How Athletes can Enhance Their Muscular Endurance?

Soniya
Incorporating muscular endurance exercise can help improve performance at athletic event. (Image via Pexels / Mikhail Nilov)
Incorporating muscular endurance exercise can help improve performance in athletics. (Image via Pexels/Mikhail Nilov)

Muscular endurance is important, as it helps you carry out longer physical activities.

In fact, muscular endurance is a very important component when it comes to sports and workouts. Some people think muscular endurance is being flexible and fit. In reality, muscular strength and muscular endurance are two different things, and both require attention when it comes to body fitness.

The best way to enhance both is by practicing a specific activity over and over again. Practicing any sport can improve muscular endurance. However, to be able to exercise for hours, you must learn to perform small sets of repetitions with frequent breaks.


Muscular Endurance Exercise - Why It's Important, and How to Do It

Increasing muscle endurance is key to enhancing physical performance. For example, you could swim extra laps or do more bicep curls without getting tired. That will minimize the risk of injuries as well.

According to a study published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, soccer players with low core endurance have a greater risk of suffering lower body injuries.

Moreover, greater muscular endurance helps you in your day-to-day life, as many of our most common movements include both muscular endurance and strength.

Of course, there are many other benefits of aerobic exercise. It has been known for decades that regular aerobic exercise reduces the risk of heart disease and improves mental health. Moreover, it can help people with diabetes too.


Exercises to Improve Muscular Endurance

As important as it is to build muscle strength, endurance is also a vital component of health and athletic performance.

It prepares you for activity and helps you avoid injuries, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease. To build endurance, you need to gradually increase your muscle contraction times, whether that means doing more reps or holding each rep for a longer period.

Here are a few exercises to help you build your muscular endurace:

1) Plank

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Here's how you do planks:

  • Kneel on all fours, and move your forearms to the ground.
  • Take a step back with each leg, ending up in a straight line from head to heel and keeping your spine neutral.
  • Engage your abs to support your lower back, and imagine lifting your chest away from your elbows without arching or rounding the back.
  • Try to hold this position for as long as you can, and relax.

2) Bodyweight Squat

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To do bodyweight squats:

  • Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, with toes facing straight ahead.
  • Bend your knees, and squat down till your thighs are close to parallel with the floor, and your knees are over your toes.
  • Stand up again, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement. Perform 2–4 sets of 25 reps.

3) Walking Lunge

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To do walking lunges:

  • In a standing position with your feet at least shoulder-width apart, take a large step forward with your right leg.
  • Hold the plank position as long as you can.
  • Bend your knees, lowering your body down till your back knee comes close to touching the ground.
  • Pushing with your toes, stand back up, and repeat the motion with your left leg.

4) Crunch

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Here's how you do this exercise:

  • Lie flat on your back, and bend your legs. Place your feet flat on the ground.
  • Place your hands lightly behind your head, with your elbows out to the sides.
  • Engage your abs, and curl up by lifting your upper back and shoulders off the ground.
  • Keep a golf-ball-size space between your chin and chest as you guide yourself down in a controlled motion.

5) Push-up

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To do push-ups:

  • From a standard plank position, start with your hands slightly outside shoulder width and directly under your shoulders.
  • Keep your body rigid using just your toes and hands (not your forearms).
  • Maintain a neutral spine, and avoid sagging your hips or arching your back.
  • Bend your elbows at a 45 degree angle, and aim your chest to the ground.
  • Push down on your palms, and lift yourself back to a plank position.

Takeaway

Muscular endurance is important for both general health and athletic performance. It can help you avoid injury, reduce risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, and improve ability to do certain activities.

Muscular endurance is the ability to keep a muscle contracted for an extended period of time. That can be done with increased reps or by holding a specific position for a longer period.

The key to muscular endurance is doing non-fatiguing work. You can enhance that by increasing the amount of volume you do but only if you increase your muscular conditioning at the same time.

If you increase the amount of volume while placing little focus on conditioning the muscle, you are going to end up overtrained and most likely injured.

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Edited by Bhargav