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Meaning of Local Muscular Endurance
Local muscular endurance means the ability of one muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against submaximal resistance for a certain period of time. A submaximal resistance is anything under your one-rep maximum for an exercise. Performing bicep curls for a continuous amount of reps would be training the local muscular endurance for your biceps, for example.
When you train specific body regions with bodyweight or resistance exercises, you are training those specific body parts' muscular endurance. This is localizing your training efforts to these certain muscles.
Training your local muscular endurance allows for a variety of benefits. Your muscles become capable of performing less than maximal activity for longer sustained periods of time, and your muscles can recover at faster rates. This aids in sport and recreational activities as well as increases the ease of performing laborious chores or tasks at work or at home. Muscular fatigue is delayed and lean tissue percentages within the body also will increase. This increases the metabolic activity in your body, which allows for more calories to be burned at rest and creates higher energy levels.
Testing Local Muscular Endurance
When testing muscular endurance, engage in exercise in a continuous manner for several seconds to several minutes. You should have limited rest periods and assistance from non-engaged muscle groups, such as kicking or jerking upward when performing sit-ups. Examples of tests would be performing as many number of repetitions as possible in one set of dips, push-ups or weighted exercises as a prescribed weight.
Meaning of Local Muscular Endurance
Training for Local Muscular Endurance
To improve muscular endurance, train active muscle groups for six to 10 exercises at two to three sets per exercise in a session. Intensity of each set should be 67 percent or less of your one-rep max for that exercise, and you should perform 12 or more repetitions in each set. The rest periods should be no greater than 30 seconds in between sets. This mode of training will increase your muscular endurance for the muscles being trained.
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References
- ACE Fitness: Muscular Strength and Muscular Endurance
- American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3181915670
- Garber CE, Blissmer B, Deschenes MR, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011;43(7):1334-59. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e318213fefb
Writer Bio
Daniel Bradley is a health, fitness, sport and nutrition expert in Philadelphia, Pa. He began writing professionally in 2007 and has contributed to the Mid-Atlantic American College of Sports Medicine Chapter's Research Panel. Bradley is a certified ACSM Health Fitness Specialist and an outdoor fitness instructor. He holds a Bachelor of Science in exercise science with a physical therapy concentration from West Chester University.