Many people start functional fitness style training because they don’t like running. Running can be boring, and for certain body types, it can be painful. This leads you to ask how you can increase your endurance without running? Is that even possible? The good news is that research confirms that you can increase your endurance without running. In this article we’ll cover an excellent piece of research that shows how you can become more fit with some high intensity interval training. We will also provide some great free programs that can help you improve your endurance and functional fitness. Keep reading for more.
Most folks do functional fitness training because they want to look better, and improve their overall fitness level. Part of improving your fitness is increasing your cardiovascular fitness, and muscular endurance. If you don’t care about these traits, then you might as well try my 12 Week Free Bodybuilding program, because there isn’t a cardio session in sight!
Many people just assume that working hard in the gym will increase your cardiovascular endurance, and functional fitness. Until a few years ago there really wasn’t any research that confirmed this. There was a lot of anecdotal evidence that functional fitness WODs, and metcons, helped improve aerobic capacity, but there was little data.
Before we get to my top three programs to increase your endurance without running, let’s review the research so we can see how to structure a program for endurance improvement. This study was entitled, “Functional Vs. Running Low-Volume High-Intensity Interval Training: Effects on VO2max and Muscular Endurance.”
Research Study On Improving VO2 Max Without Running
This study compared two different high intensity interval training (HIIT) methods to determine which showed the most improvement in a wide variety of factors. The researchers recruited college sport students for the study, including both men and women. They tested them for height, weight, body fat, VO2 max, and put them through a bunch of muscular endurance tests. They specifically recorded values for max push ups, toes to bar, burpees, as well as broad jump distance.
After initial testing, the athletes were split into two groups. Each group was prescribed a different fitness routine, lasting four weeks in total. Each group performed several sets of Tabata protocols, which is 8 intervals of 20 sec of work, with 10 sec of rest. This four minute protocol is well known to drastically improve cardiovascular fitness.
The first group performed only running Tabata intervals. The second group did body weight exercises such as mountain climbers, star jumps, air squats, and push ups for the same type of interval. In the first week, each group did 3 total Tabata intervals for each workout, with rest in between.
They did this three times per week initially. By week four they were doing 4 Tabata intervals, four times per week. The researchers increased the programming volume to help build endurance by increasing the total amount of work. Otherwise the athletes would show limited improvement if they did the same session every week. Each group spent the same total time working out, with the only difference being calisthenics vs. running.
Research Results on Increasing Your Endurance Without Running
There were several startling conclusions that we can draw from this research. The researchers determined that both groups did in fact improve their VO2 max the same amount, confirming that you can improve your endurance without running.
The running group improved their VO2 max from 47.8 ml/min/kg to 54.1. The calisthenics based group went from 49.5 to 54.4. The small differences in improvement were not statistically significant, meaning it’s likely these difference were caused by chance. However, I think there are some very important points that need further discussion.
Remember that they measured each participants ability to perform push ups, toes to bar, and burpees before the exercise intervention. They repeated this test afterward as well. As you might expect the group that practiced calisthenics improved the most on these measures right? Well you’d be wrong. They only improved in their ability to do burpees, compared the running group. The running group was the only group to show improvement in toes to bar.
This highlights how important your aerobic energy system is for functional fitness. When you’re doing a WOD, and you have to put the bar down to rest, most athletes think this is caused by a lack of strength or muscular endurance. In reality, this is most likely caused by a weak aerobic energy system. If you want to crush WODs, you need to build your energy systems and your muscles!
Lastly, there were no significant differences in weight, muscle mass, or body fat loss between the groups. While this research is very interesting, we need to put it into context to see what the real world implications are.
Research Implications for the Real World
I’m a big believer in the Tabata protocol for functional fitness athletes, but it’s often miss-used. This was partially the case in the research. For this training method to be effective, you need to be able to work at 150% of your V02 max or above. To use a crude example, if you your VO2 max occurred at 5 mph, then you would have to run each interval at 7.5 mph or better to achieve any significant benefit.
This works the same way for calisthenics based exercises. Full body movements that allow you to really get your heart rate up are appropriate for the Tabata protocol. Smaller movements are not. If you’ve ever done a Tabata interval with push ups, you’ll know that it’s very hard, but your heart rate isn’t high at all. It’s your pecs, and pushing muscles that are failing, not your your energy systems. Full body work that jacks your heart up is what you need to focus on for non monostructural Tabata intervals.
