You're already gasping for breath after one floor on foot? Are you hoping for an oxygen tent after the third floor? Well then you should urgently improve your endurance!
If you're tired of your neighbors looking at you askance because you're puffing away in the stairwell, it's time to work on your fitness.
In order to build stamina, you should think about effective and good endurance training.
However, this will not only improve your endurance, but you can also lose a kilo or two.
The reason is quite simple: through a healthy composed endurance training, plenty of fat is burned.
Besides, your health also benefits. High blood pressure can be effectively lowered through exercise. This in turn reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!
Why improve endurance is important
Why you should increase your stamina? There are countless reasons.
You will feel the first successes already after a short time. We will tell you here some essential advantages that will also convince you, we promise!
What are the benefits of cardio training?
What positive effects endurance training has
- Your heart rate will decrease significantly.
- The heart will begin to work more effectively and efficiently.
- Your overall blood circulation will improve.
- Very important: Your immune system is strengthened.
- Your body can better handle stress.
- Your lungs can take in a lot more oxygen than before.
- Your nervous system works more sustainably.
- If you want to build up your endurance, then you will also be able to maintain your weight more easily, or losing weight will be easier as well.
- In addition, the risk of contracting a disease of civilization is reduced. These include diabetes II or high blood pressure.
- Last but not least, the quality of your blood will also improve.
The 10 best tips that will improve your endurance
If you want to build up your fitness, be sure to check out our tips below.
And right from the start: From now on, sport belongs to your friends and not to your enemies. You have to do something for your endurance on a regular basis; it won't get better on its own, but only worse.
There's not a single downside to building up your fitness. But there are some things you have to consider. Especially if you want to get started in sports.
You are a total beginner? Then start by going for a fast walk 4 times a week for at least 30 minutes. This way you can work on your basic fitness and later implement the following tips.
Unsportsmanlike? Not anymore! This is how you get started!
Tip 1: Allow slowness
Yes, every beginning is hard. It's the same with improving endurance. Nobody can run a marathon overnight. So don't expect miracles.
When you start building fitness, start with small slow steps. It doesn't matter if you prefer running, swimming or cycling. Make sure you're going at the right pace.
The optimal pace for you is when you never feel out of breath while exercising. Accept that at the beginning you are simply slower than amateur athletes who have been training for a long time.
But keep in mind that you are still faster and better than those who just sit on the couch.
This training plan will make you a runner in 4 weeks!
Tip 2: Stay consistent
The fact is, your fitness doesn't build up overnight. To be able to run, swim or cycle longer distances, you need a high level of consistency.
Only through continuous training will your endurance improve.
Besides your basic endurance, your muscles will also be strengthened. You should do your favorite endurance sport several times a week.
Make sure you keep it rather slow and short in the beginning. Your speed will improve over time anyway.
Exercise 3 to 4x per week for 30 minutes.
8 good reasons that speak for an e-bike!
Tip 3: Improve endurance with the right diet
Yes, you read that right. If you want to improve endurance, you also need to pay attention to the right diet.
All those who follow a low carb diet must now be strong: You should namely make sure that your daily requirement consists of at least 55 to 65 % from carbohydrates.
However, this is not a free pass to eat pasta every day. Rather, you should tailor your meal to your workout. Before you plan a particularly long session, you should choose a carbohydrate-based meal beforehand.
This way, you'll be able to go the full planned distance. However, you should always make sure to eat complex carbs.
So how about a delicious porridge with oatmeal or a dish with brown rice? In any case, you should rarely reach for white flour products or sugary foods. This drives up your blood sugar much too quickly and causes it to drop again very quickly.
How vitamins and minerals provide more power
Did you know that certain deficiencies can trigger cravings? A magnesium deficiency, for example, is said to make us crave chocolate.
Only if our body has enough vitamins and minerals available, everything can run like clockwork.
Tip 4: Strengthen endurance with jump rope exercises
If you don't want to get out of breath so quickly, your endurance training should be extensive. That means not just going for a run.
Swimming, cycling, dancing and an absolute insider tip: jumping rope. All this improves your endurance.
The more different things you try, the slower you will get bored. This will make you last longer.
You'll improve your endurance and strength at the same time if you regularly use a skipping rope. The more often you swing the rope, the easier it becomes. It's best to start on soft ground. Then the fall does not hurt so much :)
Also, the higher the quality of the skipping rope, the easier your swings will be.
