1. Consistency
The goal here is unconscious competence. When you make the right decisions long enough, you don't even have to think about it. You just do it, and in this case, it is exercising.
The training effect is cumulative. It builds upon itself as consistency is built and nurtured. The training effect does not care how long you exercise in one day or week. The body cares how much you exercise in a season, year or number of years.
2. Cross Training
Cross training is not a word phrase invented by a marketing company to sell you shoes. Cross training, in a cardiovascular sense, is biking, running, swimming, and even using the elliptical machine every once in a while.
The body adapts to the imposed demand. If the demand is running, for example, you will get faster for a while and then progress will slow or stop. When this happens, change the demand. Replace running with swimming or biking for a while. You will notice right away what a difference it makes. When you return to running, you will be able to smash through that plateau.
3. High-Repetition Weight Lifting
Speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals, set four Olympic records and broke one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The man had 28-inch thighs at a 190.
Heiden had the speed to win the gold in the short races and still had the endurance to win the distance races. He won the medals with a combination of good genetics and brutal training methods. Heiden was known to perform exercises with 100 to 300-plus repetitions per set.
Fighters who need to stay light while being simultaneously strong and maintain tremendous endurance also lift weights with ultra-high repetitions. Endurance is forged through repetition, lots and lots of repetitions.
4. Proper Nutrition
The body has priorities. The internal organs must be taken care of before the muscles. Poor-quality food barely has enough nutrition to take care of the organs, leaving the muscles to survive on as little as possible.
The muscles need to be able to convert food and oxygen into energy. When you eat nutritious foods and exercise consistently, the muscles have the ability to sustain long-term energy. If you are training hard but treating your stomach like a garbage can, you are probably doing more harm than good. Consistently eating right will lead to improved stamina.
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