INCREASING MUSCULAR ENDURANCE: support your body in the gym and in life!

Improving muscular endurance will improve overall posture and support to the body throughout your training, performance and day to day life to limit stress.

When we train and become self aware with how to hold positions to move with perfect form we are developing our muscular endurance to withstand this level of stress and hold ‘form’ for a length of time.

This length of time will vary from a few reps to very high volume and over time it will become easier and more automatic to stay in the correct posture.

This is a skill that develops with time, but it is not only beneficial in the gym … but in day to day life too to make sure with withstand good control, hold ourselves well and move in an optimal way to prevent unnecessary stress on the body.

For example, we’ve all walked past a mirror or shop window and noticed the way we stand and likely lifted our chest, lifted our chin and made ourselves stand a little taller. Or you may have noticed this while working at your desk that over the hours your slump deeper into your chair, shoulders round, chest collapsed and a gradual build up of discomfort in the upper and lower back.

Now, the reason strength training is so useful to improve muscular endurance is that we can build strength to make sure we are support our skeletal system to create our perfect posture and allow our body to have limited strain and stresses.

If you put your self right now in what you perceive as your most perfect posture (chest up, chin lifted, shoulders back and down and spine stacked) do you feel better … physically stronger and mentally more confident? GREAT! Now, how long do you think you can hold that.

Even after 30 seconds or so it can feel really fatiguing and you’ll gradually notice certain areas begin to relax and you fall back into that standard posture.

The aim is to develop the muscular endurance so you can hold perfect form in movement but of course support you in day to day life too. Really think about how you respond to each movement while you’re training. Recognise the imbalances, what feels hard, where you think you can improve and what direct impact that will have on your daily life to avoid niggles and aches.

Any exercise you do really think about hold good posture and form … when this starts to go if if from the get go the weight is so heavy you feel you can’t hold good form then you need to reduce the weight or reduce reps … build from there and then start to increase the time you can do that or the load to push a little more.

TAKE NOTE OF WHEN YOU FEEL YOUR POSTURE SUPPORT MUSCLES START TO FATIGUE … USE THIS AS A MARKER TO RECOGNISE PROGRESS TOO. Progress doesn’t always need to be weight increase or more volume/intensity … it can be the fact that yo are holding yourself in positions perfectly for longer! YOU ARE IMPROVING YOUR MUSCULAR ENDURANCE!!