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I Want to Have More Endurance

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Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links, which means when you click on the link and buy something from the retailer, I earn a commission from the retailer. If you don't exercise regularly or if you have a clinical diagnosis check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.

Stamina, fatigue, and energy levels are all endurance factors that can improve with exercise .  When it comes to exercise endurance, it is important to be specific.  Do you want to be able to walk or run a mile, complete a 5K, play a sport, play with your kids without getting tired, or walk up and down stairs without getting tired? What is your specific goal?  Once you have your goal, I suggest choosing exercises that will work on your aerobic and muscular endurance to help you reach that goal.    

Aerobic endurance involves the body's ability to transport and use oxygen for a particular activity.  Increasing aerobic endurance has a number of benefits like lowering blood pressure, decreasing cholesterol, lowering blood sugar, preventing disease. (these are just a few benefits of aerobic endurance) In order to improve aerobic endurance you have to add exercises that use large muscle groups for 20-60 minutes per session.  With aerobic activities, you have an increase in breathing, heart rate, and muscle contraction. This involves activities like walking, jogging, swimming, biking, dancing, using the treadmill, elliptical, row machine, etc.  A lot of people want to count strength training as aerobic exercise because it increases breathing and muscle contraction.  It only increases breathing and muscle contraction for about 1-2 minutes while you perform the exercise.  Afterwards breathing and muscle contraction decrease back to baseline during your rest period.  It is not a sustained increase for the 20 to 60 minutes so you don't get the aerobic benefit.  

Muscle endurance involves the muscles ability to work against resistance for an extended period of time.  Aerobic and strength exercises can improve muscle endurance.  For strength training, higher repetitions (10 to 15 times) with a lighter load (the load should still feel like an effort but the exercise can be done at least 10 times) is the key to building muscle endurance.  If you need more information on strength training please see the strength training page.  
  
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​Fitness tracking devices like fitbit, garmin, and jawbone are great for monitoring your activity level as you work toward your goal. These devices can help you monitor you progress.   If you are going to buy a tracking device have a budget in mind because they can be pricey. The sponsored website Ebay sells tracking devices that are a little more budget friendly.  I would recommend a device that identifies your exercise and physical activity minutes.   Wellocracy.com has a comparison chart of the different tracking devices.   A tracker that identifies exercise and physical activity minutes can help with reaching your goal.  ​An hour of exercise is not beneficial if you spend the next 6-8 hours sitting down.
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Contact me with questions. Please fill out the pre-exercise assessment in order to provide me with more information.  An exercise calendar can be provided, please see link for a sample calendar.  Try the program below if you need a starting point.     
Building Endurance
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