Muscular endurance training involves doing medium to high repetitions of a given weight, or a doing a repetitive action over a period of time. Muscular endurance training is particularly useful for athletes or sportspeople whose activities involve repetitive action, using specific muscle groups over a period of time.
Considerations
Muscular endurance training may improve your muscles' capacity to perform a given task; however, if you are a sportsperson or athlete involved in activities such as cycling, swimming, rowing or martial arts, Sport Fitness Advisor recommends that your endurance training follow a period of maximal strength training to increase overall strength. Increased strength enables you to use more weight in your endurance training, thus increasing your potential for greater muscular endurance.
Features
Your muscular endurance training should reflect the particular demands of your sport. The weight used in resistance training should approximate the resistance you expect to overcome in competition, and the repetitions and bursts of activity in training should approximate the conditions you expect to find in competition.
Short-Term Endurance
Short-term endurance training is characterized by repeated short intense bursts of effort, as expected during competition, interspersed by periods of rest which mimics the expected period of inactivity during competition. For example, a boxer might throw a flurry of quick combinations and power punches at a punchbag for three minutes, then rest for a minute, or a heavy-weight mixed martial artist might manipulate and wrestle, or ground and pound a 300 lb. heavy bag for five minutes followed by the stipulated one minute rest he would expect during a UFC world title bout.
Long-Term Endurance
Long-term muscular endurance training is used by athletes involved in sports that last more than two minutes, such as rowing, cycling and triathlon. Set up a circuit of different exercise stations, such as power-cleans, lunges, bench presses, rows, hanging leg raises, lateral raises, barbell curls and triceps push-downs. Use light weights for 15 to 20 repetitions, with no rest between stations. Rest for one to three minutes then repeat the circuit . Do three to five sets.
Three Elements
Strength, speed and endurance are three elements necessary for successful performance in sporting activities. One element may predominate in a particular sport or activity, but Tudor O Bompa, writing in Coachr.org, believes for peak performance in most sports, you need to combine peak performance in at least two elements.For example, muscular endurance might be the predominant factor in the 1500 meter run, but a training regimen combining muscular endurance and speed training could mean you go home with a gold, and not a bronze, medal.
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