Muscle endurance is important for necessary for people who make repetitive muscle movements for any period of time. Think of workouts like boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Karate, MMA fighting, etc. By keeping the intensity high and the weight limit moderate in your workouts, the focus is on training these muscles continuously for a period of time like that of one of the workouts previously listed.
The type of workout strategy that is key is one that combines a series of compound exercises, isolation exercises, and metabolic conditioning. This will help condition your muscles to endure repeated intense movement. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s define what these types of exercises are.
Compound Exercise: any movement where you’re using more than one muscle group at a time.
Isolation Exercise: movements that target a specific muscle group and make use of only one joint.
Metabolic Conditioning: exercises that increase the amount of energy stored and released by the body
Guide to Build Muscle Endurance
In this guide, we will walk you through what a typical workout looks like to build muscle endurance. Then from here, you can throw in your own exercises to fit within the structure.
The Warm-up
A great type of warm-up to think about here is something that will get the blood flowing and the heart pumping pretty quickly. Think of things like jumping rope, quick pace on a bike, etc. This is also a great time to throw in some dynamic stretches like using a PVC pipe or resistance band and performing good-mornings, shoulder presses, and shoulder dislocates. (Yes, that name of the exercise sounds terrible, but it is a great warm-up exercise.)
Muscle Endurance Workout
For this type of workout, the structure is going to look like this: four exercise groups consisting of three primary lifts + a quick set of pushups and situps.
*Athletes who are just starting out should do 5 pushups and 10 situps. More experienced athletes can do 10 pushups and 15 situps and more if they’re up for a real challenge. Remember the pushups and situps are rapid-fire. Your muscles should feel very fatigued by the end of the set. This can help determine how many you should aim for.
Group 1
Stiff leg Deadlift: 10 reps (@70% 1 rep max) + pushups + situps
Standing Shoulder Press: 8 reps (@70% 1 rep max) + pushups + situps
Bent-Over Row: 8 reps (@70% 1 rep max) + pushups + situps
Rest 1 min
Group 2
Stiff leg Deadlift: 8 reps + pushups + situps
Standing Shoulder Press: 6 reps + pushups + situps
Bent-Over Row: 6 reps + pushups + situps
Rest 1 min
Group 3
Stiff leg Deadlift: 6 reps + pushups + situps
Standing Shoulder Press: 4 reps + pushups + situps
Bent-Over Row: 4 reps + pushups + situps
Rest 1 min
Group 4
Stiff leg Deadlift: 4 reps + pushups + situps
Conditioning Workout
For each of the exercises listed below, complete as many reps as you can in 1 minute. Try to push yourself during the whole minute. Rest for 10 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. After you have completed all of the exercises, continue back to the top and make your way through the list 4-5 times. This should take you about 30 minutes. It will be intense.
- Jumping Jacks
- Jumping Lunges
- Mountain Climbers
- Box Jumps
- Burpees
You can start by doing this type of workout 2-3 times a week. Make sure you give yourself a day of rest in between workouts. If this is your first time trying a muscle endurance workout like this, then you might need more than one day of rest in between workouts. We also recommend active recovery days like going for a walk, hike, or slow-flow yoga.
And as always, we recommend to really get the most out of your workouts by drinking a pre-workout that supports your workouts and recovery. Our POW does just that. Drink it before or during your workout to really see the difference in your training. POW comes in three flavors: Blue Rasberry, Tropical Punch and Berry Melon.
