How much are women able to carry?

[Erbswurst]

If couples are hiking, usually the man carries tent and kitchen on top of his stuff, the lady doesn't carry extra stuff, and so they are more or less equal in speed.

Lets say for most civil young men a load between 13 kg and 16 kg is comfortable, 18 kg is the border men are able to carry over longer distances if they aren't selected and trained like special forces in the armies. That means men between round about 180 and 185 cm.

Women usually are between 165 cm and 175 cm tall in most parts of Europe, so of course they need a lower weight to feel comfortable.

But I was told, women would have a different muscle structure, and are weaker than men if they have the same size.

If I compared myself with women by doing something where muscles are needed I always had been far stronger.

So my question is:

How much can normal women carry over longer distances?
And which weight is comfortable?

 

[GuestD]

This is a decidedly sexist question. People should carry what they are comfortable with regardless of gender and mind their own business, or else expect a visit from Nurse Diesel. She knows a thing or two about weight.

 

[Nomad64]

.......

If I compared myself with women by doing something where muscles are needed I always had been far stronger.

Seriously?

I’ve just checked the weather forecast and Germany seems to be enjoying the same gloriously sunny weather that we are in the UK and you are sat around working out whether women are as strong as men - for heavens sake get outside and enjoy yourself!

If you are really stuck for something to do and fancy doing some practical research this weekend why not practice carrying a 20 litre water container on your head for a few kms and when you have mastered that try it with no hands, then no hands and barefoot, then no hands, barefoot with a baby on your back, you may have to use a bottle when you get to the no hands, barefoot, baby on back with another feeding round the front level!

 

[santaman2000]

The basic rule of thumb is a person should carry no more than 1/5th (20%) of their body weight. That said, those guidelines were promulgated back before obesity was common (in other words, most of us, men and women, are already carrying a useless load of fat)

Is female muscle structure different? Yep, and all the politically correct arguments to the contrary won’t change that. BUT! If you follow the guideline I posted (1/5th of body weight) it will automatically compensate regardless of gender. At least regarding the AMOUNT of weight. The other consideration is HOW they carry their load. Men’s muscle strength is usually concentrated as upper body strength. Women on the other hand usually have their body strength concentrated in their lower body. Women’s packs can fit quite differently although this isn’t always the case (body build may vary more between individuals than between genders)

 

[Erbswurst]

Does that mean, that the use of a hip belt for women is more important than for men or are the muscles in back and shoulders quiet equal?

Of course all depends on the training of the individual person, but I would like to compare usual civilians of the same body size who work in the same job, let's say it's a writing desk.

And of course I mean what people are able to carry over longer distances in a trekking rucksack, not on the head or in the hands.

If it is right, that the muscle structure of men and women is different, I doubt, that it can be recommended to both to carry 1/5 of the body weight.

Or am I wrong?

 

[birchwood]

Patronising . I have backpacked round the world many times
on my own .
I suggest you take Nomads suggestion and get off the keyboard.
If you are outside I will walk you off your feet even though I have now had 11 ops on my leg to rebuild it.

 

[Janne]

I recall a recommendation that ladies should wear about 20% less than gentlemen.

Yes, upper body strength ( body strength in general) is significantly less in ladies, but the -20% should compensate. ( but see below)
The hips are different too, and the hip belt should be of a different design.
Some quality manufacturers of backpacks ( frames, sacks, other hardware) used to make specific hip belts for ladies, and also different sized frames.


Nothing to do with sexism or politicall correctness, this is pure anatomy and fysiology.

Upper body strength is in fact not hugely important, as the vast majority of the weight should be on the hips.

 

[Janne]

Patronising . I have backpacked round the world many times
on my own .
I suggest you take Nomads suggestion and get off the keyboard.
If you are outside I will walk you off your feet even though I have now had 11 ops on my leg to rebuild it.

OMG. Relax!

 

[woodspirits]

Odd question, I have known women who can swing an axe effectively better than most men, out carry and out pace your average bloke. We don’t come off a production line of identical models, were all very different.

 

[oldtimer]

I'm assuming that Erbwurst is planning a trek and is trying to ensure that his female companion is not carrying a disproportionately heavy pack in relation to his. I doubt that he is being patronising about male/female capabilities. I think this line of enquiry will be of use to any pairs sharing loads whatever their gender. A female friend of mine who treks regularly with other women told me only recently of the problems of carrying enough gear for safety when in the mountains now she is in her 70s.

We had this problem for over 50 years. My wife is 150cm and 40kg: I am 183cm and 85kg. Getting her pack down to under 8kg is difficult and I carry about 13kg because I carry tent or tarp, cooking gear and most of the food.- in other words, mostly what I would carry when going solo: this means carrying 4kg less than my fair share based on the 20% of body weight rule. My wife was always trying to carry too much because she took the view, wrongly, that sharing the load equally was fair. She usually outwalked me anyway so I was glad of the excuse that it was the greater weight of kit that tired me. I adopted a similar approach when trekking with the boys when they were too small to carry more than their personal gear.

My wife no longer has the problem as the aftermath of a fall in the Pyrenees when she was in her mid-70s revealed osteoporosis and she no longer takes the risk of remote mountain travel. Nowadays the camper van takes most of the weight. on our joint expeditions.

