What Is Muscle Strength Endurance?

Muscular strength and muscular endurance are two components of fitness, and training for these attributes helps keep the body fit and healthy. Although strength training and endurance training both work the muscles, they stimulate muscle in different ways, thus producing different adaptations. Strength endurance is a specific form of strength required for long-duration activities, such as rowing or swimming, that require both strength and endurance, according to the BrianMac Sports Coach website. Including both muscular strength and endurance exercises in your training is an effective way to improve your overall fitness.

Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is the amount of force generated by a muscle or muscle group. Assess muscular strength by determining your one-repetition maximum or 1RM with exercises such as bench press or squats. Your 1RM is the maximum amount of weight you can lift one time, without assistance, using proper form. Improve muscular strength by completing two or three exercises per muscle group and three to five sets per exercise. Use a weight you are able to lift for four to eight repetitions, and keep rest periods between sets two to three minutes in duration.

Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is the ability to perform repeated muscle contractions over time at submaximal levels until muscle fatigue occurs. Assess muscular endurance with exercises such as pushups or curlups, in which you perform as many repetitions as possible without rest until failure is reached. Training for muscular endurance involves performing a high number of repetitions and/or sets of an activity targeting a muscle group at a low intensity level. A muscular endurance training program might consist of two or three exercises, each performed for two or three sets of 12 or more repetitions. Rest periods in endurance training are less than 30 seconds.

Heavy/Light Training

Training for strength and endurance should be separate in your workouts because the two capacities are improved with different loads and repetition ranges. To perform a heavy/light weight training program, train with heavy weights and low repetitions on one day and with moderate weights and high repetitions the next day. A four day per week training schedule might include heavy upper body training on day 1; heavy lower body training on day 2; light upper body on day 3; and light lower body on day 4.

Sample Workout

Perform three to five sets of eight to 10 repetitions, resting two minutes between each set on heavy days. A heavy upper body workout might include exercises such as bench press, military press, bent-over barbell rows, close-grip bench press and barbell curls. Heavy lower body exercises might include barbell squats, straight leg deadlifts, leg press and barbell lunges. Perform two or three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions, resting 30 to 60 seconds between sets for light training days. Light upper body exercises might include pushups, pullups, lateral raises, triceps dips, dumbbell curls and abdominal crunches. Light lower body exercises could include walking lunges, dumbbell squats, leg extension, leg curl and calf raises.