The Endurance Athlete
Endurance is one of the basic health-related components of physical fitness. As a result, most athletes have to acquire some degree of muscular and cardiorespiratory endurance to perform successfully. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to repeatedly develop or maintain force without fatiguing.
Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems to deliver blood and oxygen to working muscles, which enables the working muscles to perform continuous exercise. In other words, a
individual who possesses good cardiorespiratory endurance will be able to perform higher intensity activity for a longer period of time, compared to an individual with poor cardiorespiratory endurance.
Clearly, endurance is an important component to health and performance to nearly all athletes, even those involved in sports requiring short, intermittent bouts of intense anaerobic activity that are repeated over the course of an hour or more. Since so many sports require endurance, clarification is needed regarding the difference between “endurance and ultra-endurance athletes.”
Because of the duration and continuous nature of endurance training, endurance athletes expend a tremendous number of calories not only during competition, but also during training. For example, total daily energy expenditures of 6,000 to 8,000 kcals/day are considered normal for ultra-endurance athletes. Therefore, endurance training puts a tremendous drain on energy reserves which must be replenished after daily training bouts, making diet a key factor not only for athletic performance, but also for overall health. Failure to maintain an adequate dietary intake of nutrients can quickly result in chronic fatigue, dehydration, increased risk for illness (e.g., upper respiratory infection) and injuries, as well as muscle wasting. Endurance athletes must pay careful attention to dietary composition and the timing of consumption to maximum performance. For the ultra-endurance athlete, not only is their training diet crucial, but so is their nutrient consumption during lengthy competitions (Fink, Mikesky &Burgoon, 2012).
Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems to deliver blood and oxygen to working muscles, which enables the working muscles to perform continuous exercise. In other words, a
individual who possesses good cardiorespiratory endurance will be able to perform higher intensity activity for a longer period of time, compared to an individual with poor cardiorespiratory endurance.
Clearly, endurance is an important component to health and performance to nearly all athletes, even those involved in sports requiring short, intermittent bouts of intense anaerobic activity that are repeated over the course of an hour or more. Since so many sports require endurance, clarification is needed regarding the difference between “endurance and ultra-endurance athletes.”
- Endurance athletes are those who are engaged in continuous activity lasting between 30 minutes and 4 hours.
- Ultra-endurance athletes are a subgroup of endurance athletes that engage in extremely long bouts of continuous activity lasting more than 4 hours.
Because of the duration and continuous nature of endurance training, endurance athletes expend a tremendous number of calories not only during competition, but also during training. For example, total daily energy expenditures of 6,000 to 8,000 kcals/day are considered normal for ultra-endurance athletes. Therefore, endurance training puts a tremendous drain on energy reserves which must be replenished after daily training bouts, making diet a key factor not only for athletic performance, but also for overall health. Failure to maintain an adequate dietary intake of nutrients can quickly result in chronic fatigue, dehydration, increased risk for illness (e.g., upper respiratory infection) and injuries, as well as muscle wasting. Endurance athletes must pay careful attention to dietary composition and the timing of consumption to maximum performance. For the ultra-endurance athlete, not only is their training diet crucial, but so is their nutrient consumption during lengthy competitions (Fink, Mikesky &Burgoon, 2012).
Endurance Training Adaptations
The following responses are chronic effects seen in healthy adults and may vary with the type and duration of aerobic exercise:
- Increase in mitochondria density
- Increase in capillary density
- Decrease in heart rate (resting and maximal)
- Increase in stroke volume (resting and maximal)
- Increase in cardiac output (resting and maximal)
- Increase in blood volume and red blood cell production
- Increase in blood pressure (systolic)
- Decrease in blood pressure (maximal)
- Increase in pulmonary ventilation (maximal)
- Increase in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max)
- Decrease in body weight percentage
References:
Baechle, Thomas R. & Roger Earle (Eds.). (2008) Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (3rd edition). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Fink, H., Mikesky, A., & Burgoon, L. (2012). Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition (3rd edition). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Fink, H., Mikesky, A., & Burgoon, L. (2012). Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition (3rd edition). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.