Muscular Endurance

Cardiovascular Endurance
Muscular Endurance
Muscular Strength
Advanced Training Techniques
Fitness Statistics

Muscular Endurance - the ability of a muscle to do continous work over a long period of time

enduring muscular exercises

    Muscular endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to sustain an activity for long periods of time. Muscular endurance is determined by how well your slow twitch muscle fibers are developed. In case your wondering what slow twitch muscle fibers are, I will explain. There are generally two types of muscle fibers in your body, slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscle fibers cannot exert as much force as fast twitch, but can sustain an effort over a much greater period of time. Fast twitch muscle fibers can exert a great amount of force but for a very limited amount of time. Therefore, slow twitch equals endurance, while fast twitch equals strength.
    It is important to pay attention to muscular endurance if you play any sort of sports, or are involved in any sort of physical activity thats lasts for quite a while. For example, such sports as hockey, football, tennis, etc. Another acitivity that is very dependant on muscular endurance is cross country running, in fact it is probably the best example of muscular endurance, as it involves very little muscular strength or flexibilty.
    If you are looking to improve muscular endurance, the best way would be to involve yourself in just about any cardivascular activity, such as running, biking, and playing sports.  Even walking will help you stay healthy and condition your leg muscles, to a point. If you are looking to improve the endurance of your upper body, bodyweight exercises such as chin-ups, push-ups, triceps dips, etc., will improve this, and your strength as well.

Suggested Beginner's Muscular Endurance Program

Treadmill 15-20min-light jog to run
Rowing Machine 15-20min-quick pace
Pushups-3 sets of max # of reps
Cardio Bike 15-20min- medium to fast pace
Chin-ups 3 sets of max # of reps
Step Machine 15-20min- quick pace
Treadmill 15-20min-  light jog to run
Skipping Rope 10-15min- fast pace
Tricep Dips 3 sets of max # of reps

***This program is meant to be spread out over a period of a week. It is also to be noted that this same program can be used as a aerobic program to improve cardiovascular endurance and performance.

Make your own free website on