Abstract

The present study aimed to analyze the heritability in women and men muscle strength of upper and lower limbs in a broad age range. The sample included 88 twins, 8 and 36 years of age, which were 56 monozygotic (MZ) divided between 28 women and 28 men and 32 dizigotics (DZ) divided between 18 women and 14 men, all of them residents of metropolitan area of Natal in Rio Grande do Norte - Brazil. The test of explosive strength lower limbs was performed by vertical jump. The upper limb strength was measured during maximal voluntary isometric contraction of elbow flexion of 90°. Data were evaluated in non-parametric statistics, analyzed based on the variance of the intrapair twins. Applied the equation of heritability (h²) = ((S²DZ – S²MZ)/S²DZ) x 100, demonstrating how each variable has genotypic and phenotypic character. The confidence interval (25% - 75%) was calculated from the medians found. For women explosive strength in lower limbs was h²= 85% (77% - 97%) and h²= 68% (53% - 75%) for men. For females isometric strength in upper limbs was h² = 39% (35% - 46%) and for male, h²= 73% (53% - 77%). It was demonstrated for women a high h² for lower limbs strength and a low moderate h² in upper limbs strength; for men, a high moderate h² for both lower limbs strength as superior limbs strength. As for age range, although extensive, it did not influence the results.