Tip 5: Check your pulse during exercise
The heart rate (pulse) expresses how often your heart beats per minute. Through continuous endurance training, you train your heart muscle, which reduces your heart rate even under stress.
So if you do endurance sports regularly, you also reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure.
What should your optimal heart rate be during training? There is a rule of thumb for this. The lower limit is calculated as follows: 65 % from (220 - year of life).
The upper limit is calculated by 85 % of (220 - year of life).
If you are 30 years old, you should have a heart rate between 124 and 162 when exercising. The best way to check your heart rate during exercise is with a chest monitor or a sports watch.
This is how you can learn to jog!
Tip 5: Set achievable goals
Are you one of those people who want to turn their whole life around? Please do not overtax your body during training.
Otherwise, you're more likely to undermine your efforts.
If you want to improve your endurance and don't want to lose motivation, start with two sports units per week. After that you can slowly increase.
You've never really done any sports before? Then it might even be enough to start out with a 20-minute walk. Then you can gradually increase your activities.
This will keep you motivated and your endurance sessions will slowly become a habit.
You don't need to leave the apartment for these endurance exercises!
Tip 6: Tempo runs can improve endurance
Gradually, you can also include tempo runs in your training. These are short distances that are completed at a fast pace.
In any case, these runs should be done at a faster pace than your normal running, swimming or cycling speed.
Through such sessions, your body can learn to get the lactic acid out of the bloodstream faster. This means you can gradually run longer and longer until fatigue overcomes you.
You should schedule such tempo runs once a week.
At the beginning, 20 minutes is enough. However, don't completely exhaust yourself so that you end up on the floor panting. Keep the pace challenging but not overwhelming.
Ever heard of VO2max? So it improves endurance!
Tip 7: Run further and longer
To run longer distances, you need to train slowly. Increase your sessions by 5 minutes every week.
That doesn't sound like much, but over time it adds up. You should do such workouts slower than your normal pace.
Many amateur athletes make the mistake of selecting a pace that is much too fast. Towards the end, however, the performance then drops far too quickly.
So it's better to run slowly in order to complete your sports unit at a steady pace. So always remember: Endurance comes first, then speed!
This is how interval training helps you run better and faster!
Tip 8: Build up fitness with recovery phases
If you train a lot, you also have to plan recovery phases. You demand a lot from your body through regular endurance training.
Therefore, you should give it adequate rest between sessions. In order for your body to regenerate, you should get enough sleep and take breaks from training.
You train three times a week? Then you could schedule the sessions for Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. This way your body can recover in the days in between.
Tip 10: Don't forget mental preparation
Yes not only your body has to prepare for a longer running distance, but also your mind. You shy away from longer sessions?
Courage, with the right mental preparation you can manage it all more easily.
You want to run 9 km? Then split the distance into three parts. For your head, three times 3 km sounds better than 9 km. That way, 9 km won't sound so intimidating anymore.
Last but not least: Always keep in mind the positive effects. Your calorie consumption will be increased.
The longer your endurance sessions become, the easier it will be to get rid of excess pounds. In addition, your muscles will also improve. Especially your heart muscle.
You slowly increase from week to week. That takes effort. But if you persevere, your willpower will also increase.
In general, regular endurance training makes you more efficient. This also has advantages on the job. You can cope better with stress and dare to tackle tasks that you were afraid of.
Use stair training for more endurance!
What condition actually is
What does endurance mean anyway? Quite simply or: If someone is already broken after running 400 m, his condition is bad. You would probably sign that, wouldn't you?
But endurance is much more than physical stamina. Good fitness involves many other factors, such as strength, speed, agility, muscle coordination and stamina.
All these points show how good your endurance really is. The translation of the word "condition" into English means "fitness".
How fit someone is, however, is not only defined by their own physical strength. Rather, it is defined by the points we listed earlier.
Thus, good endurance has much more far-reaching positive effects on your body than you may have suspected until now.
Improve your endurance with these fitness exercises!
Our conclusion
Improving endurance requires a lot of stamina, a good diet and sufficient rest between sports sessions.
The condition depends on the efficiency of the heart. That's why you should use a heart rate monitor during your workouts. Define the goals you want to achieve and set achievable milestones.
Increase slowly. If you follow our tips, you will quickly achieve your first small successes. Have fun and success in building up endurance! :)
To browse further:
* Advertising & affiliate links: Our website is financed by advertising and affiliate links. As a partner of linked stores (e.g. Amazon) we earn from qualified sales.
Read more