How to improve your body’s stamina

Muscular endurance refers to how long muscles can sustain exercise. Improving muscular endurance can help enhance overall health and fitness. This article explores the benefits of muscular endurance, the best training routines to enhance it, and how people can adapt these techniques into common exercises.

Why it matters

Muscular endurance is important in everyday activities, such as climbing three flights of stairs to get to the floor where you work or carrying a heavy bag of groceries from the car to the house. In sports, muscular endurance helps you better compete in your chosen discipline.

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How to measure it

Measuring your level of muscular endurance is the first step when embarking on a plan to improve it. This helps you know where you began while also making it easier to track your progress.

Muscular endurance tests measure how many repetitions of a movement people can do before the muscles reach a state of fatigue and cannot continue the exercise. Many tests focus on measuring upper and lower body muscle strength by measuring how many push-ups, squats, or sit-ups people can achieve in any given time.

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How to improve muscular endurance

Some research suggests an effective muscular endurance training programme uses lighter weights while doing a higher number of reps. This approach may be the most effective for improving local and high-intensity (or strength) endurance.

Circuit or high-intensity interval training can be a suitable way to combine cardio and strength training into one workout. Unless a person’s fitness goals involve training for a particular endurance-based sport, training for muscular endurance alone may not be the most appropriate strategy.

The best exercise programmes mix strength and muscular endurance training. Some evidence also suggests that exercise programmes that people find enjoyable may be more likely to generate long-term benefits, as they may be more likely to stick with them.

Choosing exercises to improve your body’s stamina

The exercises you choose should work with large muscle groups (such as the legs or back) or multiple muscle groups (such as the upper body and core). Add variety by including exercises that target one or two limbs or one or two joints.

Loading and volume Load refers to the amount of weight or resistance you use. Volume is the number of times you do the exercise or the total number of repetitions. Choose a load (weight) less than half the maximum weight you can push, pull, or lift one time. This is considered a light to moderate intensity load.

Rest periods

You should use short rest periods for muscle endurance training. Rest one to two minutes for high-repetition sets (15 to 20 repetitions or more) and less than one minute for moderate (10 to 15 repetitions) sets.

Circuit training is good for building local muscular endurance, and the rest periods during this type of exercise should only fill the time it takes to move from one exercise station to another.

The benefits

• Helping maintain good posture and stability for longer periods.
• Improving the aerobic capacity of muscles.
• Improving the ability to carry out daily functional activities, such as lifting heavy items.
• Increasing athletic performance in endurance-based sports.

*Article co-written with Thapelo Mowela

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