 

[GuestD]

I'm assuming that Erbwurst is planning a trek and is trying to ensure that his female companion is not carrying a disproportionately heavy pack in relation to his.

Then perhaps the best thing to do would be to ask his female companion, as she will be in a better place to tell what she can comfortably carry, than a few strangers on an internet forum, who may, or may not get the wrong end of the stick.

 

[santaman2000]

Odd question, I have known women who can swing an axe effectively better than most men, out carry and out pace your average bloke. We don’t come off a production line of identical models, were all very different.

So have I. But the odd example is far from the norm. Over 21 years watching GIs gives a better perspective on a larger sampling.

 

[santaman2000]

Patronising . I have backpacked round the world many times
on my own .
I suggest you take Nomads suggestion and get off the keyboard.
If you are outside I will walk you off your feet even though I have now had 11 ops on my leg to rebuild it.

You might impress me more if you try to keep up with me logging. Or paperwooding (think of an all day job carying short cabers ..... 5’3” blocks of paper wood weighing anywhere from 50 to 85 pounds to the truck and tossing them up to 7’ high or more to load them onto the truck)
https://www.forestpests.org/tpsp/fig3.jpg
Then we’ll spend our time off humping 100 pound sacks of animal feed and hay bails.

 

[santaman2000]

If it is right, that the muscle structure of men and women is different, I doubt, that it can be recommended to both to carry 1/5 of the body weight.

Or am I wrong?

Women also weigh less than men so 20% of a lighter body mass = a lighter load. Also with packs properly fitted their loads will be positioned lower.

That 1/5th reccomandation was the advice from both the Boy Scouts and th Girl Scouts. Ironically it was also the standard the cavalry applied for loading saddle horses and pack horses.

 

[GuestD]

Women also weigh less than men so 20% of a lighter body mass

 

[Fadcode]

Calm Down......Calm Down,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,its a sensible question, but will the Lady be talking as she walks along, this wont make her walk faster or slower, but it usually makes anyone walking with her go faster, preferably out of earshot.

 

[woodspirits]

So have I. But the odd example is far from the norm. Over 21 years watching GIs gives a better perspective on a larger sampling.

Agreed, not the norm but it highlights my point of hugely differing abilities. Your example of observing soldiers does the same thing but on a bigger scale. Again not representative, obviously young very fit trained soldiers are not your average Joe on the street.

 

[Janne]

When wife and I did our heavy/ long trek backpacks, I packed the Trangia and freeze died food in her pack,.
The odd can, bottle of makt, meth fuel, tent, fishing reels in mine.
She is 175cm, I am 179.



I can not fathom why this subject is so inflammatory?

 

[Erbswurst]

I asked about carrying weight in a rucksack not about splitting wood, what is mainly a technique and less a question of body force.

The question here is, if the 1/5 recommendation comes from Baden Powell as a jungle war experience and was proofed in the boy scouts, where it fits, and than simply copied to the girl scouts.

I think, that's possible.

I always went for hiking with women who had been smaller and less sporty than me.

But my brother has a really strong wife (they are farmers) and got the impression, that he can't give her the same load in the trekking rucksack like a man in the same size and age. It works in the beginning but he gets problems in the end of the day. He usually hikes in the Austrian Mountains, where he can't construct the tent everywhere, when they get tired.

He came several times in really dangerous situations in the mountains, and so we started once more to think about the problem.

Is that -20% a very rough thumb rule, because women are 20% smaller than men?
Or does it mean, that a woman off the same age, size, weight and training should carry 20% less than a man?

That would mean round about 20% less because she is smaller than the man, and once more 20% less because she is female?

My own experience is, that indeed the women who were trekking with me could walk comfortably in the same speed next to me and the same distance, if they carried round about 60% of my rucksack weight, but got real problems when they got on shorter distances in the evening additional food and water in the rucksack.

I know, that I am compared with other men relatively strong, and off course it's possible, that the women who came with me had been exceptional weak. But I was hiking with several young women, and it always was the same: Compared with boy scouts in the same age and size, they couldn't carry the same load, and I mean young, sporty and motivated people between 15 and 20 years age.

So the question is: Round about -20% or round about -40%???

Yes, of course, there are individual exceptions. Little girls can become stronger than taller men, it's just a question of training.
Once we were sitting in a train, a young girl entered with a violin suitcase and I joked, if there was a Kalashnikow in. She opened the suitcase and took out a sport bow, which nobody of us was able to suspend. Even me, who was a head taller than her.
But this young lady shot with that bow four weeks earlier at the Olympic games!

After she told it us, we had been very glad...

 

[petrochemicals]

Patronising barstard. I have backpacked round the world many times
on my own .
I suggest you take Nomads suggestion and get off the keyboard.
If you are outside I will walk you off your feet even though I have now had 11 ops on my leg to rebuild it.

Think of it this way they can carry more babies to term that men, and then sustain said baby thereafter. Biology.

Ebwrust maximum. 12.5 percent body mass climbing 25% along trails, and up to 50 percent on flat smooth ground.

...............or as much as they can get in there hand bag.