Learning how to improve stamina and endurance can seem intimidating—especially if you’re new to fitness.
But whether you’re considering joining a gym for the first time or you’ve been running on the treadmill three times a week for years, improving stamina and endurance are practical goals.
That’s why we’re devoting a whole guide to stamina and endurance. We’ll touch on their differences, offer workout options for both goals, and help you navigate common roadblocks (no matter your experience level).
Stamina vs. Endurance: What’s the Difference?
Before you can learn how to improve stamina and endurance, you have to understand the difference between these two metrics.
They’re similar, but distinct:
- Stamina is your ability to sustain a rigorous mental or physical effort. If you can keep your energy level up and perform at your best for more than a few seconds at a time, you have good stamina.
- Endurance is your ability to perform repetitive actions over time. If you can repeat the same movement over and over without faltering on form or feeling weak, you have high endurance.
Let’s use a few examples to demonstrate the difference:
- If you can run multiple sprints during a training session while maintaining consistent speed, you have high stamina. If you can run over a long distance without risking injury or losing motivation, you have high endurance.
- If you can complete three heavy deadlifts in a row with good form and control, that’s stamina. If you can run through back-to-back sets of the same exercise with limited breaks, that’s endurance.
- If you can give your all from the first minute of a yoga class to the last, stamina might be one of your strengths. If you can hold the tree pose for an hour without flinching, your endurance is a force to be reckoned with.
While they’re different, they’re both essential to fitness—no matter your experience level.
What Builds Stamina? 3 Options
If you’re looking to get a gym membership with the purpose of building stamina, you’re in luck: There are plenty of things you can do in the gym to enhance your overall performance and learn to withstand intense workouts.
High-Intensity Strength Training
If you want to improve your performance and learn to push through the pain (in other words, build stamina), high-intensity strength training is an excellent match for you.
What makes a workout “high-intensity?” High-intensity routines follow a pattern:
- A short burst of intense work
- A brief rest period
- Another short burst…
…and the cycle continues.
While you can certainly pair the high-intensity approach with cardio-focused workouts (a strategy you might see in a group fitness class), you can also create high-intensity strength-focused workouts.
What could that look like? Here’s a hypothetical high-intensity strength routine for legs specifically:
- Five reps of heavy back squats
- Thirty seconds of rest
- Repeat the squat set
- One minute of rest
- Three reps of heavy deadlifts
- Thirty seconds of rest
- Repeat the deadlift set
- One minute of rest
- Five reps of heavy glute bridges
- Thirty seconds of rest
- Repeat the glute set
- One minute of rest
You’ll notice that each set is heavy with few reps—and that the rest period between each set is pretty short. This approach will help you build your intensity tolerance: That’s stamina in a nutshell.
Compound Lifts
You’ll notice that, in the example workout above, we only listed compound lifts.
That’s by design: By engaging multiple muscle groups at the same time, you can increase intensity tolerance on a broader level. Other benefits of compound lifts include:
- Increased heart rate – Asking multiple muscle groups to work hard at the same time is a surefire way to boost your heart rate.
- Coordination and mobility training – Compound lifts demand perfect form: You have to find a way to stay stable (i.e., build coordination) while you complete a full range of motion (i.e., train mobility).
- Heavier lifts – Since you’re relying on multiple muscle groups during one exercise, you can lift heavier than you might if you were only working one muscle group.
All of these benefits also support stamina-building: They’ll increase your ability to endure intense workouts.
Supersets
Supersets can help you build overall energy capacity (and save time in the gym).
But what is a superset, exactly? During a superset, you complete multiple exercises in a row with limited (or zero) rest in between each one.
There are two different ways to structure supersets: You can pair alternating muscle groups (antagonist supersets) or work the same muscle group repeatedly (agonist supersets). Your choice will depend on your specific goals and workout preferences.
Here are some examples of antagonist supersets:
- Eight reps of barbell back squats, then twelve reps of cyclist goblet squats
- Ten walking lunges, then ten pushups
- Four wall handstands with a ten-second hold, then four wall sits with a ten-second hold
The most important thing to remember while building a superset is keeping your rest periods short—that’s the key to building stamina.
How Do You Build Endurance? 2 Approaches
If you started a gym trial with a primary goal of improving endurance, we have two recommendations for workout approaches that can help you get there.
Steady-State Cardio
During endurance training, you should be focused on performing repeated movements while maintaining good form for as long as possible.
That’s cardio, baby.
