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Jeff Wood

Jeff Wood is the Director of Focus Fitness & Conditioning. 

Physical Training to Succeed in Sport - Stamina

May 7, 2010

Well, we are nearing the end of the basic components of becoming the Ultimate Athlete.  We now know that you require strength, balance and coordination to achieve a higher level of athletic performance.  The next and last pillar is stamina, which is defined as the strength of physical constitution, the power to endure fatigue, staying power.

Now, we can open up a whole can of worms with this as most people may see this definition as aerobic fitness, but the reality is that each sport is different and the amount of stamina needed for different sports is well, different.   For example, a mixed martial arts fighter is required to punch, kick, move quickly and wrestle for 3 rounds of 5 minutes.  This requires a great deal of stamina but is really only 15 minutes of work.   It is a test of endurance to be able to work at near maximal effort for 5 minutes straight.  An endurance athlete, like a triathlete would consider this a bit of a joke from a stamina point of view, but I guarantee you this, if that triathlete tried to do a workout that an MMA fighter did, they would surely be near vomiting within minutes.

Each athlete requires stamina to reach the highest level in their sport, but the amount of staying power or stamina they need is dependent on the sport.  There is no need for a sprinter to be able to run a half marathon because their needs require them to give maximal effort for usually no more than 1 minute, but they also need to run multiple heats over the the course of a track meet so they need to be able to perform at a high level for multiple short bursts.  Their form of stamina is different from that of a marathoner.

I think these examples give you the concept I am trying to lay out here, STAMINA IS REQUIRED BUT IT IS SPORT SPECIFIC.

Let’s now take a look at some ways you can develop stamina for sport.  From a training perspective, at the younger ages, it is important to teach proper technique and build the stamina over time with proper form.

If you are a hockey player, you must be able to go out and perform at a high level for 30 to 60 seconds of intense work, followed by rest for 2 minutes and then do that repeatedly for the length of the game.  At younger ages this means maybe 15 shifts in total in a game.  If this is the case, then the training should reflect that.  A conditioning session on the ice may consist of 4 groups, 1 working for 30 seconds and 3 resting for 30 seconds.  Groups then rotate into the work group while the others rest.  This means that each group will work for 30 seconds and rest for 90 seconds.  Repeat this 15 times and you will have a 30 minute conditioning session.  The drill can change throughout so you don’t necessarily have the same boring drill over and over for that length of time.

For another example let’s go back to mixed martial arts.   As discussed earlier an MMA fight consists of three - five minute rounds.  A sample training session to prepare for this may be 5 total body exercises that include a combination of strength, speed, endurance and power done for 1 minute each with no rest between exercises.  Once the 5 exercises are complete, rest for 60-90 seconds and repeat 3-4 times.  Sounds simple but if you try it, you will hurt, I promise.

Those are just a couple of examples of how you can train to build stamina for a particular sport.   As I said, each sport requires different types and amounts of stamina so it is critical to understand the requirements of the sport so the training component can be planned out properly.

We have now built the foundation (the Pillars) for becoming the Ultimate Athlete.  Next time we will discuss the next part of the construction phase to building an athlete.....