Background: Athletic performance can be influenced by various factors, including
those related to biological sex. Various scientific disciplines have studied the observed
differences in athletic performance between men and women. Moreover, anaerobic
performance refers to the capacity of the human body to generate energy quickly and
efficiently during high-intensity and short-duration activities. It is associated with the
ability to perform explosive actions and the capacity for rapid recovery between
repeated efforts. Anaerobic performance is a determining factor for performance in
high-intensity sports and those with predominantly lower intensity but intermittent
peaks of higher intensity. One high-intensity sport that has experienced exponential
growth and attracts increasing numbers of participants yearly is commercially known
as CrossFit (CF). Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to determine the
anaerobic performance differences between sexes in CF athletes in terms of absolute
and relative values.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over 2 weeks. Fifty CrossFit
athletes (25 men and 25 women) voluntarily participated in the study. They were
subjected to body composition analysis and three maximal effort tests to measure
anaerobic performance: a cycle ergometer test, a continuous jump test and a squat
test.
Results: Significant differences were found in all the variables of absolute peak power
and relative to body mass in the three tests. In values adjusted to lean and muscle
mass, significant differences were only found in the cycle ergometer test but not in
the other two. In mean power variables, significant differences were found in all the
variables studied, except for the mean power adjusted to muscle mass in the squat
test. In conclusion, this study’s results indicate that differences between sexes in
absolute and relative peak powers measured in all test...
