Muscle Strength versus Muscle Endurance
Muscular strength and muscular endurance are important indicators for longevity and quality of life. Putting the work in now is truly beneficial and will set you up with a solid foundation as you move through life.
Muscular strength is a muscle’s ability to create force to move an object or weight, whereas
muscular endurance is the number of times a muscle can contract to sustain the movement of weight.
Why does Strength Training matter?
As we age beyond 30-years-old, it’s estimated that a person loses between 3% – 5% of skeletal muscle mass and strength every decade, known as Sarcopenia. With muscle loss comes a reduction in muscular strength, joint mobility and balance, all things that can be combated by preserving muscle through strength training exercises.
How To Build Muscular Strength and Endurance
Muscular endurance is built with an emphasis on increased repetition of the exercise, from as little as 12 to 20 repetitions per set, and in some instances working up to 50 repetitions. In most cases when a person chooses to work towards those upper repetition ranges, they will complete a maximum of 2 – 3 sets for that exercise.
If you’re new to weight training you could choose bodyweight strength exercises such as squats, lunges, glute bridges, push-ups, and chin-ups before looking to introduce kettlebells or other core strengthening equipment to increase the load.
While you don’t need to change the exercises to focus on muscular strength, what does change is the number of sets, repetitions, and load completed, during your chosen exercises.
Muscular strength is increased when a person lifts between 80% – 100% of their maximum capability. Muscle fibres go through trauma or tear, causing muscle tissue to break down. This activates ‘repair mode’ which increases muscle fibres in strength and size, promoting bigger and stronger muscle mass.
Don’t Wait to Start Weight Training
Our personal trainers are experts in bodyweight strength training and can design a program to get you the muscle strength and endurance you deserve. If you have any fitness questions please contact the friendly team at Authentic Health Studio. Your body will love you for it.
