Written by Funk Roberts
Whether your goal is to burn fat, gain muscle definition and shape, or simply improve your conditioning, there is one workout that trumps them all. That workout? Muscular endurance training.
Chances are by now you realize that if you want to see the best results possible, strength training is key. Strength training raises your metabolic rate, improves your lean body mass, and helps you reshape your body to exactly what you want it to be.
When you combine standard strength training with muscular endurance type of work however, you take things to a whole new level. Here are the key benefits that muscular endurance training provides and how to structure a workout program to use this concept.
Improved Resting Metabolic Rate
The first big benefit you can expect to note is an improvement in your resting metabolic rate. When you perform muscular endurance workout sessions, you’ll increase your 24-hour calorie burn significantly for at least 2 days following the workouts. This concept is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) and comes into play with any intense form of exercise.
As muscular endurance strength training is one of the most intense forms of exercise you can do, you’ll see a significant jump to your metabolic level. Studies have confirmed that short duration, ‘all out’ sprints lasting just 30 seconds and repeated six times can significantly increase metabolic activity in subjects and also lead to superior utilization of carbohydrates in the body. This will then help you either lose fat if you are seeking fat loss or help with weight maintenance if you aren’t.
Increased Cardiovascular Fitness
Muscular endurance training sessions are also great for improving your cardiovascular fitness level. If you aren’t a fan of cardio training, muscular endurance strength training can serve as an excellent replacement. As you’ll be structuring the workout very similar to that of any HIIT session on the cardio machines, you’ll basically see similar benefits.
Doing a few of these workouts per week will help you boost heart health, improve your cardio endurance, and help you fend off fatigue on a day-to-day basis. Start doing these and you should notice improvements in just a week or two’s time.
Improved Sheer Strength Levels
These workouts are also excellent for improving your overall strength level as well. Since you’ll be forcing the body to keep lifting despite developing fatigue, as you do, this will translate into you become stronger over time. Then, when you go back to doing your straight sets again, you should notice strength improvements taking place.
Enhanced Muscle Density
Finally, as you complete these workouts, you should also notice that you are getting superior muscular density as well. Essentially, you’ll notice that your muscles feel harder and fuller than they were before. This is due to the fact that you’ll be increasing the number of mitochondria in the muscle tissue with this form of training.
As your muscles become better equipped to using oxygen to perform exercise, you’ll get this change happening on a cellular level, which then translates to an improved physique.
The Muscular Endurance Protocol
Now that you know all the benefits this training has to offer, how do you add it to your workout protocol? The muscular endurance protocol involves ditching a target rep range and instead, performing as many reps as you can in a given time frame. For the purpose of the workout I’m going to share with you today, you’ll want to do as many reps as possible in a 45 second time frame.
Once this 45 second work interval is up, you’ll then rest for 15 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. This is then continued until the entire circuit is finished, upon which, you can repeat again.
For the purpose of the exercise line-up below, I want you to use this 45:15 second work to rest ratio, move through the entire series of exercises, and then rest for 2 minutes. Once that is finished, you’ll then repeat the workout for a second and third time. Are you ready? Here’s your challenge:
Gauntlet Workout - Best Strength and Cardio Workout
Improve Your Muscular Endurance
Perform as many reps as possible of each exercise for 40 seconds followed by a 20 seconds rest one after the other with no rest in between.
Rest for 60 seconds and repeat for 2 Full Rounds Workout Time = 20 minutes
Warm up before and stretch after this workout
Exercise List
- Alternating DB Snatch
- Burpees
- Abs Bicycles
- Burpee Clean and Press
- DB Reverse Lunges to Squats
- Burpee Push Up T-Raise
- Bent Over Rows Alternating
- Plank Jacks to Ski Jumps
- DB Chest Press
- Side to Side Jumping Burpees
Next time you want to put your body to the test and see remarkable progress in your physique, give this workout a try.