This is most likely why you didn’t see a big improvement in push ups for the group that did calisthenics for a whole month. Even though they practiced this move, and similar movements, they weren’t doing it in a way that improved their muscular endurance effectively. There’s also another important factor to consider when talking about VO2 max.
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Exercise Specific VO2 Max
Every type of exercise modality has it’s own VO2 max. There is no universal VO2 max for an athlete. There is only a specific level for a certain type of exercise. A professional runner might have a great VO2 max of 70 when on a long run, but only 60 if you put them on a bicycle.
I wish the researchers had conducted a running test in addition to the push ups, and toes to bar they did. You’d most likely find that the calisthenic group would have been crushed by the running group, as they increased their VO2 max specifically in that exercise. Working your energy systems hard on the specific modality you’re testing for is a great way to improve fitness for that test!
This highlights the importance of training specificity. If you’re required to become very good at a specific type of exercise, then you need to focus your effort on that type of training. If you’re a functional fitness athlete, then you need to focus on the type of training that has broad applicability to many areas of fitness. Let’s talk about some programs that can increase your capacity as an endurance athlete without running.
Functional Fitness Programs for Endurance: Increasing Your Endurance Without Running
In this section I’m going to recommend several different training programs that will work at increasing your endurance, and maintaining your strength and muscle mass. No one want to be super fit, and look like crap after all! The first program we’re going to talk about is one of my most popular functional fitness programs.
If you want to learn all the details about creating your own functional fitness program, then check out my ebook!
The 7 Week Competition Prep Program
The 7 Week Competition Prep Program program is a traditional functional fitness style program, with my own programming style laid on top of it. It’s focused on building your overall fitness with a combo of heavy weight and lighter weights, mixed with body weight movements.
If you follow the link, you can see the full program, however, if you want all the coaches notes, warm ups, and advice I give to my athletes in person, then check out the premium version below.
If you’re looking for a little longer program to increase your endurance without running, then this next training plan is just what you should use.
The 12 Week Functional Fitness Training Program: Strength, Hypertrophy, and Conditioning
The 12 Week Functional Fitness Training Program is similar to the previous plan with a little more emphasis on endurance training. Each week I’ve included one longer WOD that will improve your aerobic capacity. It’ll also increase your anaerobic fitness as well. Here is a sample.
This program is written with work on each day of the week. You absolutely should not work out seven days per week for 12 weeks, without building in recovery time. That isn’t smart training, or a workout routine that I would ever advise! I’ve included instructions on how to pace these workouts, and how to perform them in the article linked above. Go to the program link for those details.
My last program is one of the most versatile programs, as it’s designed to add on to whatever strength and conditioning program you’re currently doing. While you can use this aerobic exercise program for running, it’s also totally possible to increase your endurance without running as well.
The 8 Week Functional Aerobic Capacity Program
The 8 Week Functional Aerobic Capacity Program, is a supplement to whatever training plan you’re currently following. I’ve written this program to really focus on your aerobic energy system with some moderate intensity style training before and after your current gym session. Check out an example below.
Obviously this program is written for someone who wants to build aerobic capacity with easy runs, tempo runs, and sprinting. For those that don’t want to run, it works just as well with any modality you choose. You can use an assault bike, C2 Rower, spin bike, or any piece of cardio equipment you choose. The main thing is to keep the intensity of effort the same, and the duration of the interval the same.
For example, the sprint day is full of shorter runs. Most athletes will sprint 100m in around 15-20 sec at near max effort. If you were doing this on a spin bike, you would do 15-20 sec at 95% effort, EMOM. You’ll receive the same benefit as if you were jogging, if not more.
Final Thoughts
Many athletes tend to bias their training towards what they’re naturally good at. If you’re a strong guy, you tend to lift more. If you have great endurance, then body weight WODs are your jam. You’ll find the most improvement comes from working in the exercise style that you have the most trouble with.
The best way to build overall fitness and work capacity is to become a well rounded athlete. You need to build strength with heavy weights, and endurance with the type of training that you most enjoy. We now know long-distance runners don’t have a monopoly on building a strong cardiovascular system. You can build a heavy duty engine training in many different styles.
Pick one of the programs that seems best to you, and work at it diligently. You’ll find that you make rapid improvement when you’re motivated to workout with an effective training program. If you have any questions or comments, put them in the comments section below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training!
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