Classic steady-state cardio exercises really shine here—things like:
- Walking, jogging, or running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Using the stair stepper or elliptical
But steady-state is the operative phrase. To build endurance, you want to maintain low to moderate intensity for an extended period. While you should still warm up and gradually increase intensity until you reach your sustaining pace, try to stay consistent: walk, swim, or cycle at the same pace for ten-plus minutes (or more).
If you’re a newcomer to fitness, you can take a gradual approach to building your endurance. Your ideal endurance-building plan might look something like this:
- Week 1: Walking at 3.0 mph for 10 minutes
- Week 2: Walking at 3.0 mph for 15 minutes
- Week 3: Walking at 3.0 mph for 20 minutes
- Week 4: Walking at 3.2 mph for 15 minutes
- Week 5: Walking at 3.2 mph for 20 minutes
- Week 6: Jogging at 3.5 mph for 10 minutes
- Week 7: Jogging at 3.5 mph for 15 minutes
- Week 8: Jogging at 3.5 mph for 20 minutes
- Week 9: Running at 4.0 mph for 10 minutes
- Week 10: Running at 4.0 mph for 12 minutes
- Week 11: Running at 4.0 mph for 15 minutes
Notice that, every time you increase your speed, you decrease your overall time: In the early days of endurance-building, you need to give your body time to adjust to a new intensity level. (And, while it might not seem like it, there’s a huge difference between walking 3.2 mph and jogging 3.5 mph—we’ve all been there.)
Low-Intensity, High-Rep Strength Training
If you’re not a fan of conventional cardio, you can get the same endurance-building benefits from weight training.
But, while you might focus on heavy compound lifts for stamina-building, endurance-building requires the opposite approach:
- Focus on one muscle group – Use isolation lifts instead of compound lifts to focus on longevity instead of intensity. Some examples include bicep curls, tricep extensions, single-leg deadlifts, and calf raises.
- Lift lighter – Since you’ll be focused on one muscle group and performing lots of reps, lift lighter to prevent injuries and work at a lower intensity.
- Perform lots of reps in one set – Building endurance is all about extending the time that you can safely perform an exercise. If you’re taking a weight-training approach, that means you’ll be doing lots of reps.
Additional Tips and Tricks for Boosting Stamina and Endurance
Building stamina and endurance takes work—sustained, long-term work. To stay healthy and maintain your consistency on your quest, make sure to:
- Gradually increase your workout intensity over time—don’t jump right into long-distance running or Olympic-style lifting.
- Maintain high hydration and optimal nutrition. Your body needs energy while you’re working out—whether you’re lifting heavy or swimming a 500.
- Allow for adequate recovery time. This will vary based on your approach, your schedule, and your personal preferences but, once you set a workout and recovery schedule, try to stick to it.
Unfortunately, endurance- or stamina-focused approaches can lead to plateaus: multiple days or weeks where you just can’t get over the hump and reach a new level of intensity. We have a few plateau-busting tips:
- Switch up your routine to give yourself a “fresh” start (even if you’re just doing the same exercises in a different order).
- Switch from endurance workouts to stamina workouts (or vice-versa) on occasion to lean into difficulty and boost overall fitness performance.
- Lean on your gym community: Go to a new fitness class with a friend, shadow a lifting buddy during their sets (even if they’re widely different from yours), or ask a pro at your gym for tips.
Mistakes to Avoid on Your Journey (And Solutions)
Whether you’re a newcomer or a gym veteran, mistakes are possible. Here are a few common snafus (with solutions you can use to right the ship):
- Neglecting rest days – This is a recipe for injury, burnout, or both. Instead of skipping rest days, incorporate active recovery: performing ultra-low intensity exercises on rest days (this is a great time to work in flexibility training).
- Failure to adjust – If you’re plateauing or not progressing, it’s time to adjust your workout. Try incorporating heart rate zone monitoring: setting new BPM goals and keeping track of them.
- Overtraining – This isn’t the same as skipping rest days—it’s trying to do too much, too fast. Set realistic milestones that make sense for your fitness level, schedule, and abilities: check out our guide to workout goals to learn more.
Boost Fitness in a Supportive Atmosphere
Whether you want to lean into stamina training or develop better endurance, your workout plan needs to be personalized: Pay attention to your preferences, listen to your body, and stay consistent. You’ll be crushing your goals in no time.
But there’s another way to set yourself up for success: finding a friendly, supportive gym community. A fitness family can hold you accountable, help you leap over plateaus, and just make working out more fun.
Enter Chuze Fitness: the gym that’s beyond friendly, beyond spotless, and beyond well-equipped. Everybody deserves an awesome gym, and that’s us.
Find a Chuze Fitness location near you to get started.
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