Do you want to improve your muscle endurance? It is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to withstand repeated contractions against resistance for an extended period of time.
The greater your muscular endurance , the more reps you can do for a certain exercise! It is one of the components of fitness, along with muscle strength and power. In this article, we explain how to improve your muscular endurance!
Understanding how it works before improving your muscular endurance
In strength training, muscular endurance refers to the number of repetitions of a single exercise you can do without needing to stop and rest. Examples include how many times you can do a full squat, crunches, or bicep curls with a light to moderate weight before stopping exercise.
muscular endurance is therefore muscle-specific. In other words, you can improve your endurance with squats, but also with bicep curls. It all depends on the muscles you are training! The specific type of muscular endurance used during cardiovascular fitness activities such as running, swimming or cycling is generally referred to as cardiovascular endurance or cardiorespiratory endurance. It is different from the definition of strength training.
In effect, improving endurance for these types of physical activities strengthens the body's energy systems and muscle fibers that can withstand long periods of exercise, such as running a marathon or riding a bike over 100 km.
In parallel, do not hesitate to read: Altitude mask: How to increase your cardio?
Why seek to improve muscular endurance?
muscular endurance is important in daily activities, such as walking the three flights of stairs or carrying a heavy bag of groceries from the car to home.
In sports, muscular endurance helps you perform better. Improving your muscular endurance therefore makes it possible to increase your sports performance. For example, a study of 22 cross-country skiers noted that those who did this type of training performed better in double poling.
Research has also found that when combined with standard resistance training(lifting weights to build muscle), muscle endurance training helps improve blood sugar and insulin levels for people with type 2 diabetes.
For maximum results: Using a sports altitude mask: the benefits
How to measure it to improve muscular endurance?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends testing your muscular endurance when starting a strength training program. This helps you know where you started, while making it easier to track your progress along the way. The push-up test is often used to measure muscular endurance in the upper body.
To do this test, do as many push-ups as possible before breaking the form.It can also be a timed test to see how many you can complete in a minute! Once you have your number, you can compare how your performance matches up with others in your age and gender category
By tracking this number over time, you can see increases or decreases in upper body muscle endurance. To improve muscle endurance you can do some testing on your own or if you work with a trainer they can use this type of testing to set the right intensity and loads for your workouts!
To always have more results: Training Mask: Effective accessory to progress quickly?
How to improve your muscular endurance? 5 methods
An effective muscular endurance training program uses lighter weights while doing more reps. Research has shown that this approach appears to be the most effective for improving local and high-intensity endurance (or strength). We're going to show you 5 ways to improve your muscular endurance.
Choose your exercises wisely
The exercises you choose should work large muscle groups (like the legs or back) or multiple muscle groups (like your upper body and trunk). Add variety by including exercises that target one or two limbs or one or two joints: these are known as compound exercises.
Exercises you can use to improve your muscular endurance include planks, squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, pull-ups, push-ups, and crunches. These are the best moves towork your muscle endurance!
In parallel, do not hesitate to read: Doing cardio training at home: how to be effective?
Edit loads and volume
Load refers to the amount of weight or resistance you are using (a 10 kilo dumbbell or the 110 kilo leg press setting, for example ).
Volume is the number of times you do the exercise or the total number of repetitions. Ideally, to improve your muscular endurance, you want to choose a load less than half the maximum weight you can push, pull or lift once: that's minimum 50% of your 1RM.
This is considered a light to moderate intensity load. As for volume, if you're a novice or intermediate athlete, try doing 10-15 reps for one or two sets. If you are an advanced athlete, plan to do a bit more, around 10-25 reps per set.
Also, don't hesitate to read: Training mask: the optimal technique for use
Shorten rest periods
short periods of rest should be used to improve muscular endurance. Rest one to two minutes for high rep sets (15 to 20 reps or more) and less than a minute for moderate rep sets (10 to 15 reps).
Circuit training is good for developing local muscular endurance and rest periods during this type of exercise should only take up as much time as is needed one exercise station to another! Thus, you favor the congestion of the muscles and you challenge them during your session
In order to recover from your training sessions: Massage and stiffness: how to optimize your recovery?
Vary frequency
Frequency refers to the number of times you train to improve your muscular endurance. This frequency is similar to that for building bigger muscles, which is:
-
For the beginner level: do 2-3 sessions per week when training the whole body.
-
For the intermediate level: do three workouts a week for full body workouts or four days a week if using split routines for upper and lower body workouts.
-
For the advanced level: use a higher frequency of four to six sessions per week if the workouts are divided by muscle group.
Repetition rate
repetition rate refers to the rate at which you contract your muscles during specific exercises. Different contraction speeds can be used depending on the number of repetitions.
To improve muscular endurance, use deliberately slow velocities (use when performing a moderate number of reps between 10 and 15) or moderate to fast velocities, plus effective when you train with a higher number of repetitions (from 15 to 25 or more).
Despite what you may think, it is not always useful to do your repetitions as quickly as possible, on the contrary! Strength training is not a show: do what works for your progress, not what impresses your colleagues.
For more results: Top 7 exercises to perform with a wave rope
Improving your muscular endurance: The essential accessory
Now you know all of our techniques to improve muscular endurance simply by making changes to your weight training routine.
But fitness professionals have also developed a weight training accessory that allows you to do the same thing, faster: the Strength Trainer. 'high altitude™. What is it? It is an altitude simulator that decreases the amount of oxygen delivered to your muscles during exercise. This type of mask simulates training in the high mountains, where oxygen is scarcer.
Result? Your muscles are forced to provide as much energy as usual, but with fewer resources. This allows them to work more efficiently, which helps to improve your muscular endurance. You can use it for your cardio workouts or strength training, as you like! It is effective for all types of physical exercise, and very famous among sportsmen and professional athletes.
In summary: Improve muscular endurance
Improving your muscular endurance is accessible to everyone, from beginners to confirmed athletes! If you're really new to it, it might be a good idea to start mastering the exercises before you even think about your endurance, but once you're into training, start by measuring your stamina to track your progress.
Thanks to the 5 techniques that we reveal to you in this article, you can stimulate your muscles to improve your muscular endurance : choose the right movements, modify the loads and the volume of training, shorten rest periods, vary the frequency of sessions, and increase the speed of repetitions. You now have all the cards in hand to improve your muscular endurance!
.
