Training for strength and endurance at the same time can be a delicate balancing act. You need to use heavy loads to increase your maximum strength, but then you cannot do more than a few reps; but using many reps to increase endurance requires using smaller weights. Strength endurance training gets around this by performing heavy workloads for a large number of low-rep sets --- as many as 20 sets of two to four reps --- separated by short recovery periods of 30 to 60 seconds. You can use heavy weights at low reps or do more reps of bodyweight exercises. The best exercises work many large muscles at once.
Squats
Squats give you a whole body workout. With either a barbell balanced on your shoulders or dumbbells held by your side, squat until your thighs are roughly parallel to the ground, inhaling as you do; then exhale as you return to your starting position.
Clean and Press
With a barbell close to your shins and your feet about shoulder-width apart, squat down and grip the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Inhale as you straighten up, lifting the bar to your shoulders. "Flip" the bar so your palms face upward and the bar rests against your upper chest, and exhale. Now inhale again as you press the barbell over your head, straightening both arms; pause and exhale again. Lower the barbell down to your upper chest and then down to the floor.
Push-Ups
Take a standard push-up position with your hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, your arms straight and supporting your upper body, and with your back, hips, and legs forming a straight line. Lower your upper body by bending your arms until your elbows form a 90-degree angle; push back up to your starting position. You can make this exercise more difficult by elevating your feet and/or by either widening or narrowing your hand position. Wider hand positions work the chest and shoulder muscles more while narrower hand positions work the triceps and lat muscles more.
Squat Lunge
Take a standard push-up position; however, raise your butt so you can bring one knee closer to your chest while the other leg remains straight. "Hop" upward slightly, simultaneously bending the straight leg so its knee comes up to your chest while straightening the bent knee out behind you; both hands should remain on the floor. Repeat this move to return to your starting position. Squat lunges work both the legs and the abs at once. Increasing your speed increases the difficulty.
Squat Thrusts
Beginning from a standing position, squat down and place your hands on the ground slightly more than shoulder-width apart near your feet; then, keeping your hands on the ground, rapidly straighten your legs, "hopping" your feet backward so you assume the beginning position for a push-up. Then, without pause, "hop" your feet back to your original squat position, and finally return to your original standing position. As with squat lunges, increasing your speed increases the difficulty of the exercise.
Member Comments