Fitness

Endurance That Lasts!

by Nathan Mosher

One of the more overlooked aspects of conditioning, especially from a strength perspective, is the need and/or relevance of endurance work. It often seems counterproductive to include any type of endurance work if your main goal is a big bench press. Since we are bombarded with the idea that any endurance work will compromise our strength levels, we wrongly assume that it should be reduced to almost nothing.

As with most things in life, this is another case where the subject is not simply a black and white issue. Consider the following signs of insufficient of endurance work: feeling fatigued both mentally and physically; craving sweets or stimulants like coffee; frequent injuries; reduced immune function leading to more frequent illness; and gaining fat or inability to lose fat.

Certainly, if you noticed yourself thinking, “Yeah, I crave caffeine,” it does not imply that you are endurance-challenged and that you need to go out and sign up for the next local 10K run. However, if you notice that several of the above signs listed apply to you, it might be a good idea to evaluate your routine and explore whether additional endurance work might help.

PUTTING IDEAS INTO PRACTICE
As with other aspects of your training, you must carefully plan when and where your endurance work will fit into your program. In fact, at certain periods of the year, you may not need to continue with endurance work for a while – specifically during certain seasons. For example, a mile runner may decrease endurance work to zero during the racing season. Away from competitions, he or she may do targeted endurance work specific for the sport.

ENERGY STORAGE
The shorter the duration of your effort, the more you tap into your ATP/PC energy stores. This energy stores are very limited in supply and are used up rapidly. Complete rest periods are needed to restore the supplies. Conversely, longer duration efforts utilize glucose and fats for energy and the restoration period is greatly reduced. In fact, you could probably repeat a slow-paced, ten-minute walk immediately after finishing it the first time.

Energy Systems and Duration of Work

An endurance training routine, specifically for a cyclic sport like running, depends on several factors: the intensity of the exercise, duration, rest periods used, type of rest and the total number of repetitions during the session. In his book, Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training, Tudor Bompa claims that an athlete has endurance when, “he or she does not easily fatigue or can continue work in a state of fatigue.”

There are roughly four major methods of endurance training: uniform or continuous, alternative or variable, repetitive and interval.

An athlete in preparation for sport may use each of these methods or a combination of one or two methods. The choice depends on the sport and the athlete’s condition.

Uniform Endurance Training
This form of training encompasses constant, low-to moderate intensity workouts. This is the highly recommended form of endurance work for athletes participating in sports of one hour or more in duration. This form of work enhances the athlete’s ability to tolerate long-duration events and is great for runners, paddlers, bicyclists and cross-country skiers. To find the proper intensity for this category, subtract your age from 180. This is a good guideline to begin from and should be low enough to keep you out of the anaerobic threshold – that zone where your muscles start to burn and your lungs are on fire!

A good break-in method to use in conditioning is to slowly increase the duration of your workouts for eight weeks. After that, slowly begin increasing your intensity from workout to workout. For example, you want to increase your heart rate slightly during each workout. A heart rate monitor may be very useful since you do not have to stop and check your pulse with your fingers. A basic heart rate monitor should cost about $50.

Alternative Endurance Training
With this method, the intensity of the workout session is increased and then decreased throughout. The range of intensities during the workout will vary from moderate to sub-maximum. This can be accomplished in different ways: by purposefully increasing your speed or climbing hills while maintaining speed. Your heart rate may vary from high levels of approximately 180 beats per minute to a low of 140 beats per minute. This wave-like alternation of intensity facilitates a high volume of work.

A variation of this method is fartlek training. In this method, waves of different intensities are used in the workout but the athlete makes the changes randomly. This is a form of speed-play.

Repetitive Training
The repetitive method is great for developing specific endurance. Distances longer or shorter than the competition distance are used in training. Longer distances place a higher demand on the aerobic aspect of endurance, while shorter distances place a greater demand on anaerobic endurance. The intensity of the workout is stable, and recovery between bouts or attempts should be complete. This may mean allowing at least five and sometimes as many as ten or more minutes between bouts. The repetitions would be the first variable increased, followed by the intensity of the efforts.

Interval Training
Interval training has a predetermined time used for the work and rest periods during the session. The intensity of the workout and the total number of repeats are also predetermined. Usually, workouts of this nature are structured so that recovery between bouts is incomplete. This form of training is usually used to develop speed-endurance. The exact duration of the work and rest periods will depend on the nature of your sport. This value can range from five seconds to approximately four minutes.

Below you will find a chart that gives a brief summary of each of the four methods of endurance training:

Training Protocol for Endurance Methods

Hopefully you will come to appreciate the benefits that endurance training may bring to your sports performance. Even if you compete in an anaerobic sport such as weightlifting or power-lifting you can still benefit from endurance work, as a high level of aerobic fitness will aide in recovery between your efforts or lifts. If nothing else, the general health benefits offered will enable you to lead a more active and full lifestyle.

This article references, Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training (Human Kinetics, 1999) by Tudor Bompa, and Science of Sports Training (Stadion, 2001) by Tom Kurz.

Nate Mosher of Troy is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in physical therapy. His company, Pinnacle Performance, offers training and consulting services to athletes in the Albany area.

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