Endurance Training

Endurance corresponds to stamina. The importance of stamina is increasingly recognized in all sports, particularly those involving bursts of running, for example: football and basketball or lengthy matches of tennis. A lack of stamina not only hampers your physical performance, it can cause you to make unforced technical or tactical errors as increasing tiredness affects your mental alertness and reaction times.

There are several types of Endurance: aerobic endurance, anaerobic endurance, speed endurance and strength endurance. Aerobic means 'with oxygen'. During aerobic work, the body is working at a level that the demands for oxygen and fuel can be meet by the body's intake. The only waste products formed are carbon dioxide and water. These are removed as sweat and by breathing out.

Anaerobic means 'without oxygen'. During anaerobic work, involving maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles have to rely on the stored reserves of fuel. The muscles, being starved of oxygen, take the body into a state known as oxygen debt. The body's stored fuel soon runs out and activity ceases - painfully. Speed endurance is used to develop the coordination of muscle contraction. Repetition methods are used with a high number of sets, low number of repetitions per set and intensity greater than 85% with distances covered from 60% to 120% of racing distance.

Competition and time trials can be used in the development of speed endurance. Strength endurance is used to develop the athlete's capacity to maintain the quality of their muscles' contractile force. All athletes need to develop a basic level of strength endurance.