Endurance

December 2, 2015

 When I hear the term endurance, I think of Duracell batteries. The iconic television commercial with the bunny rabbit going and going while being powered by their batteries has to be one of the most profit-making advertisements of all time. When it comes to humans, what is the Duracell battery? Is your mind setting the threshold of pain and resistance? Is your nervous system sending signals to your brain to keep up with a specific activity? I am not a doctor, but I know when I can perform longer. It's because I am well rested, fueled with nutrition, in reasonably good shape allowing me to block out the mental roadblocks to stop. What do the experts say?

Many say endurance is the ability of a person to exert itself for an extended period and the capacity to withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. It is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise. The physiological results and consequences of muscle adaption to endurance activity are a slower utilization of glycogen and blood glucose, a greater reliance on fat oxidation, and less lactate production during exercise of given intensity.

When humans start training and performing resistance exercises, we increase the ability to flow more oxygen to muscles. We also create more mitochondria in lean tissue that help the "energy to effort" conversion. Last, we condition the lungs, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle systems to convert energy in a more extended period instead of bursts of activity like sprints or weightlifting.

Okay, we laymen are still wondering what we have to do to make all the science and physiology do its wonder. How do we increase endurance? Not just doing athletic endeavors but performing everyday tasks like raking leaves, moving furniture, and climbing stairs. Nothing says "out of shape" more than being winded by a flight of stairs or chasing down the mailman to give him a bill to deliver.

As I mentioned earlier, rest and eating well is the best fuel for the body. Those who work a lot of hours don't always take this simple advice and will find that crashing and burning also becomes a cycle. One can only sustain this kind of lifestyle for so long before the effects are soon harder and harder to fend off. How funny that some of the simplest movements like walking can enhance endurance. You don't need a gym or a coach to tell you how to do a jumping jack, jump rope, do a pushup unless you want somebody to hold you accountable. I believe the whole coffee phenomenon results from frazzled people needing a stimulant to give them energy.

It comes down to the gradual adaption method, which is slowly and steadily increasing mileage and speed or weight as the best way to increase endurance. In addition, train smart, work on what's weak, mix it up and keep work-outs non-boring and you will find your happy place. Lastly, remember, you can't always hire somebody to rake your leaves. Go out there with some grit and be a raking fool.