Wellness Discovery Zone

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Training for muscular endurance
When training to improve muscular endurance, what matters most is not the type of exercise, but how people design their workout.

People should take into consideration the following when tailoring a workout to boost muscular endurance:

the number of reps
the weight or resistant force on the muscles
the number of sets
length or rest periods
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, individuals training for muscular endurance should aim to complete three or more sets of 15 or more exercise reps with a load that is 50% or less of their one rep max (RM).

A person’s one rep max is the maximum load with which a person can complete one repetition of an exercise.

For example, a person may wish to use the leg press machine at the gym to build endurance in the legs.

If they have an RM of 300 pounds (lbs), they should aim to perform 2–4 sets of 15 or more reps with a load of 150lbs or less, with brief rest periods between sets.

As their muscular endurance for this exercise increases, they may wish to make the exercise more challenging by reducing rest times between sets, or increasing the reps per set, rather than increasing the load weight.

A person can apply the same principle of high rep and set volume, low–moderate load, and short rest periods to any exercise, such as bench presses, dumbbell curls, pushups, or squats.

People can choose exercises that suit their preferences and are challenging yet enjoyable enough to sustain training.

How to measure muscular endurance
Muscular endurance tests measure how many repetitions of a movement people can do before the muscles reach a state of fatigue and cannot continue the exercise.

Many tests focus on measuring upper and lower body muscle endurance by measuring how many pushups, squats, or situps people can achieve.

A person can work with fitness instructors to measure muscular endurance or record how many repetitions of a particular exercise they can perform before reaching the fatigue state.

Benefits of muscular endurance training
According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the benefits of muscle endurance include:

helping maintain good posture and stability for longer periods
improving the aerobic capacity of muscles
improving the ability to carry out daily functional activities, such as lifting heavy items
increasing athletic performance in endurance-based sports

What is muscular endurance?

Muscular endurance is the ability to continue contracting a muscle, or group of muscles, against resistance, such as weights or body weight, over a period of time.

Increasing the performance of these muscles means they can continue to contract and work against these forces.

Greater muscular endurance allows a person to complete more repetitions of an exercise, for example, pushups or squats.

How to improve it
People can improve their cardiorespiratory endurance through regular exercise.

The authors of a 2019 studyTrusted Source reported that resistance training, endurance training, and high-intensity interval training led to improvements in cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular strength among adults who were aged 40–65 years old and who were not previously physically active.

A 2017 study investigated the effectiveness of a 12-week cross-circuit training program in students who were overweight and had intellectual disabilities. The researchers found participants who followed the training program had an improved exercise endurance, muscle strength, and body mass index.

The following exercises can help improve cardiorespiratory endurance, build muscle, and burn calories. People can perform these physical activities at home or add them to their gym routine.

Try doing these exercises in sets of 10–15 repetitions, or as many repetitions as possible for 1 minute with a 20-second break in between sets.