Why is Muscular Endurance Important?

Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to perform repetitive contractions against a force for an extended period. By improving muscular endurance, you can perform physical tasks for extended periods. It is not only meant for sportspersons but can also help non-athletes in their day-to-day jobs. Performing repetitive physical activity, such as gardening, raking leaves, and washing your car, will become less fatiguing. Since muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance are closely related, multiple exercises can help prove both. 

Some of the benefits you can observe in a short time yourself include increased metabolism, reduced physique, better posture, fewer injuries, and many more. 

Why is Muscular endurance necessary in sports?

Almost all sports require a well-developed muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is necessary in sports because it helps in maintaining a steady state of physical activity which in turn helps to minimize the risk of injury. Furthermore, it also allows athletes to efficiently move and use their muscles for a longer duration which allows them to perform better during competitions.

Muscular endurance will help you run a little farther, hike an inclined plane slightly higher train your muscles to go the distance rather than train them to exert short-term brute force. While muscular endurance is often connected to endurance sports, it has advantages in high-intensity sports. After all, your muscles need to work continuously in most physical activities anyway. 

For example, sprinting 100m describes how much overall power you can produce. However, as the distance grows longer to 200m or 400m, the more critical factor is how long you can keep up the same high level of performance. This is where muscular endurance comes into play. 

The importance of Muscular endurance is different kinds of sports

Let us explore the importance of muscle endurance with the help of the following three sports.

1. Football

Football is considered one the most endurance-heavy sport. Football requires high muscular endurance as sprinting, kicking, jumping, change of direction are part of football, and all actions need to be performed many times during training a game. Since football is an anaerobic sport that requires short and powerful bursts of power and short recovery periods, athletes must have muscular strength and endurance to resist fatigue, avoid injury, and last longer in the game. 

There are multiple ways in which footballers train themselves. Sprints and jump rope exercises also help to build endurance. These exercises provide the intensity and challenge necessary to recruit fast-twitch fibers and develop their strength. 

Here are some exercises that help in improving muscular endurance in footballers: 

1. Chest presses
2. Push-ups with an exercise ball
3. Bicep curls
4. Plank row
5. Backpack push-ups
6. Equalizer dips

2. Long Jump 

Long jump involves training multiple parts of the body. It is all about explosive power. The more power you can generate through your legs, the higher and farther you’ll be able to jump. Explosive power is a combination of speed, muscular endurance, and muscular strength. Hence, various targeted exercises are used to train long jump athletes. These include running sprints, lifting weights, and performing plyometrics.

One of the tests conducted for long jump athletes is the Standing Long Jump Test.

It involves the following steps:

1. The athlete warms up for 10 minutes.
2. The athlete places their feet over the edge of the sandpit, crouches down, and, using the arms and legs, jumps horizontally as far as possible, landing with both feet into the sandpit.
3. The assistant measures and records the distance from the edge of the sandpit to the nearest impression made by the athlete in the sandpit
4. The athlete repeats the test 3 times.
5. The assistant uses the longest recorded distance to assess the athlete’s leg strength.
6. The objective of this test is to monitor the development of the athlete’s elastic leg strength and endurance.

3. Basketball

Basketball is a very intense sport. Muscle endurance is an essential part of basketball, as the games are long and require a high degree of endurance to maintain the players’ performance throughout the game. In the NBA, there are no breaks, so they prepare for these kinds of situations by endurance workouts. There are multiple physical attributes and the ability to use them simultaneously. Some features required are speed, strength, quickness, and overall athleticism. You can increase your muscular endurance by doing exercises to build lower and upper body strength needed in dribbling and dunking. You can also focus on strengthening your core and back muscles. This will positively affect your stamina, energy, levels, and performance.

Some basketball players who improve their muscle endurance are running the basketball mile drill to build stamina and endurance and doing circuit or interval training. These basketball conditioning drills enhance speed, strength, and muscle endurance. 

According to the NBA, “Having a specific weight lifting/resistance training regimen helps build muscular endurance. Increasing weight and reps helps build strength but also your body’s ability to endure pain and discomfort longer.” 

Muscle Endurance Exercises You Can Do at Home Without Equipment

Some exercises you can do at home to improve your muscle endurance are:

1. Plank

You can do planks at home on any flat surface without the need for any equipment.

1. To start, lie flat on your stomach (hips touching the ground) with your legs flat and your upper body propped up by your forearms.
2. Tightening your lower back and shoulder muscles, raise your hips off the ground.
3. Hold for as long as you can (aim for intervals of 30 to 45 seconds) and then relax. That completes one repetition.

2. Push-ups

You can also do this exercise on any flat surface without any equipment.

1. Start by lying flat on your stomach. Push yourself off the ground into a plank position.
2. Hold your body up with your toes and hands (not your forearms, as with the plank described above). Lower yourself back down, letting your chest touch the ground.
3. Promptly push down on your palms and raise your body back to a plank position.

3. Wall-sits

All these exercise needs are rigid back support or a wall.

1. Slowly slide your back down a wall until your thighs parallel the floor.
2. Make sure your knees are directly above your ankles and keep your back straight.
3. Go for 60 seconds per set.

Muscle Endurance is thus important for athletic ability and also everyday life. Keep doing these easy workouts with regularity to build your muscle endurance. Also, read about strength endurance and its importance.