to Iincrease Muscle Endurance

CHAPTER FIVE Exercise to Increase Muscle Endurance



Definition 79

Factors determining muscular endurance 80

Training adaptations 80

Principles of exercise design to increase muscle endurance 80

Assessment of muscle endurance 80

Principles of assessment 82

Guidelines for exercise to increase muscle endurance 82

This chapter defines muscle endurance. It also explains how to assess muscle endurance and produce a suitable exercise prescription for increasing local muscle endurance.



DEFINITION


Muscle endurance is the ability of a muscle to carry out repeated contractions over a period of time. The term ‘endurance’ implies prolonged use and the ability to avoid fatigue. In any individual there is a relationship between muscle strength and muscle endurance and both are important for everyday life. People need adequate muscle strength to be able to complete functional activities, such as picking up a reasonably heavy object, and muscle endurance so that they are able to do this repeatedly throughout the day or sustain the activity. In the healthy population muscle strength and endurance can be considered together as muscular fitness. There is an association between muscular fitness and quality of life.


Local muscle endurance can be trained in a similar manner to muscle strength by altering the exercise prescription. General muscle endurance may be trained by using the principles of aerobic exercise design, which have been considered in Chapter 3. This chapter will concentrate on local muscle endurance.



FACTORS DETERMINING MUSCULAR ENDURANCE


Factors determining muscle endurance are a combination of those which determine cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. Tables illustrating these factors can be found in Chapters 3 and 4 respectively.



TRAINING ADAPTATIONS


Many training adaptations will be similar to those for strength training, for example neural changes in terms of motor unit recruitment. The training adaptations will depend on the exercise programme being followed. For an individual muscle group, local muscle endurance exercises will take only slightly longer to complete than strength training exercises. This will mean that the energy pathways being utilized are similar, that is the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) – creatine phosphate (CP) and glycolysis systems.


If aerobic activity is being used to improve muscle endurance, the training adaptations will be similar to those described in Chapter 3, as the person exercising becomes reliant on aerobic metabolism as the method of producing energy for the exercising muscles.



PRINCIPLES OF EXERCISE DESIGN TO INCREASE MUSCLE ENDURANCE


Local muscle endurance may be improved by utilizing a progressive resistance training programme similar to that for muscle strengthening except that the prescription will use a lower weight and larger number of repetitions (15 RM) than that for pure strength training (8 RM). For people with low muscular fitness, one set of exercises will produce training gains and is time efficient. For those with good initial muscular fitness, for example athletes, more sets (up to five or six) may be needed to produce training gains. If multiple sets are used, rest intervals should be incorporated into the programme between sets. These should be long enough to allow the next exercise to be performed in good form.


Considerations such as starting position, safety and equipment are similar to those for strength training.


General muscle endurance may also be improved by using aerobic exercise. Many exercise programmes for improving muscle endurance may start with an exercise programme for specific local muscle endurance and progress to a programme which incorporates this into a functional, general endurance training programme.

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Nov 7, 2016 | Posted by in MANUAL THERAPIST | Comments Off on to Iincrease Muscle Endurance

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