Muscular Strength & Endurance

Terms

Muscle tone - refers to the firmness of your muscles.

Metabolism - burning of calories necessary to supply the body with the energy it needs to function.

Calories - A calorie is a unit of heat used to express the energy value of food.◦ Example - Every 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound.

Calisthenics - exercises that are done in a rhythmic, systematic way using the body weight for resistance.

Muscular Strength

Muscular strength measures the amount of force a muscle can produce against a resistance one time.

Examples include weight lifting, lifting yourself out of a chair, moving heavy objects, etc.

Muscular Strength

Weight lifting◦Bench Press◦Power Clean◦Clean and Jerk

Low repetition, High weight/resistanceWhite muscle fiber, Fast muscle twitch

Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance measures multiple muscular contractions over an extended period of time to cause fatigue

Examples include running, climbing, biking, aerobics, etc.

Muscular Endurance

Weight Lifting & Calisthenics◦Lunges◦Push-ups◦Sit-ups◦Dumbbell Curls

High repetition, Low weight/resistanceRed muscle fiber, Slow muscle twitch

Benefits

Muscular strength is handy when you need to open jars, lift groceries, get out of a chair, etc.

Muscular endurance helps you walk the stairs to get to your office, shovel snow, helps maintain proper posture all day long, etc.

Contributes to a higher metabolism and decreased risk of injury as well as toned and firm muscles.

Increases your caloric burn both while at work and rest

Improvement tips

Incorporate strength training and cardiovascular exercise regularly.

Cardiovascular workouts consisting of a constant speed fine-tune muscular endurance.

Interval programs utilizing short intervals of around 30 seconds work more muscular strength.

Strength training programs using repetitions greater then 12 tend to build muscular endurance more, and less than 12 builds more muscular strength.

References

http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home_Page&TEMPLATE=CM/HTMLDis

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musassess.html

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/muscular-endurance.html