How To Improve Your Muscular Endurance: Tips and Workouts

Muscular endurance refers to the ability of your muscles to contract consistently and repetitively over an extended period. Having strong muscular endurance is important for activities like running, swimming, and biking long distances.

Muscular endurance is necessary to complete everyday activities, such as climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and maintaining good posture. Good muscular endurance can reduce your risk of injury.

Muscular endurance is not the same as muscular strength. Muscular endurance is how long you can do a particular activity, like carrying groceries in from the car. Muscular strength is how much you can lift at a time, like how many bags of groceries you can carry at once.

Training for muscular endurance involves working your muscles for an extended period to build tolerance or stamina. Common exercises that build endurance include push-ups, planks, and squats. You can also build muscular endurance by lifting lighter weights and doing more sets. Choose a weight of about 60-70% of your maximum.

For instance, instead of doing three sets of 15 repetitions with a heavier weight, you might aim to do five sets of 20 repetitions with a lighter weight. You may still feel a burning sensation in your muscles while lifting, but you should still be able to complete the sets without significant difficulty.

When training for endurance, you may also want to shorten your rest periods. These variables (sets, reps, and rest) differ for each person, so experiment until you find which combination is right for you, or work with a certified personal trainer.

Workouts to increase muscular endurance typically involve bodyweight exercises or lifting lighter weights with higher repetitions and less rest between sets. If you incorporate cardio to build endurance, focus on going a longer distance at a slower pace or performing intervals with less rest in between. Here are some tips for creating a workout:

• Perform more sets and repetitions: Doing more reps and sets with a lower weight or using your bodyweight can help increase your muscular endurance, especially if you have a shorter rest period between sets. 
• Incorporate endurance exercises: Include exercises like wall sits and planks, and hold them for extended periods to build endurance. Researchers have found that abdominal endurance increased significantly when holding a plank for as long as possible, five or more times per week.
• Reduce your rest between sets: Doing more reps with less rest between exercises and between sets can help build your endurance.
• Include cardio in your workout: Combining your strength exercises with cardio and little rest helps improve your muscular endurance.
• Consider progressive overloading: This training approach allows you to increase your exercise intensity and build muscle endurance gradually.

Consider including exercises like tricep dips, mountain climbers, push-ups, wall sits, burpees, and planks to build muscular endurance when creating your workout. Putting these exercises together in a routine provides a total body workout; they are simple to complete and can be modified to suit your fitness level.

Developing a workout can be challenging, especially for a beginner. Working with a certified personal trainer may be helpful. In the meantime, below is a four-exercise workout you can try at home. If you want to make this workout more challenging, add burpees, planks, or cardio.

Push-Ups

Here’s how to do a push-up:

1. Get into a high-plank position by placing your hands shoulder-width apart on the ground with your legs extended straight behind you. Your arms should be straight but not locked.
2. Tighten your core and your glutes, keeping your pelvis neutral.
3. Bending your arms, lower your chest toward the ground. Your elbows should be angled about 45 degrees from your body.
4. Push back up to return to the starting position.

Tricep Dips

Here is how to do a tricep dip with an exercise bench or sturdy chair:

1. Sit on the very edge of the bench or chair, placing your hands down on either side of you, about shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be slightly forward and your knees bent.
2. Use your arms to push yourself up and slightly forward so you are hovering above the ground, just off the bench or chair.
3. Lower your body slowly by bending at the elbows until your forearms create a 90-degree angle.
4. Push yourself back up to return to the hovering position with your arms straight.
5. Repeat for as many reps as you want.

Wall Sits

Here is how to do a wall sit:

1. Stand with your back flat against a wall and your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Walk your feet out from the wall and then slowly sink into a squat position while keeping your back against the wall.
3. Make your sure your hips, knees, and ankles are all at a 90-degree angle.
4. Hold this position for as long as possible (or until failure).

Mountain Climbers

Here’s how to do a mountain climber:

1. Start in a high-plank position with your arms straight but not locked.
2. Lift your foot off the floor and raise your knee toward your chest.
3. Return to the starting position, and repeat with your other leg.
4. Alternate back and forth, increasing speed until you reach your desired tempo.

Every workout has the potential for injury, especially if you don’t take precautions or push yourself beyond your limits. Talk to a healthcare provider to determine if muscle endurance exercises are right for you. Some additional tips for staying safe and preventing injuries include:

• Listen to your body: Stop if you feel pain during an exercise. Make sure you allow time for rest and recovery between your workout days.
• Follow the 10% rule: If you’re changing your workout routine, increase your activity in increments of no more than 10% per week. If you normally do 15 push-ups and want to increase to 25 push-ups, try doing 17 the first week, then 19, then 21, and so on.
• Strive for balance: Vary your workouts to include cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises. Doing something different daily can reduce boredom and decrease the likelihood of injuries.
• Refrain from holding your breath: When performing bodyweight exercises, exhale as you move and inhale as you relax.
• Consider scheduling with a personal trainer: Meeting with a certified personal trainer or attending a group fitness class at a local gym or recreation center can help you learn proper form, which helps prevent injuries.

Muscle endurance tests typically involve performing a specific exercise, like push-ups, sit-ups, or squats, until you can no longer maintain proper form or continue the exercise:

• Push-up test: Measures your upper body endurance, including your chest, shoulders, and arms.
  Sit-up test: Evaluates the muscular endurance of your abdominal and hip flexor muscles.
  Squat test: Measures the endurance of your knee flexor and extensor muscles. 

Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscles to perform an exercise or activity for an extended period without fatiguing.

Exercises that build muscular endurance include push-ups, planks, and squats. Try doing these for longer than you normally would to build your muscles’ tolerance. Lifting lighter weights with more sets and repetitions can also help improve muscle endurance.

If you are looking to build your muscular endurance, consider meeting with a certified personal trainer for guidance.