Stamina For Sports - Elite Endurance

It seems that endurance isn’t a focus in Uncommon Success.

This isn’t true.

The truth is that the best way to have great endurance in anything is already explained within the UNCOM framework.

Become extremely good at the thing you love.

Be better than most at other general abilities that keep your overall function high.

Endurance For Rugby 🏉 (& League) a player needs to be able to run in short bursts and wrestle. If being a marathon runner was an advantage players would look like marathon runners.

Endurance For Football ⚽ the ability to get to the ball first or run away from other players and change direction is the primary athletic ability. Similar to a wide receiver in the NFL but with a greater endurance requirement.

Playing football and increasing efficiency of movement by decreasing the relative effort required is the path to elite endurance.

For example a slow player will have to work much harder than a fast player to keep up with the game. This gives the fast player an advantage for endurance but also for skill because their heart-rate and stress levels will be lower throughout the game with all factors being equal.

Endurance For Endurance 🚲 👟🏊🏼🚣🏼🎿 etc.

People get confused about endurance sports.

The same principles of specificity apply.

There are “general” endurance traits but they are weak.

Marathon runners are terrible rowers and swimmers… cross-country skiers aren’t world class off the skis.

To be great at these activities it’s important to build the biomechanics and strength specific to those sports.

Practice with great quality.

How can we practice better?

How can we recover better and absorb more to tolerate more practice?

Practice significantly above competition endurance for 10% of your training volume. Practice below competition endurance for 90% of the time.

This can also go for sports like Rugby & Soccer where you see most practice done below game intensity (even if the GPS says otherwise). More breaks and being lower than game endurance requirements allows higher quality of practice.

The lower percentage of maximal endurance required for the sport and the lower the risk of injury from doing the sport, the more the actual sport can be practiced.

eg. Basketball it’s easier practice the actual sport than soccer. Rugby and Boxing have so much physical contact that simply playing the sport more becomes too