Building muscle endurance is no easy task. It takes a lot of exercise with consistency and a proper diet to increase your body’s overall endurance. However, you can’t focus on your entire body at once, and even if you could, it would cause unbelievable fatigue. To help you make the most of your workout while saving on energy for the next day, here’s a list of several muscle endurance exercises.
Plus, you can’t identify how far you’re gone with your workouts and routines if you stop tracking your progress. So, to help you with that, there are several ways to measure your muscle endurance. Try to include as many exercises in your routine as possible. Being consistent and firm with your practice is key to unlocking your physical potential and endurance.
Top Muscle Endurance Exercises
In simple words, muscle endurance refers to a muscle’s strength and ability to keep exerting force consistently over a given time. The duration of the period can be as short as 20-60 seconds and as long as 10-20 minutes. If you’ve seen the Guinness Book of World Records, you must know that the world’s longest plank position was around 9 hours, 30 minutes, and 1 second! Do you know how that was possible? It was possible due to the high muscle endurance of the core abdominal part of the body. Anyhow, here’s a list of the top muscle endurance exercises that you can stick to:
· Long-Distance Running
Your body will require consistent energy for the same movement and strides during a race or marathon. Your body’s ability to keep exerting force to help you make strides over and over again will show the muscle endurance that you have. Keep in mind that you can only run for long distances without causing extreme fatigue or serious injuries if you have high muscle endurance.
On a casual note, holding your baby and trying to rock him to sleep while moving around the house constantly is also a form of building muscle endurance! Do you ever wonder how delivery guys can frequently jog up and down the stairs without passing out, even with bags of groceries?
The main benefit, as identified by experts, is that high muscle endurance reduces the chances of developing cardiovascular diseases.
· Push-Ups
Who needs an introduction to push-ups, right? Wrong! While many people know what it is, only a few people invest time in learning the correct posture, movement, and push-up techniques. To build muscle endurance for the upper torso and arms, follow the push-up steps below:
- Start in a plank position by lying parallel to the ground with your palms and toes supporting your body. Keep your chest directed at the ground, and don’t let your hips sag.
- Keep your hands at shoulder width and directly under them before moving down in a ground-parallel position. Bend your elbows at only 45 degrees, no more or less.
- Push down on your palms to raise your body back to the plank position without letting your chest touch the ground.
You can perform 5 sets of 12-15 reps with breaks of 1-2 minutes between each set.
· Crunches
Of course, nearly all individuals dream about having a strong enough core to perform a human plank. But do you know that building muscle endurance for longer planks and higher stability makes crunches an instrumental exercise? Here’s how you can build muscle endurance with crunches:
- Lay flat on the ground on your back, and keep your hands to the side while supporting your neck with your palms. Keep legs bent but the feet flat on the ground.
- Try to lift your torso upward and bring it closer to the knees without lunging forward or using explosive momentum. Also, avoid curling your hands around the head, trying to force an upward movement by pulling on your neck. Use your core muscles to perform the exercise.
- Bring your body back to the ground with your back lying flat – all without losing control of your core abdominal muscles.
- Avoid losing movement by pulling your torso up and letting go of your body, causing it to hit the ground with your back.
Perform 5 sets of 23-25 reps with 2-3 minutes break in between.
· Body-Weight Squats
Squats are easy to understand but require maximum leg force and core abdominal muscle strength to remain consistent. You can build muscle endurance through the following steps while performing body-weight squats:
- Keep your toes pointed straight ahead with legs slightly more than shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your legs and try to sit down until your hips are parallel to your knees. Keep your thighs parallel to the ground, and don’t let your knees track over the toes.
- Once the hips are parallel to the knees, push yourself up in a guided motion using your glutes.
Perform 3-4 sets of 20-25 reps with a 2-3 minutes break in between.
How to Measure Muscle Endurance
While learning about your muscle endurance is cool, you can move on to compound and advanced level exercises once you realize that you’re not a beginner anymore. So, how to test your muscle endurance? Check out three main muscle endurance tests below:
1. Push-Up Test
Get in the push-up position and start doing as many reps as you can. Is that it? No! Keep a stopwatch or timer to record how many perfect push-ups you can do within a minute. It will give you a solid idea about your muscle endurance.
2. Body-Weight Squat Test
Keep a timer or stopwatch with you to record the number of squats you can do within a short time, typically 60 seconds. Remember, you have to do it without compromising your form.
3. Lower-Plank Hold
Get in the same push-up position but instead of resting your palms right underneath your shoulders, use your forearms to lay flat on the ground with your body lifted up slightly (with the support of toes and forearms). Use a stopwatch or timer to record your plank before you take up the perfect form.
Conclusion
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It’s not about the perfect workout application but rather a consistency. Plus, if you don’t have a gym buddy or indoor workout friend, you can trust GymBet to keep you on track. You can’t progress as swiftly as you want when you’re not tracking your goals and progress. Download GymBet today and make the most out of your muscle endurance workout routines.