No matter what type of workout you do, maximizing your benefits is always the goal. That’s especially true when you’re trying to build endurance. You won’t get the desired results if you don’t have the cardiovascular strength or physical endurance to finish your workout. Physical endurance depends on cardiovascular endurance. If lifting weights, you need your heart and lungs to supply oxygen to your muscles during your activity. The better your heart and lungs perform, the longer you can do any activity without fatigue. Building lung and heart strength helps all types of fitness.
HIIT—high-intensity interval training—is one of the most efficient workouts.
If you want to shave a little time off your workout and reap huge benefits, HIIT workouts are perfect. HIIT isn’t a particular set of exercises. It’s a way of doing any exercise. It’s a shorter but more intense workout where you push your heart rate to 80 or 95 percent of its maximum for a short time, then reduce the intensity to a recovery pace for the same time or longer. You alternate back to peak intensity. You can use any routine. Just 20 to 30 minutes of HITT provides the same benefits as much longer workouts. Make your HIIT workout your own using cardio or strength building and your favorite workout.
Use strength-building exercises to increase strength and endurance.
You’ll cut time and boost your endurance when you do supersets. You combine two exercises, one from each opposing muscle group, and do them without resting in between. For instance, you might combine chest and back exercises or do pull-down movements to work the triceps and lifts to work the biceps, one after another, with a 30 to 60-second rest between supersets. You’ll build cardio and strength endurance, plus maximize your time in the gym.
Circuit training using compound exercises increases your endurance and maximizes workout time.
When you do compound training, you’re working several joints and muscles simultaneously. Create a circuit of compound exercises and cut the rest time between sets. It’s an intense workout that’s also extremely effective. Another way to work all muscle groups and involve all forms of fitness is a kettlebell workout. It builds strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance.
- If you aren’t in shape and just starting a fitness program, walk. As you get fitter, alternate your speed and include terrain that requires climbing. Increase your pace until your heart rate is 80% of your heart rate maximum, then reduce it to a recovery pace.
- Adding weights to your cardiovascular workouts or speed to your strength-building ones maximizes your cardio and muscle endurance.
- Including explosive movements in your workouts builds endurance. Burpees, squat thrusts, tuck jumps, and frog squat jumps are examples. These are compound exercises that merge two or more exercises together.
- No matter how fit you are, if you use HIIT workouts or intense exercises, don’t do them two days in a row or more than twice a week. Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any fitness program.
For more information, contact us today at Egan’s Bootcamp & Personal Training!