Muscular Endurance Best Exercises

Most people when they hear the world muscle, they usually thing of strength or size of the muscle. But  muscles are involved in everything that we do in our daily lives. They are involved in speaking, sitting  and standing up, lifting objects including ourselves. They are essential for breathing, posture,  movement, and for skills of any kind. So, we need to understand that most of our lives we aren’t using  the strength, i.e., force output, of the muscle but rather our muscle’s endurance, i.e., the ability of the  muscle to sustain consistent function or contraction over long periods of time. Think about walking,  climbing stairs, carrying your kid around, etc. In general, moving constantly. 

Because of the sedentary lifestyle and decrease of movement due to automation people tend to lose  even their general muscular endurance which leads to bad posture, improper breathing, joint pains and  injuries and may also lead to heart issues. 

Apart from muscular endurance for general people, high levels of muscular endurance are needed for  athletes of any sport as well. Think about a footballer who needs to run, jump, sprint, kick continuously  for 90 mins.  

So, personal training for increased muscular endurance can help posture, breathing, general daily life movements  and sports performance. In fact, fitness training for muscular endurance might also reduce risk of  cardiovascular problems and joint pains and injuries. 

How to train for Muscular Endurance 

Muscular Endurance is improved by doing sets of any loaded exercise for high to very high repetitions  and progressing it over time. For example, sets of pushups done for upwards of 12 reps up to 50 will  help improve pushing muscle’s endurance. Another way to train for endurance, especially for postural muscles, is to perform long isometric holds for a certain muscle. For example, holding a plank for as long  as possible.  

Exercises to Improve Muscular Endurance 

1) PUSHUPS 

Perform 2 sets of at least 15 repetitions and build up on more and more repetitions in each set. If you can’t do a full pushup, do it on the knees or elevate your hands on a bench or both. 

2) INVERTED ROWS 

Perform 2 sets of at least 15 repetitions and build up on more and more repetitions in each set. If you can’t do this in a fully straight body position, bend your knees to 90 degrees or move the  bar higher up from the floor. 

3) BACK EXTENTIONS 

Perform 2 sets of at least 12 repetitions with each rep held for 3 seconds at the top and build up on more and more repetitions in each set. 

4) PLANKS 

Perform 2 sets of at least 15 second holds and build up on time under hold in each set. 

5) SQUATS 

Perform 2 sets of at least 15 repetitions and build up on more and more repetitions in each set.