If you want to increase endurance — whether for sport or personal health — then choosing the right endurance exercises is important. To choose an endurance exercise you first need to know which type of endurance you want to increase. Cardiovascular endurance focuses on the body’s ability to provide oxygen to the muscles during a prolonged exercise routine. Muscle endurance focuses on the ability of a particular muscle to perform repetitions against resistance for a period of time. To choose the best exercise for you it’s important to think about your current fitness level, which exercises you enjoy and how likely an injury is when using a particular exercise.
The only way to improve cardiovascular endurance is to perform a cardiovascular exercise regularly over a period of time. Cardiovascular exercise is any type of fitness routine that increases the heart rate. For example, running, swimming and cycling are all cardiovascular exercises. In order to achieve the maximum benefit from cardiovascular workouts it’s important to vary a routine to prevent the body becoming used to a certain exercise.
There is no such thing as the best cardiovascular endurance exercise for everyone. Even so, due to the fact that cardiovascular exercises needs to be performed regularly to increase endurance it’s important to choose endurance exercises that are easily available. For example, jogging requires little equipment apart from a good set of jogging shoes and can be performed at any time. Team sports can be a good way of increasing endurance but require more organization and effort.
The best endurance exercises for you will also minimize the risk of getting an injury. Low-intensity workouts such as those achieved using a cross trainer will allow you to exercise regularly without putting your body under excess strain. Some exercises, such as running, put a lot of stress on the body’s joints and hence need to be approached with more caution.
Choosing the best muscular endurance exercises is often simpler than cardiovascular exercises. This is due to the fact that if you want to increase the endurance of a particular muscle then there are often not many choices when it comes to exercises. For example, if you want to increase the endurance of your quadriceps muscles then squats or pistol squats may be a good option.
Other factors that you should consider when choosing endurance exercises include how often you can perform a type of exercise, whether it can be performed in all weather and how difficult you find it. It’s usually a good idea to pick several different endurance exercises, not only for your body’s sake but also to avoid getting bored.