Stamina and Endurance for a Martial Artist

People often assume, mistakenly, that stamina and endurance mean the same thing. Although these ideas do have some overlapping qualities, and both help improve your skills through aerobic and anaerobic exercise, there are subtle and important differences between the two.

First, let’s examine the definitions for “aerobic” and “anaerobic.”

The definition of aerobic

The term “aerobic” means “with oxygen.” When engaged in aerobic exercise, your breathing controls the amount of oxygen that reaches your muscles, especially the large muscle groups of your arms and legs that help you burn energy and execute movements. Aerobic activity affects your heart, lungs, and blood flow.

The definition of anaerobic

The term“anaerobic” means “absence of oxygen.” Anaerobic exercises are short-duration, high-intensity movements or drills that break down glucose for energy instead of using oxygen. These are brief high-effort bursts that are followed by a rest period. Anaerobic exercises help enhance cardiovascular health and build muscle strength.

Stamina: What it is and how to achieve it

Stamina is defined as the ability to sustain high-intensity efforts for a short period of time. Stamina builds on the ideas of “pushing through” and “staying power” that require peak mental and physical energy output.

For a martial artist, sustaining the repetition of high intensity strikes and kicks for several minutes is one way to build stamina.

Another is to practice fast sets of weightlifting with lighter weights and high repetitions. Ideally, 15 or more reps under 30 seconds with short rest periods.

Striking and kicking a punching bag for a 3- to 5-minute round is also good; don’t rest more than one minute between rounds.

Short sprints of 30 to 50 yards are also a great way to build stamina.

Once you understand the concept you can incorporate other exercises to help increase your stamina. And remember that each exercise must involve peak mental and physical output.

Endurance: What it is and how to achieve it

Endurance is determined by how long a certain muscle group can sustain an activity. Endurance builds on the concept of “keep going,” which requires efficiency and staying power. Endurance relies on the cardiovascular and muscular capacity to continue an activity. It depends on psychological factors, requiring sustained mental focus and resiliency to manage and overcome fatigue.

For a martial artist, long-distance running, which requires a steady and sustained pace, is a good way to build endurance.

Another way is striking and kicking a punching bag for a 10-minute paced round and pushing through the tendency of “hitting the wall.”

Holding the Horse Stance for five minutes or more requires you to have mental toughness to sustain the leg burn.

Grappling for five minutes or more on the mat is also a great way to build endurance.

As with stamina exercises, once you understand the concept, you can incorporate other exercises to build endurance. Remember that the goal here is to build not only muscular endurance but also mental toughness.

Incorporating aerobic and anerobic activity

Combining aerobic exercise, which requires cardiovascular endurance, with anaerobic exercises, which require high-intensity muscular performance, are both necessary to maximize fitness.

This brief discussion of stamina and endurance should lead you to explore these topics further, and, more importantly, to incorporate these concepts into your training.