Endurance exercise

Endurance exercises are the cornerstone of any sports discipline, because without them full training is impossible. Lack of physical endurance will prevent you from gaining muscle mass, doing strength exercises in the gym, developing the functionality of the body, running long distances in an acceptable time, doing martial arts, etc. Therefore, this quality must be developed by every athlete, there will never be excess endurance.

What does endurance mean?

The very concept of endurance is quite multifaceted and it is necessary to develop it in several directions at the same time.

• There is strength endurance - the way our muscles overcome the threshold of pain during strength training. It depends on how many repetitions we can perform in exercises with weights.
• For athletes, an indicator such as speed endurance is also important - how much the muscles are ready to maintain the speed of the exercise by adapting to constant contraction, for example, while running or swimming.
• The question of proper breathing is also important. If you are unable to control your breathing rate while exercising and you develop shortness of breath, you will not be able to do a full workout. We need to look for ways to solve this problem.

In our article, we will tell you what exercises you need to do to develop endurance, is it possible to develop this indicator at home and what results can be achieved in a month of hard training.

Ways to develop endurance

When talking about developing speed endurance, people most often associate this issue with cardio training. Indeed, without cardio, real endurance is impossible to achieve. The most important thing here is the intensity of the cardio load. We will leave the low intensity for those who want to lose weight or improve the relief. Sluggishly stomping on a treadmill or stepper, you are unlikely to become even a little more enduring.

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Using the maximum load

The more you apply the maximum or sub-maximum load during long-term work, the more endurance you become. Let us explain: you have set a specific goal for yourself - to run 10 kilometers in 30 minutes. But your actual physical fitness is such that you can master such a distance in only 50 minutes. Therefore, we begin to train as follows: we perform a 30-minute run with almost maximum effort. We run 5, then 6, then 7 kilometers ... After some time, you will not even notice how you can easily run 10 km in 30 minutes.

Adapting the muscles to sustained powerful effort is the key to developing speed endurance.

There are also various physical exercises for speed endurance. Their task is to do a little less work, but put in more effort. Feel free to use any equipment for this that sets additional resistance: weights, rubber bands, free weights, etc.

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Cyclic exercise system

With strength endurance, things are a little different. Here we need to use a system of cyclic exercises that require endurance. That is, constantly modify and periodize the load. The principle of tonnage, successfully used by weightlifters, is perfectly suited for this.

For example, let's say you want to do 15 reps of a bench press with a 100 kg bar. It turns out that in one approach you need to lift 1,500 kg (1.5 tons) in total. From this we proceed. A ton in one approach can be recruited in many different ways: to shake 50 kg 30 times, 75 kg 20 times, 125 kg 12 times.

If you train to achieve all of these sub-goals, then the original goal will be subdued quite easily. Such a varied work trains all groups of muscle fibers, due to which strength indicators and strength endurance increase.

The benefits of exercise

In addition to developing strength and speed endurance, you are also doing some serious anaerobic work. This leads to gains in muscle mass and strength. The relief also improves, since working in a large repetition range creates a strong pumping effect, without which good filling and vascularity are impossible.

In addition, endurance training can be guided without setting global athletic goals. No one is stopping you from trying to get faster and stronger if your goal is to lose some weight before the beach season. And it will work great.

Contraindications

Since such a style of training is impossible without maximum and submaximal loads, such techniques are contraindicated for persons suffering from diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Working to capacity raises blood pressure dramatically. For athletes with arterial hypertension and hypertension, this can be dangerous.

Excessively intense cardio will also not be beneficial, it is better to replace sprint races with leisurely runs. This point must be taken into account if you do not want to harm your health.

If you are developing strength endurance in exercises such as the barbell squat or deadlift, be sure to follow the correct exercise technique and breathing rate. The consequences can be mass: starting from too strong axial load on the spine, which will inevitably, sooner or later, lead to injury, and ending with increased intraocular pressure, which can also be critical for some athletes.

