Fitness is a fascinating topic. People nowadays are quite concerned about their fitness and well-being, especially after what happened during the havoc COVID period. Now, people are willing to get fit and perform any measures required to attain fitness.
However, while embarking on a fitness journey, people usually get confused when addressing one concern: Should I focus on Strength or Endurance? While both trainings have immense potential and offer some breathtaking benefits, however, the choice depends on the goal you have set for your body. In this post, we will discuss this topic to provide you clarity over Strength vs Endurance: How to Choose the Right Training Plan?
Also Read: The Complete Guide To Nutrition And Recovery For Athletes
What is Strength Training?
First thing first, What is strength training?
Strength training mainly focuses on building muscle mass, improving muscle power, and increasing overall body strength. Strength training for athletes and non-athletes includes workouts like lifting weights using resistance bands, push-ups, pull-ups, etc.
What is Endurance Training?
Now, let’s understand what is endurance training. In this training, you enhance your body’s ability to do workouts or exercises over a longer duration of time. Endurance exercises include activities like swimming, cycling, rowing, etc. So basically, endurance training is all about making your body active and last long for workouts.
With the above explanations, it is clear that both strength and endurance training have their own significance. Now, let’s move ahead and discuss the benefits of Strength and Endurance.
Benefits of Strength Training
- Strength training plays a major role in improving muscle mass and bone density. This is particularly necessary for athletes who are aging.
- Strength training for athletes can help them improve their power, speed, and agility. Movements like deadlifts, benchpress, and squats are the foundation of strength training among athletes.
- Strength training also boosts metabolism rate and allows the body to burn more calories when you are not working out.
Benefits of Endurance Training
- Endurance exercises help in improving heart health. These exercises improve cardiovascular health and increase blood circulation in the body. Doing these exercises also leads to reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
- Endurance exercises increase stamina by improving your body’s ability to deliver apt oxygen to muscles. Also, endurance exercises release endorphins, a ‘feel-good’ hormone that helps in reducing stress and anxiety.
- Endurance workouts including cycling, running, swimming, etc., help in burning calories and maintaining a healthy weight.
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Strength vs Endurance: How to Choose the Right Training Plan?
Finally, the big question is how to choose the right training plan between Strength and Endurance. Well, the answer is- why choose one when you can take advantage of both? All pro athletes and fitness enthusiasts strive to adopt a hybrid approach and incorporate both Strength and Endurance training in their workouts. Doing both will ensure a balance between muscle building, stamina improvement, and cardiovascular health. One can opt for a simple weekly routine or create their own workout timetable comprising both strength and endurance exercises. Below is a sample weekly routine timetable:
- Monday: Upper body strength training.
- Tuesday: Endurance training. Ex: Running or Cycling.
- Wednesday: Sleep well and take ample rest for active recovery.
- Thursday: Lower body strength training.
- Friday: Endurance training. Ex: Swimming.
- Saturday: Opt for full-body endurance and strength circuits.
- Sunday: Rest day.
Tips for Success
- There’s a saying, slow and steady wins the race. Therefore, choose your workouts wisely and start with a manageable intensity so that you don’t get injured or burned out.
- Recovery is a crucial aspect of both strength and endurance workouts. No matter what weekly or monthly plan you follow for your workouts, just ensure your plan includes rest days.
- Keep track of your progress. Regularly monitoring your improvements in exercises will help you to plan your next schedule accordingly.
- As an amateur, it is necessary to seek the guidance of a professional. A mentor, trainer, or coach can help you understand exercises better and also will aid you in performing your exercises in a bona fide manner.
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To Conclude
Opting between Strength and Endurance exercises shouldn’t be an if-but or an either-or decision. Exercises for endurance enhance cardiovascular health and stamina, while strength training increases muscle and power. Therefore, both trainings have their own magnitude so it is better to schedule your workout in a manner so that you get the best of both strength and endurance training and amplify your fitness journey.
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