Exercise to Improve Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is one of the essential components of fitness which helps you to increase your stamina to perform tasks easily. It sounds difficult in term but its meaning is quite simple. It refers to the ability of muscles to exert force against any resistance, consistently and repetitively, for a longer period of time.

One example of muscular endurance is a marathon race. In which, athletes perform same movements repetitively. This requires athletes to have a great level of muscular endurance otherwise they may injure themselves.

It doesn’t mean you would have to run for hours to improve your muscular endurance. You can perform different basic exercises to increase your muscular endurance. With improved muscular endurance you feel energetic even doing hundred of tasks.

Below are some basic exercises which can be performed at home to improve your muscular endurance

Plank

Plank is considered as one of the best core strengthening exercises which engages your abs, back, glutes, and hamstrings muscles. There are many forms of the plank but a most common form is forearm plank. In this type of form, your body weight is supported by your elbows, forearms, and toes.

Benefits of Doing Planks

• Planks strengthen your core.
• It increases your flexibility.
• It minimizes the risk of injury.
• It significantly improves your posture.
• You’ll perform daily task with ease.

Step to perform Plank

• Lie on a flat surface on your stomach. Hips should be touching the ground.
• Prop up your upper body using your forearms.
• Your forearms should be parallel to your body
• Lift your hips up by the support of your forearms and toes touching the ground.
• Do tight your lower back and shoulder muscles while raising your hips up
• Hold down the position for 30-45 sec to complete one rep.

Recommendation

It is recommended to do 5 reps in a day with the longest hold possible. If your arms are shaking at the last rep it means you are doing right.

Push-Ups

Push-ups exercise is most common exercise and everyone is familiar with it. It is bodyweight exercise so you can perform it anywhere.  This exercise engages multiple muscles (chest muscles, shoulders, triceps and wings) at the same time.

The benefit of doing push-ups

• It helps in creating balance and stability.
• It decreases the risk of shoulder injuries.
• It also prevents you from lower back injuries.
• It improves your cardiovascular system.
• It increases your body’s functional strength.

Step to perform Push-ups

• Lie on a flat surface on your stomach.
• Bring your body at plank start-up position but this time your body weight should be supported by your palm.
• Your feet should be together and your elbows should be pointed towards your toes
• Lift your body up using your arms and make sure your toes and palm should be touching the ground while doing this step.
• Next, lower yourself while bringing your chest closer to ground. This completes one rep.

Recommendation

It is recommended to perform 5 set of pushups. Try to increase the number of reps in a single set after having full command on it.

Sit-ups

Sit-up is another exercise in the list to improve your muscular endurance. This exercise engages your abdominal muscles during exercise so it can be considered during abdominal training. Just like above-mentioned exercises, this exercise doesn’t require special equipment and it can be performed anywhere.

Benefits of sit-ups

• It strengthens your cores and abdominal muscles
• It improves your posture
• It reduces the risk of back pain.
• It Boosts Your Overall Fitness and Health

How to do Sit-ups

• Lay down on a flat surface on your back and keep your head, neck and shoulder relaxed
• Keep your feet flat on the ground and bend your knees.
• Keep your both hands beneath your neck with elbows out to the sides.
• Lift your head, neck, and shoulders off the floor and bring closer to your bend.
• Exhale your breath slowly and tighten your abdominal muscles while doing the above step and hold that position for at least 3 to 5 seconds
• Now, inhale your breath and slowly bring your body to the starting position to complete one rep.

Recommendation

Perform 5 sets of 25 reps. It is recommended to use yoga matt to prevent from un-comfort due to rubbing of backbone with the ground. Immediately contact a doctor if you feel pain in your back because this exercise can cause lower back and neck injury.

Walking Lunges

Actually, Walking lunges not only improves your core but also make legs strong. Instead of stationary lunges, you use push and pull the action from back and front leg respectively. It engages glute muscles hamstrings and quads.

Benefits of walking Lunges

• It boosts the flexibility of the hip flexor muscles.
• It improves the stability of cores.
• It strengthens and tones the quads, glutes, and hamstrings.
• It improves balance and coordination of the body.

How to do walking lunges

• Stand straight and keep your feet together
• Take a large step forward with your right leg while lowering down your body toward the ground.
• You left leg should touch the ground and your both knees should be bend making the 90-degree angle.
• Push off the left foot to lift up left knee and land with left foot in front. Now push off the right foot to lift up right knee and land with right foot in front. Repeat the same movement again and again to continue your walking lunges.

Recommendation

Walking lunges is a good exercise to improve your core and muscular endurance but most people avoid this exercise because it can put too much strain on the knee. If you feel pain while doing this exercise then it is recommended to take a smaller step instead of a larger step to prevent the strain. Some people also practice reverse lunge to reduce the knee strain.

Bodyweight Squat

Body weight squat is a basic exercise which strengthens and tones your lower body. According to Rachel Mariotti, it is the simplest exercise to do with getting high results.  Like above-mentioned exercises, this exercise also doesn’t require equipment and can be performed anywhere. This exercise engages all major muscles of leg including Quadriceps, Calves, and Hamstrings.

The benefit of Bodyweight Squats

• It increases your body strength and builds muscles
• It tones your legs, abs, and butt.
• It builds and maintains mobility in the hip joint.
• It is also good for burning fats
• It improves circulation of blood in a body

How to do Bodyweight Squat

• Stand straight with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Your toes should be straight and should be pointing straight ahead.
• Keep your arms straight and they should be parallel to each other.
• Now, bring your buttocks down by bending your knees. Your buttocks should be slightly down than the height of your knees and your legs should make the 90-degree angle.
• Hold down that position for a moment and then push back your body to starting position to complete a rep.
• Perform at least 3 sets with 15 reps.

Some Important tips

To achieve a noticeable result, it is recommended to perform these exercises on daily basis without repeating the same exercise on very next day. At least give 30 minutes out of your busy schedule to your workout session. It doesn’t matter for how long you workout but the intensity is important.

You can adopt some daily habits to improve your muscular endurance. Some of them are

• Try to adopt the habit of taking stairs rather than the lift of your office and shopping mall.
• Try to walk to your workplace instead of using any vehicle. If not possible or workplace is located at long distance then walk some portion and for rest distance, the vehicle can be used.
• Spend more time at the standing position as standing burns more calories than sitting. According to Study, Standing for six hours per not only prevent you from weight gain but also helps in reducing weight.

If you are a newbie then consult professional trainers to prevent injuries and follow their instructions. If you kind of feel any pain while performing exercises than it is best practice to always consult doctors.