How to Increase Stamina
Regardless of the sport practiced be it football, dance, tennis or anything else, what all athletes need is endurance.
Endurance activity is usually recognized as aerobic activity; this because the body uses oxygen to allow muscles to contract. Therefore, the increase in resistance is proportional to the increase in oxygen consumption used by muscle work.
Nutrition and hydration can improve endurance. Training improves both absorption and release of oxygen and is therefore one of the most important factors.
Most people tend to focus on cardio exercises to increase their stamina. In reality there are many more useful and dynamic ways to increase it. Here are some tips that may help you.
1. Combine strength and cardio workouts
Instead of focusing solely on strength training or cardio training, why not try to combine the two? Increasing muscle mass will not only make you stronger but will also help increase metabolism and consequently endurance.
As you get stronger, your body will certainly feel lighter as well will be able to control movements more efficiently, thus using less oxygen.
Exercises like squats and lunges will increase leg strength, helping you to run effortlessly for at least 90 minutes, giving you more energy for sprinting and fast running.
2. Choose multi-joint exercises
Exercises like squatting, lunges, push-ups and pull-ups, they all involve more than one muscle group, thus helping you to improve your endurance unlike what an isolated movement can do, given by training a single muscle at a time as happens for example with exercises such as dips for the triceps and bicep curl for the biceps.
Exercises such as lunges that alternate with the bicep curl, can be a good solution to stimulate multiple muscles at the same time. Your cardiovascular system will benefit greatly and with it your stamina.
3. Dynamic exercises
- dynamic and explosive exercises they are ideal to include in your training, they will allow you to test strength and endurance at the same time. Try adding exercises like box jumps, burpees, frog squats to your workout.
4. Leave the old routine
After about 2 weeks the body begins to become familiar with the usual training routine: therefore remember that it is important to change from time to time.
If your training usually consists of running for 90 minutes on a soccer field, then try to vary by trying for example cycling or swimming! This can be a good motivation for those who are bored to always follow the same routine.
5. Reduce rest times
In a weight room training session, the recommended recovery times between sets are usually between 30 and 90 seconds.
If your goal is to test and improve endurance, try to reduce the time by 10-20 seconds. The shorter the breaks, the more the cardiovascular system will benefit.
Try to complete a circuit of traction, push-ups, squats and sit-ups, taking little recovery time between exercises.
6. Progressive growth
If your goal is not to feel overly tired after a run, ride a bike, or play a football match, then what you need to do is keep increasing your training load.
Running the same distance several times without increasing the pace will not bring any advantage, as it will not affect the cardiovascular system.
You need to keep increasing your workload (whether it's training volume, resistance or distance) to really stimulate your body and increase your stamina.
7. Be patient
Increasing stamina is a time-consuming process it is important not to overload the body especially in the first few weeks.
Too much training or too much weight can lead to injuries. Start building strength and endurance in small steps. It is also important to establish rest periods to allow the body to fully recover.
