expect to see women, young and "older." running on our roads at any time ot the day in anv part of the state. That's great! I'm happy to see the women physic, illy liberated. liber-ated. AS WOMEN rush into fitness fit-ness programs and athletic competition, many questions tied to old myths still seem to occupv our attention. Yes. men are stronger than women, but only because they ate bigger. big-ger. The strength lor women is the same as for men when you compare the cross-sectional area ol muscles. W omen do not by pei'iophv or bulk up wi;h heavy icsisi-.iikc icsisi-.iikc exercise piociarrs I ke men because they do not have as much ol the m.i'e hormone testosterone and ;'it is the vi. iv women want it. ,i;'vu.,v WOMf N II V I. the s.:-"c en-u.oancC en-u.oancC c.ip.icl'v as ryen W erid d.iss cn.!at.tnvc rfr" torTaPcCs n s - rc ,i",l rvnnirg .re much r'o-e c. "-p "-p .."-'c n. !'..!' r-o-c v . -en V U .1 k ' S V 1 ; 1 . . VI .-',. n ,i s T" ." 1 h e ' 'S f-c'e !'c'v - ue v ; -. v : c :'s u-; ' .i "i : " ; " s s ue." 'C ! . " - . -iii'V! N Kf told. Ihe pelvic cavity of women actually protects the ovaries, for instance, better than the protection provided for the reproductive organs of men. The menstrual cycle offers no danger to most women in strenuous activity, and severe bruises to the breasts do not cause breast cancer, as many have been led to believe. |