Muscular Endurance

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Muscular endurance is one of two factors that contribute to overall muscular health. Think of muscular endurance as a particular muscle group's ability to continuously contract against a given resistance.

Long-distance cyclists offer a clear example. To continuously pedal a bike over a long distance, often up steep inclines, cyclists have to develop fatigue-resistant muscles in their legs and glutes. These are evidence of a high level of muscular endurance.

Likewise, holding a plank to develop core strength is another example of muscular endurance. The longer you're able to contract your abdominals and hold your body in a steady position, the greater endurance you have through your hips, abdominals, and shoulders.

The extent to which you choose to focus on muscular endurance should be directly related to your own health or fitness goals. It's important to realize that muscular endurance is muscle group-specific.

This means you can develop high levels of endurance in some muscle groups (like cyclists building endurance in their legs) without necessarily developing the same level of endurance in other muscle groups, depending on your needs.

For Everyday Health

For general health purposes, you may want to develop enough endurance to simply climb up several flights of stairs or to lift and carry groceries from your car to your house. Low-intensity weight-bearing or strength-training workouts will help you build up that endurance.

For Fitness-Related Goals

But if you want to become an endurance athlete capable of competing in sports that require continual muscle contraction, such as obstacle course races, CrossFit, or cycling, you may want to place a higher focus on training regimens that use high-repetition strength training and sport-specific activity to make you a better athlete.