Endurance is the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity. There are two key types of endurance relating to exercise, cardiovascular and muscular.
Cardiovascular
endurance is the most important aspect of fitness. It is basically how
strong your heart is, which can potentially add years to your life. The
heart is the most important muscle in the human body and if it is kept
healthy then you can avoid numerous health problems. Another reason
that cardiovascular endurance is important is because your heart
controls the oxygen flow to all your muscles - meaning cardiovascular
health has a direct impact on your performance, both endurance and
strength wise.
The reason your cardio performance can be improved is because the heart
is a muscle, and like all other muscles in the body if you keep working
it it will adapt to the workload given. This allows us to have direct
control of how healthy one of the most important systems in our body
is. But keep in mind there are other factors that effect heart health,
such as cholesterol, and blood pressure. Eating right and exercising
will ensure that your heart becomes, and remains, healthy throughout
your life.
Many people are suprised at how easy it is to improve their
cardiovascular endurance. All it takes is 15 minutes of exercise while
in your target heart rate, 3 times a week. Although this isn't the most
effective way out there, it is a quick convenient way to get into
better shape and is definitely perfect for a beginner. Depending on the
cardiovascualr exercise, it may also improve muscular endurance.
Muscular
endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to
sustain an activity for long periods of time. There are three types of muscle fibers in your body, slow
twitch (Type 1) and fast twitch (Types 2A & 2B). Slow twitch muscle fibers cannot exert as much
force as fast twitch, but can sustain an effort over a much greater
period of time. Fast twitch muscle fibers can exert a great amount of
force but for a very limited amount of time. Therefore, slow twitch
equals endurance, while fast twitch equals strength.
It is important to pay attention to muscular endurance if you play any
sort of sports, or are involved in any sort of physical activity that
lasts for quite a while. For example, such sports as hockey, football,
tennis, etc. Another activity that is very dependent on muscular
endurance is cross country running, in fact it is probably the best
example of muscular endurance, as it involves very little muscular
strength or flexibility.
If you are looking to improve muscular endurance, a low weight, high repetition circuit routine is best suited for this.