endurance routines?

[TjD]

i was wondering if there are any good endurance exercise routines out there

i really like lifting because its very goal orientated (i do 5 sets at this weight, tomorrow i try 5 more at a higher weight kinda thing).

is are there any routines like this for endurance? picking a time amount and just running or stairmastering it sounds kinda dull to me... i'd like to have an idea when i should up the intensity/time, stuff like that

[inic]

later when i have time, ill give you my program.
my goals are speed, endurance, strength. In that order.
I only lift once a week, maybe twice if i'm not working much. but most of my training is for speed and endurance.
theres two types of endurance that i do, muscle and aerobic. which are you looking for?

[Kempo Guy]

What kind of endurance are you looking for?

My routines are based on Kettlebell/Dumbell snatches, swings, clean and jerks etc. These are all endurance type (anaerobic and stength/muscular endurance) workouts done in high-volume. I usually do 10 reps x 10 or 20 sets or drop sets... depends on the day and how I feel.

Do a search on Kettlebell/s in this forum and you'll find several posts on routines etc.

KG

[TjD]

basically my problem is that my legs get tired too quickly :) in whatever im doing - kicking / running / holding a stance, etc

so, what i want is my legs to be able to last longer

currently im doing kung fu (class or on my own every night), while during the day i lift, using basically what ironfist preaches :)

1x5 squats @ high weight
1x5 squats @ 90% of that weight

1x5, 1x5@90% stiff leg deadlifts
1x5, 1x5@90% calf extensions

1x5, 1x5@90% bench
1x5, 1x5@90% wide grip pullups
1x5 shoulder press
1x5 shrugs
1x5 close grip pull ups
1x5 dips

i lift monday -> friday, each day i increase my high weight by 5lbs, and my 90% accordingly. when i cant do a set of 5, i take a couple days off, and knock the weight down a bit and start over.

my upperbody is fine endurancewise, but my legs get tired too quick :( i'm lookin to fix that

[popsider]

To increase endurance for running, kicking or holding stances I suggest doing more running, kicking and more holding stances.

[TjD]

well i know that :) but i was wondering if there was a good goal orientated routine for increasing your endurance... like lets take running:

you could have something like

day 1, run 15 minutes at intensity x
day 2, run 15 minutes at intensity x+1
after a certain point take a break

or like day 1, run 15 mins
day 2 run 15+x mins
after a certain point take a break

or would it be better to just run X minutes at X intensity every day?

i guess my big question is when excercising for endurance, when do you increase intensity or time? and is it better to increase intensity or is it better to just go longer?

[popsider]

Run for longer at a slower pace, 15 minutes is not really long enough, build up so you do one long run of 40 minutes minimum a week plus at least one run for half the time of your long run. Anyone can do that because if you really can't run for 40 minutes you can walk - again adjust your pace so you can do the time.

When you get a bit better you can then move on to things like interval/****lek training - where you jog/sprint or jog/run - and hill training where you find a hill on your local park and run circuits which incorporate it - or just run round hilly areas on the roads.

I tend to do all my runs at 100% - every training schedule I read tells me I am wrong so don't be afraid to make your long run comfortable rather than a real all out effort.

When you can run for 40 minutes then whether you want to increase intensity or time is really dependent on your goals. If you wanted to run a half or full marathon then you are going to have to up the time you run considerably - and your pace only if you can. If you just want to maintain fitness then you might want to up your pace - your interval and hill running should help with that.

I wouldn't run every day unless I was a really serious runner and I had been running for a long time. If you ran three times a week and put some effort into it then you would see real improvements over 6 months. You will find that if you train that much you will soon be as fast as a lot of people that enter local road races - these can be fun. In fact why not enter a half marathon or something to give your training a bit of focus ? A lot of the running web sites have training schedules on them but they tend to assume you do no other fitness work and they usually want you to run 5 days a week which is unreasonable for most people.

[popsider]

The word it censors is f a r t l e k - it just means running fast for a period, then slower, then faster etc etc in one run.

[inic]

I used to run a lot till i injured my knee. was from running on the beach sand which i found out really isnt good for the knees.

but i would run 4x a week at 40 min and every 3 min, i would sprint for 30 secs.
so basic go run with a watch and every few min, sprint for like 25-45 sec. it increase your endurance, lung capacity and legs. well, it did with mine anyway

[Kumkuat]

speaking of HIIT, I know one girl who claims she did that. I asked her how long is her interval and she said 3 minutes. Is that even possible? To run as fast as you can at max effort for 3 minutes? Man, I meet some weird people.

[popsider]

Yes it is possible to run as fast as you can for 3 m inutes - but by the end of those 3 minutes as fast as you can may well mean walking. Most runners that do this kind of training do not do sprints - rather they do 3-5 minutes of raised pace running followed by recovery slow jog - then repeat etc etc. So they might run at 8 However most runners are training for relatively long distances minute mile pace but do several minutes of 6 minute mile pace mixed in - I think for general fitness or to get fit for more explosive sports or fighting then the idea of shorter faster sprints is probably more applicable.

Just one thing though - this type of running is very hard and requires sufficient recovery. Running 30 second sprints in a 40 minute run requires a really high level of fitness - (depends on your definition of sprint I suppose). Doing this programme 4 times a week is too much unless you are a training full time - it is no wonder you got injured because doing this 4 times a week means you are doing hard sessions on consecutive days at least once - you should follow up something like this with either a rest day, train something else or if you are a runner then a steady easy run.

I look at www.runnersworld.co.uk quite a lot - there are other sites that give good tips too though - I think the US runners world does,

[TjD]

thanks for the good info :) but how would this affect my lifting schedule? i dont think running would take too much out of my upper body, but would i still be able to do squats / deadlifts using my current routine, or would the running make my legs too tired to do those as well?

would it be better to run every other day, or once every 3 days?

[Qi dup]

Originally posted by Kumkuat
Man, I meet some weird people.

Haha, so do I!

[12345]

.

[harry_the_monk]

Normally when doing endurance training, once you get into it your body should really only need 24hrs to recover.

The problem with doing the strength training is that it can take longer for the body to recover. It all depends on what intensity you are working at.

It's good that you are following a modified Pavel routine for your strength. You can also do similar for your endurance. The main thing to make sure is that you don't overtrain. If you stop making gains then you can take a few days off. Remember as well as the cycle programme you are following for your lifts, take it on to your endurance also. This is where it is important to record all your training activities. Each exercise should be a cycle of itself, so when you fail to make gains in a certain exercise you take a few days off from that exercise, not all exercises.

Hope that has helped.

[Kempo Guy]

For a good article on HIIT training check out this site. (http://www.straightblastgym.com/endurance.html#endurance)

It provides great information on the 'how' in regards to HIIT.

KG