Types of Endurance Workouts

Introduction

Endurance is a type of aerobic exercise that is designed to make your heart beat faster than normal for a sustained period of time without causing fatigue or exhaustion. It’s typically performed at an intensity level from 60-80 percent of your maximum heart rate, which can be calculated by subtracting your age from 220 (220 – age = max heart rate).

Endurance workouts are one of the best ways to improve your fitness and prepare for a variety of athletic events. They can also help you lose weight, prevent injuries and improve your overall health.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT)

HIIT (check out our HIIT article) is a great option for those looking to increase their endurance. HIIT involves fast-paced, interval training with short bursts of high intensity followed by brief periods of low or no intensity. The high-intensity phases can consist of sprints, jumps or any other form of exercise that gets you breathing hard and fast. These spurts are separated by less intense activities such as walking or jogging at an easy pace for recovery between each sprint.

HIIT workouts can be done on treadmills, bikes, ellipticals or most other cardio machines at the gym—you just need to set the machine up so that there’s enough room for you to complete all your moves without hitting any equipment along the way!

The benefits of HIIT include:

Burning more calories than steady-state exercise;

Increasing aerobic capacity;

Improving insulin sensitivity;

Lowering blood pressure;

Reducing blood triglycerides (a type of fat in your blood);

Improving heart function;

Boosting mood and mental health;

Strengthening bones and muscles

LISS and steady-state cardio

Low-intensity steady-state cardio, or LISS, is a great way to burn calories and build endurance. It’s also a great recovery workout after high-intensity interval workouts (HIIT). LISS can help you achieve your weight loss goals by improving your metabolism and reducing body fat.

LISS workouts are often done at 60-70% of max heart rate for 30 minutes or longer to improve endurance. If you find that it’s too easy for you, increase the intensity by decreasing rest periods between intervals (or vice versa).

Tempo runs

Tempo runs are an integral part of any training program, whether you’re trying to increase speed or improve endurance. In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of tempo training and how to properly do it so that you can maximize your results when adding it into your routine.

What Is Tempo Training?

Tempo runs are a type of workout where you run at a high effort level for a specific amount of time or distance. They were originally designed as an aerobic exercise but have since been adopted by other types of athletes as well. There are multiple ways to perform them, but they typically involve running at between 80-90% of your maximum heart rate for 20-60 minutes (or longer).

Long, slow-distance runs

You can improve endurance and health by doing long, slow-distance runs. This is great for beginners who don’t have a lot of time to train, or people who want to build up their endurance without having to do a lot of high intensity training. The key here is that you’re running at an easy pace that’s comfortable for you—you should be able to carry on a conversation while you’re running!

You might not expect it, but these workouts are also good for weight loss. The longer your run is, the more calories you’ll burn in total (and the more fat).

Hill intervals

If you’re looking to improve your speed and endurance, hill intervals are the perfect workout. Hill intervals are shorter than traditional runs and designed to increase your heart rate more quickly. These workouts are great for non-runners who want to get into running or for runners that need a change of pace.

Hill interval workouts can be done on a treadmill or outside in nature. The key is to find a challenging incline that makes your breathing difficult after 30 seconds of running at full speed (or sprinting). When starting out, try running up the hill for 45 seconds at top speed then recovering by walking down the hill for 60 seconds before repeating this process again twice more with roughly one minute breaks between each set of three repetitions.

Challenging stair workouts

The following workouts challenge your legs and cardiovascular system by incorporating stairs. One of the great benefits of stair workouts is that they don’t require a lot of equipment. For example, you can workout at home by using only your body weight or a set of dumbbells.

Workout at an incline

The first way to increase intensity in your stair workout is by increasing the grade (or steepness) of the steps themselves. When you climb up several flights of stairs, you’ll be putting more stress on your leg muscles than when climbing just two flights (and thus not getting as much benefit). When performing your workout indoors, use either a treadmill set to an incline or actual stairs with risers that are taller than normal; both will give you similar results as far as how much stress they put on different parts of the body but may vary slightly depending on what type(s) of equipment are available where you live and work out most frequently.”

Indoor cycling classes that increase your cadence over time

When it comes to increasing your cadence, the most important thing is to listen to your body.

When you’re first starting out, you may find that a slower cadence feels more comfortable and efficient. But the goal here is not necessarily speed—it’s to train your legs and core muscles in a way that will have lasting benefits beyond just cycling class. So if it feels too difficult at first, don’t worry! It takes time for our muscles and nervous systems to adapt.

If you decide you’re ready for an increased focus on cadence, there are several ways this can be accomplished:

Increase pedal resistance during indoor cycling classes by setting a higher percentage of weight (i.e., increasing from 80-90% weight) or using clip-on resistance bands or weights inside each pedal cage

Use power-based training tools like smart trainers or apps designed specifically for cyclists (like Zwift) which allow users to set specific goals based off their own power output statistics

The best way to make progress is to vary your workouts

The best way to make progress is to vary your workouts so that you can always keep your body guessing.

If you have the same workout every time, your body will adapt and get used to it—and then there’s no reason for it to grow stronger or faster than it already is. If you don’t change up the variables in your program, then there won’t be any improvements made. In fact, if this happens frequently enough, there could even be some serious problems with over-training as well!

Conclusion

Now that you’ve learned about the different types of endurance workouts, it’s time to put them into practice in your own training. We recommend trying one new type of workout each week and seeing how it feels before moving on to another one. You can also try mixing up some of these types in one session (e.g., warm-up with some LISS and then do some hill intervals). The important thing is that you keep yourself engaged by changing things up often so your body never gets used to any given routine or pattern!