Athletes: Get the Most Out Of Play With Endurance Training
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If you’re an athlete dedicated to your sport, not every skill comes naturally.
One key part of an athlete’s ability to perform and excel is having the endurance to power through. And, endurance training can help athletes
build that drive.
“Endurance training is exercise focused on improving stamina, or the athlete’s ability to do something for a longer period of time,” says Paul Krebs, MD, of Premier Orthopedics, part of Premier Physician Network. “For
most athletes, this is looking at
aerobic fitness or cardiovascular fitness. And, this is the body’s ability to get oxygen to the body and to the muscles that are using it during exercise.”
Generally, exercises such as walking, running, biking, and swimming are great for endurance training.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends all adults get 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week. All athletes should be getting at least that minimum.
Athletes that play endurance sports should build even more endurance training into their workout routines to improve their ability to be competitive. Athletes playing power sports, such as football and volleyball, should work on endurance training to
push themselves to play at a higher level.
Not everyone needs a personal trainer for endurance training, but you might find that it helps to keep you on track and focused.
And, for accomplished athletes, endurance training can help them participate at a high level of activity for a longer period of time.
“This consistency and availability are important qualities in an athlete, and endurance training can improve both of these characteristics for an athlete,” he says.
The most common type of endurance training is cardiovascular exercise, which focuses on building lean muscle. Your muscles might not look visibly bigger, but they will be getting stronger.
Jumping Into Endurance Training
Endurance training can also protect athletes by helping them keep their form and biomechanics while they play.
“When athletes get tired or fatigued, their biomechanics and form can change, which places new stresses on their body,” Dr. Krebs says. “As their form breaks down, it places new stresses on their tendons, ligaments, muscles, and bones,
which can lead to overuse and stress injuries.”
As with any athletic activity, there can be a risk of injury with endurance training. Most often, endurance training injuries include
stress fractures,
strains, or tendonitis, and happen because of overuse.
These injuries are more likely to happen when you increase the volume of your training too quickly.
“For athletes getting into a new activity, like endurance training, the key to staying healthy is being patient and having a good plan and appropriate guidance,” Dr. Krebs says. “The potential benefits of endurance training far outweigh
the risks, as endurance training and cardiovascular fitness can decrease the risk of chronic disease and the need for medications.”
Click play to watch the video or read video transcript.
The Benefits of Endurance Training
Endurance training is exercise focused on improving stamina, or the athlete's ability to do something for a longer period of time. For most athletes, this is looking at aerobic fitness or cardiovascular fitness. And this is the body's ability to get oxygen to the body and to the muscles that are using it during exercise. For the general population, and for athletes, these can include exercises such as walking, running, biking or swimming.
So all athletes need some type of endurance training. In the general population of adults, the American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week. Even athletes in sports that aren't focused on endurance should look at getting some amount of cardiovascular exercise to try to meet this minimum recommendation.
For athletes in endurance sports such as biking and cycling as well as running, they should focus on higher levels of endurance training to improve their ability to be competitive in these sports. Even our athletes in power sports, such as football and volleyball, should focus on strength endurance training to allow them to participate at a higher level.
How to Get Started
The need for a personal trainer for endurance training is really an individual question. Some athletes will benefit from a personal trainer, but many athletes are already equipped to start endurance training on their own. For our high school athletes, a lot of our coaches in the area are very well equipped to train our athletes. We have great coaches that have already formed great training programs that focus on endurance for our young athletes.
For an accomplished athlete endurance training can take them to the next level by allowing them to participate at a high level of activity for a longer period of time. This consistency and availability are important qualities in an athlete, and endurance training can improve both of these characteristics for an athlete.
There are different types of endurance training. The most common type of endurance training is aerobic exercise focused on cardiovascular fitness. And this is going to focus on building lean muscle. While athletes may not see a hypertrophy or enlargement in the muscles, their muscles are going to be getting stronger. For strength endurance athletes, they may some hypertrophy or increased mass in their muscle through that training.
Be Smart About Endurance Training
Endurance training can protect an athlete by improving their ability to keep their form and biomechanics throughout the activity. When athletes get tired or fatigued, their biomechanics and form can change, which places new stresses on their body. This can be seen in a distance runner late in a race, or in a pitcher late in a ballgame. As their form breaks down, it places new stresses on their tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones which can lead to overuse and stress injuries.
For any sporting activity, there are some risks of injury. And endurance training is no different. In endurance training, the most common type of injury we see is an overuse injury such as a stress fracture, a strain or tendonitis. For athletes getting into a new activity like endurance training the key to staying healthy is being patient and having a good plan and appropriate guidance.
Most injuries occur when athletes try to increase the intensity of volume of their training too quickly. With an appropriate plan, this risk can be decreased. The potential long term benefits of endurance training far outweigh the risks as endurance training and cardiovascular fitness can decrease the risk of chronic disease and the need for medications.
Source: American Heart Association; Paul Krebs, MD; Premier Orthopedics
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