Endurance fitness is the ability to sustain physical activity for a lengthened period of time. For example, it’s being able to stay on the treadmill or elliptical for an hour versus just five or ten minutes.
It’s having the energy and stamina to stay in the game instead of huffing and puffing on the sidelines. Think of long distance runners or professional sports players.
They have to push their bodies for extended periods of time. Therefore, they must keep a high endurance fitness level as opposed to someone that runs a 100-meter dash or doesn’t play sports at all.
Endurance fitness exercises are:
Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Systems
Your body is fueled by different energy systems that make your body move. For our purposes, we’ll keep things very basic. There are two general types of energy systems in our bodies: aerobic and anaerobic.
Anaerobic Exercises
Anaerobic exercises are high-intensity workouts. During this type of activity, the demand for oxygen exceeds the available supply.
Simply put, anaerobic exercises consist of high performance for short bursts of time. Exercises like sprinting and heavy weight lifting are anaerobic.
Aerobic Exercises
Endurance exercise uses the aerobic energy system. During aerobic training sessions, our oxygen consumption balances with our oxygen production. The lower oxygen consumption doesn’t mean the exercise will be easy. Running a marathon is an aerobic exercise, but it’s still 26.2 miles.
Benefits of Endurance Fitness
There are many advantages of having a high endurance fitness level. You have a lower resting heart rate because your heart works more effectively and your muscles are more efficient and stronger for longer periods of time. You also experience less fatigue and you’re able to sustain greater demands on your body.