The term ‘endurance training’ refers to one of the four types of exercise. Other types of exercise are strength, balance and flexibility. Under ideal conditions, all four types of exercise will be included in a healthy workout routine.
They don’t all need to be done each and every single day, however, variety helps assists with keeping the body fit and healthy. In addition, having a variety in your training makes exercise interesting. It is possible for you to do a variety of exercises to keep the body fit and healthy as well as to keep your physical activity routine exciting. Personal trainers suggest that any types of exercises can improve strength, endurance, flexibility in addition to balance. For example, practising yoga can assist with improving your balance, strength as well as flexibility. Plenty of lower-body strength-training exercises also enhance your balance.
With the endurance method of training, you can increase your maximum oxygen intake. The more oxygen that you take in, the more energy your body will have. Therefore the longer you will be able to run before your muscles become tired. A 30-minute workout (for beginners) will get you going and can easily reach two hours (for the more seasoned runners). The intensity, in other words. your running speed should vary according to your training goals such as if you want to do a couple of kilometres or are preparing specially for a competition.
There are a number of things that you should add to each of your endurance training workouts.
Warm-up
The warm-up should step up your heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption, dilate your blood vessels, increase the elasticity of active muscles and increase the heat produced by the muscle groups which are going to be used during exercise.
A proper warm-up consists of two phases:
- A graduated aerobic warm-up activity: This a warm-up to get the blood flowing into the muscles. This also heats up the muscles to make them less prone to injury. Any aerobic activity done at very low intensities can service to warm up the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
- Stretching or flexibility: This is to be done on the muscle groups you will be exercising throughout your cardiovascular activity. An example is a quadriceps stretch before bicycling.
The warm-up phase should last anywhere from between five and 10 minutes. For most activities, five minutes may be good enough. Stretching should always follow the low-intensity aerobic warm-up activity as it is easier to stretch the muscle groups when they are warm. An example of a good warm-up is five minutes of walking followed by three minutes of light stretching. Try to maintain your stretch for at least 20 seconds during the warm-up.
Cooldown
The aim of a cool-down is to slowly decrease the cardiovascular work and overall metabolism that were elevated during cardiovascular activity. A cool-down is composed of slowing down the intensity level of the cardiovascular activity you are performing. Ceasing exercise suddenly can be dangerous. A cool-down maintains the body’s circulations of blood and keeps blood from pooling in the veins. A cool down is extremely important for people who are in the beginning stages of a fitness programme.
A suitable cool-down should last about five to 10 minutes for every thirty minutes of exercise. If the cardiovascular activity is performed for longer periods or is of the highest intensity, the cool-down phase should last longer.
Endurance training must be connected to your target activity. You likely have limited time for training each week. This means that you have to consider whether you spend it doing specific endurance training or practising your sport. So make the most of your time!
