Tips to Increase Your Stamina

Remember when you first started getting fit? Do you recall how long it took to build up stamina? The harsh reality is that you need to work to build up your stamina, but it is so easily lost when you take a few weeks off training. When we watch athletes performing, their stamina is something to be admired. What you see is the result of years of training to build up their endurance. There are some techniques you can use though to increase your stamina and make exercise a lot more rewarding.

1. Think incrementally

You should learn to run before you walk, and this is true with exercise in general. Many people push themselves into a punishing and ultimately unsustainable workout schedule too quickly, which can risk injury through overexertion. The key is to think in incremental increases. You should make small adjustments to distance every time you train.

2. Interval Training/HIIT

One key method to build stamina is to include several sessions that require short bursts of high intensity exercise. HIIT training is shown to be highly effective for people who want to get in shape, and brings similar health benefits to longer, less intensive exercise sessions. In addition, it’s a great way to build your stamina up fast. Training at pro level in a variety of sports including swimming and cycling incorporate HIIT training to improve performance.

3. Resistance Training

Resistance Training is an excellent way of building up strength. There are many options for people on all budgets including free weights, kettle bells, weight machines and resistance bands to give a few examples. Athletes often talk about the hours they spend in the gym and the sacrifices they have made. Most of this time was probably spent doing resistance training.

4. Athletic Highlights

We saw some awesome performances from elite athletes all over the world this year. The standard of the cycling, for example, really stood out, but have you ever wondered how professional cyclists can maintain their speed for the duration of the race? Of course, they will have expertly calculated nutrition plans, and they have pro coaching and a training plan that would leave most of us on the floor, but they may also have a genetic edge over the rest of us.

5. The Science

Stamina-dependent athletes such as cyclists may have a genetic predisposition to excellence in their sports due to their PPARGC1A, IL6 and AGT genes working together. When these genes are aligned in a beneficial way, it produces the potential for high stamina and endurance. And, what’s even more unfair is their fitness is likely to improve faster and in greater increments than the average person.

Not all of us have what it takes to be an elite athlete. You would need to be blessed with good genes, and have the resilience, self-discipline, and mental strength to compete at that level. But all of us can improve our fitness and build up stamina. The added advantage we all have is that science (through genetic profiling) can show us exactly what we need to do with what nature has gifted us with.