Exercises To Boost Your Endurance
All athletes need endurance, no matter what sport they play. To get through a set of heavyweight lifting, a round of boxing or a sprint around a track all take stamina. That’s why so many athletes focus on building their endurance when they train. If you’re looking to do the same, then there are plenty of exercises you can work into your weekly routine to build strength and boost endurance.
Combine Strength and Cardio
Strength workouts are great for building muscle, which makes you stronger. When you combine them with cardio workouts, it teaches your body how to exert strength on the go. Both exercises on their own take significant stamina, so when you combine them, you push your body even further.
It’s rare in sports to have either strength or cardio isolated, so combining the two in your training is a great way to stimulate your real-event experience. You might be wondering about other methods of building endurance like “what is Thrive” or “how long should I run for?” But if you can combine strength and cardio for a great workout, it’ll likely be all you need to succeed.
Circuit Training
Circuits are an easy way to get your heart rate up and build endurance. A circuit is when you do one set of multiple exercises back to back for a certain period of time or number of reps. The idea is to keep moving and working different muscles at high intensity for short bursts. This helps train your body to keep moving even when you want to stop and primes your muscles to push through weakness and develop more strength.
You can set up your circuit with minimal rest time between each exercise or a longer period of rest after all of the activities are completed. You can use any type of exercise you want in your circuit, but make sure it’s not all working the same muscles or muscle groups. Some exercises you can do are:
- Jump squats
- Burpees
- Planks
- Rope toss
- Shuttle runs
- Leg lifts
- Medicine ball presses
- Lunges
Practice Harder Than You Play
It’s better to be over-prepared than not have what you need to get the job done. For this reason, you want to make sure to make your practice sessions more intense than game days. When you consistently push yourself further than what you need to get through an entire game, race, or round of your sport, then you build up enough endurance to know you can always get through your game without your energy giving out.
Ways to make your practice more intense are to start and finish with sprints or distance running. This gets you readily warmed up for practice at the start and pushes you just a little further at the end. You can also include more dynamic workouts throughout your practice to push your limits and build more muscle.
Always Stretch
Stretching is the most important part of any type of endurance training. As you work on building strength and pushing your body, your muscles tend to contract to hold the weight of your exercise. Stretching helps to lengthen your muscles and prevent cramps during exercise. The looser your muscles are, the stronger you’re able to become.
Stretching also helps you avoid injury. Strained and torn muscles happen when you ask too much of a tight muscle, and it overextends. If you are consistently stretching before and after exercising, then your muscles will stay loose and flexible to support any movement you make.
When stretching, remember the major muscle groups in your legs and arms. Stretching your hamstrings can help to loosen your legs, back, buttocks, and even Achilles. Stretching your quads gives you more room for burst speed and power movements. If you play a sport with more upper body requirements, then be sure to stretch your shoulders, neck and forearms.
Final Thoughts
Boosting your endurance is all about choosing the right exercises, making practice tougher than game day, and keeping your muscles loose and stretched.