Remember how you felt after doing barbell squats with a weight of 75% of the one-time maximum for 15 times. Now imagine how this can affect the health of an unprepared athlete. For this reason, work on the development of strength endurance should be cyclical, after which a period of lighter training must necessarily follow to fully restore all body systems. Without an experienced personal trainer, very few people succeed in correctly building the training process in such a way as to achieve the assigned tasks and not harm themselves.

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Best endurance exercise

The exercises recommended for endurance training can be conditionally divided into three groups, each of which we will consider separately.

Strength endurance training

In order to comprehensively develop the body's strength endurance, you need to build your entire training process around basic exercises, such as:

• bench press lying and standing;
• squats;
• deadlift (classical and sumo);
• pull-ups on the horizontal bar;
• various types of push-ups.

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Of course, the work should be intense, and the time spent by the athlete under load should be long. When working with small weights, it can take up to 3 minutes. Rest between sets should be until breathing is fully restored.

Speed ​​Endurance Exercises

In addition to the well-known cardio exercises (running, swimming, cycling, jumping rope, etc.), we recommend including some of the exercises from this list in your arsenal:

• rowing in the simulator;
• rope climbing, work with horizontally hanging ropes;
• pushing and pulling the sled;
• jumping squats and box jumps;
• hammer blows on the tire;
• burpee.

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These exercises combine elements of aerobic and anaerobic activity. By doing them, you will stimulate your body to adapt to a complex load, which is exactly what is needed for a CrossFit athlete. In addition, these exercises are performed in an explosive manner, they are great for turning on the central nervous system. And without stimulation of the central nervous system, it is much more difficult to show a really decent result in CrossFit.

Breathing exercises

Without the correct breathing technique, it is impossible to competently perform any functional set of endurance exercises. But the high pace of the load often knocks the athlete out of rhythm. He begins to reverse inhalation and exhalation, and in very severe cases, he simply ignores this moment and breathes at random. To prevent this, perform the following exercises (for some, this approach to training may seem frivolous, but it really works):

• inflate balloons (a complicated version is a heating pad);
• hold your breath underwater;
• Do more outdoor cardio workouts.

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This will create mild stimulation for your lungs, making them stronger. The first two endurance exercises can be done at home.

There are many other factors that affect breathing. The two main ones are smoking and being overweight. With the first, everything is clear, bad habits and sports are incompatible things. Overweight must be fought, and - immediately and radically. The more the athlete's own weight, the greater the load on the heart, lungs, joints and ligaments. Many overweight people note that sports after losing weight are much easier and more productive, and the breathing rhythm during training normalizes, there is no trace of shortness of breath.

How to improve performance correctly?

The answer is simple: take your time on the way to your cherished goal. Progress consists of three basic principles: constant progression of loads, regular training and competent recovery.

For example, when working on strength endurance, we in no way force events. Working with an average weight, add 2-3 repetitions to each set on each subsequent workout. When working with heavy weights, add one repetition at a time. After you complete the entire cycle, the results will increase in both strength and endurance.

We work on the same principle with speed endurance. Our best friends in this matter: timer and sports apps for smartphones. The timer is needed to keep track of the training time and gradually increase it. The functionality of applications can also be useful to us. There you can find out the time under load, the distance that the athlete ran (swam, traveled, etc.), the average speed. A fitness bracelet or heart rate monitor will not be superfluous. This will help you know that you are keeping your heart rate within the normal range and not overdoing it.

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Crossfit complexes

In fact, CrossFit is a discipline, the whole point of which is just about strength and speed endurance. By doing CrossFit, you improve them. By improving them separately, not within the framework of functional complexes, you increase your potential in CrossFit.

The complexes given below are of both aerobic and anaerobic nature. By doing them, you become stronger and more enduring. See for yourself.

Training program for a month

In 1 month, you can have time to develop your anaerobic endurance well. With strength endurance, things are a little more complicated, it will take more time.

To achieve a truly athletic and functionally prepared body, you need to develop in all parameters. Therefore, in this program we will combine classic cardio workouts with more narrow-profile movements aimed at developing endurance.

The program is designed for 30 days, workouts take place every other day, there will be 30 workouts in total.

Watch the video: 43 Minute Low Impact Workout for Endurance - Descending Ladder Total Body Burnout Challenge (November 2024).