Even though muscular endurance is a part of your everyday life, most people don’t stop to consider what it is or how it impacts your ability to climb a few flights of stairs without losing your breath or bike through the park without breaking a sweat.
Read on as we define what muscular endurance is, how it impacts your workout recovery and the benefits of including CBD in your workout recovery
What is Muscular Endurance?
Muscular endurance is the ability of your muscles to repeatedly exert the same action against resistance, such as when you run, lift, or squat. This often relates most to the number of reps you’re able to do in a particular workout session.
While activities such as running and swimming are probably the first things that come to your mind when you think of improving your muscular endurance, you need to do more than a good cardio session to improve your muscular endurance. This type of muscular endurance is usually referred to as cardiovascular endurance. In contrast, weightlifting for endurance is commonly referred to as strength training.
Whether you’re a runner or just want to improve your muscle efficiency, strength training is a crucial component of any good workout routine, and shouldn’t be overlooked. When you increase your muscular endurance, you’re decreasing the amount of blood and oxygen they need to function, which improves your muscles' overall efficiency.
Muscle Fiber Composition: Slow-Twitch vs. Fast-Twitch Muscles
Slow-twitch and fast-twitch are the two main types of muscle fibers that make up your muscles composition. When it comes to improving your muscular endurance, slow-twitch fibers are responsible for maintaining long-duration movements. On the other hand, fast-twitch muscles become engaged when weight lifting or sprinting. Genetically, you can be naturally slow or fast-twitch dominant, although you can increase either set of muscle fibers with training.
Sometimes trying to find the “right” or “right for you” information when it comes to training for muscular endurance can make you want to scream. But you’re not alone. If you’ve ever sat and scratched your head at the conflicting information out there that swears by “high reps and low weight” or “lower reps with a higher weight” to see results, we might have the answer for you.
Drum roll, please…!
It turns out your weight and repetition goals depend on what muscle fiber group you want to develop. Slow-twitch muscles are trained by using a lower weight with higher reps, such as eight or more, with short breaks in between so that your muscles feel the strain. Conversely, fast-twitch muscles become exerted when working with heavier weights and doing them in six reps or less, with at least two minutes rest between reps, so your muscles have a chance to recover.
Does What You Eat Matter?
Absolutely.
To build lean muscle and increase muscular endurance, you need to incorporate a large portion of fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet, so your body has glycogen, a.k.a sugar, a.k.a. fuel, to maintain your muscular effort.
That said, protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs also play a key role in sustaining and growing your muscular endurance, especially when eaten within 30 minutes to an hour after working out – because when you eat matters just as much as what you eat.
Timing is everything, so it’s important to plan your meals and snacks ahead of time on your workout days to make the most of your muscular endurance. If you have the time, you should be eating a complete meal two to three hours before your planned workout session so that your body has time to digest the nutrients. If your free time runs shorter, try eating a small meal of proteins and healthy carbs before your workout to give your body enough fuel.
You should also focus on eating healthy carbs and proteins after your workout to maximize your muscle recovery potential. Your body needs the amino acids that proteins provide to repair your muscle tissue while healthy carbs go to work replenishing your glycogen stores.
Finally, above all else, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. When you don’t drink enough water, you run the risk of experiencing muscle cramps, headaches, and lightheadedness.
How Does Muscular Endurance Impact Your Workout Recovery?
As you begin to work out consistently, you’ll notice that exercises gradually become easier as you realize you can increase the weight. You have muscular endurance to thank for this. If you’re working out with the specific goal of increasing your muscular endurance, you’ll likely find that your body is more exhausted, sore, and sluggish than after regular workouts
When you work out, you’re actually continuously making small tears in your muscle fibers, which causes your body to stiffen and results in pain when you move those particular muscles. However, the cool thing about working out is that every time you create those tears in your muscle fibers, your body goes to work repairing your muscles and making them stronger than before.
Meaning it’s not the workout and exercise alone that builds muscle – your post-workout recovery routine matters too.
Your body needs time to wind down in between muscular endurance exercises to prevent injury. Still, when you give your body time to recover, you allow your muscles to repair and strengthen themselves so that your next workout is even easier than the last.
Quality Sleep Means Improved Muscular Endurance
While you’re focusing on eating right and staying hydrated to increase your muscular endurance, make sure you don’t forget that quality sleep also plays a huge role in muscle recovery. Your body secretes a critical muscle-building hormone during non-REM sleep that helps stimulate and repair your muscles as you sleep.
A lack of sleep is often associated with a loss of muscle mass, a reduced ability to exercise, and increased appetite. Getting enough sleep after a tough workout will also reduce the amount of pain you feel the next day.
Since sleep is so incredibly crucial to your health, muscular endurance, and various aspects of your life, sometimes it’s best not to leave a good night’s rest up to chance. That’s why cbdMD formulated CBD PM, which includes a combination of our Superior Broad Spectrum CBD formula and melatonin to help promote a sense of calm and regulate your sleep cycle.
Designed as an alternative sleep aid, we’ve made our sleep products available in both tinctures and softgels, as well as multiple concentrations, so you can get what you need. But the CBD benefits don’t stop there.
Using CBD Benefits Your Workout Recovery Routine In Multiple Ways
Adding CBD topicals and ingestibles to your workout recovery routine is a great way to reduce minor discomfort from exercising and relax some of the tension in your muscles. cbdMD understands that personal preference plays a significant factor in choosing the right workout recovery care for you, which is why we’ve developed numerous CBD products with various concentrations, purposes, and application methods.
CBD works with the CB1 and CB2 receptors in your endocannabinoid system (ECS) to not only help your body maintain homeostasis but to boost your muscular endurance as well. As stated above, allowing your muscles to relax without maintaining tension or pain is an integral part of muscle recovery.
One of the best ways to support exercise recovery is to use ingestible CBD products alongside topical pain relievers. That way, you’re supporting the body’s recovery internally and externally. Three of cbdMD’s topical products feature approved pain relievers perfect for sore muscles, which can help you push through the aches you might feel after your most challenging workouts.
CBD Relieve: Lidocaine
Our CBD Relieve is imbued with 4 percent lidocaine, a local anesthetic. Lidocaine is included in many over-the-counter muscle relief creams and gels to mildly numb a specific area and the muscles underneath. Relieve is available in a spray or roll-on gel to help ease your everyday soreness and muscle tenderness as part of your workout recovery process.
CBD Freeze: Menthol
Utilizing the cooling powers of menthol, we’ve designed a pain-relieving gel that is available in either a squeeze tube or no mess roller. The instant cooling sensation makes CBD Freeze the perfect solution for many temporary exercise-related muscle discomforts and may often be the best choice within the first 24 hours.
CBD Recover: Histamine Dihydrochloride
In contrast to CBD Freeze, CBD Recover is infused with histamine dihydrochloride, which creates a warming, comforting sensation by dilating the blood vessels in your sore joints and muscles. CBD Recover is a great complement to CBD Freeze in your workout recovery regimen and a good choice to provide temporary relief to your sore and tender muscles 24 to 48 hours after your workout.
When you use CBD topicals to aid your workout recovery and improve your muscular endurance, you allow your body the time it needs to repair, strengthen, and recharge. For more information on how CBD benefits your muscular endurance, how to best add CBD to your workout recovery routine, and to stay up to date on the latest news and special offers, connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Also, make sure to check out our blog to increase your hemp and CBD knowledge, and stay tuned for special offers and upcoming products!