How To Build Stamina Video

Increase stamina with these exercises tips. Learn how to be a better runner in this training video.

Take Action

Ability to continue without weakening
Do intense, short duration exercises to increase heart rate
The higher your VO2 max the more stamina you will have

About this Author

Tim Borland began running in 1997 to lose weight and stay in shape. In college he joined the triathlon team, and then went on the compete in Iron mans, adventure races, marathons and much more. Tim most recently participated in the AT&T Cure Tour, an event that had him running 63 marathons in 63 days in 63 communities across the United States.

TIM BORLAND: Hi, my name's Tim Borland and today we're going to talk about how to build stamina. This also could be staying power. It's your ability to maintain without fatiguing as you're maintaining a distance. Building stamina's going to be different for everybody. It's different than building endurance in that building stamina is the ability to stay without weakening, whereas endurance is the ability to just go and go and go. So, some things to think about, depending on what you're running, if it's a 5K or a marathon, your requirements are going to be a little bit different. You don't need the same amount of stamina for a 5K than you do for a 10K or for a full marathon. But some things that you're going to want to do are really intense, short duration speed work. So it's really intensity work. It's going to be--it could be on a treadmill, it could be just out on a road, on a track, but it's going to be, like 60-second burst, just all out, as hard as you can. What you're trying to do is you're trying to get your heart rate up really high for a short period of time and then back down. There's 2 things really in building stamina. It's going to be your VO2 max, which is the volume of oxygen that your body is able to deliver as you breathe in. Not every molecule of oxygen you breathe in actually goes to your body. So if your VO2 is 40% then 40% of what you breathe in or if it's 60% or 90%. So the higher your VO2 max, really, the more stamina you're going to have. The other thing would be your lactic acid. And you can study more on lactic acid. It's hard to explain. But really it's a bi-product of, again, your heart rate getting too high and your body not being able to handle the output. But you can actually increase your lactic threshold level as well. And you can do that with this intensity training, both of which will do things that will help you. So that if you're out running that marathon and you're trying to run a 7 or an 8-minute mile the whole time, you're going to be able to stay with it and not weaken because your body will continue to deliver the oxygen you need, and your body will not go--start delivering lactic acid as well. So really, those 2 are going to be the key things and, again, think about what it is that you're trying to accomplish and then how much you need to actually train for that.

How to Build Stamina Video

Take Action

About this Author

Member Comments