When you start to learn more about fitness and resistance training, there are a lot of terms that are confusing, and among them are muscular strength and muscular endurance. What exactly is the difference between these two terms?
Muscular strength is the maximal load that a muscle can move. It’s measured with an isometric contraction—the muscle is activated, but not lengthened or shortened—or by someone performing a one-rep max, which is the heaviest weight they can lift for one rep of an exercise.
Muscular endurance is the amount of repetitions you can do of any type of an activity and the amount of fatigue during the reps.
For improving strength, focus on completing fever reps like three to four sets of three to six reps per exercise. For endurance, do three to four sets of 20 reps.
Which one you choose to focus on depends on your goals and needs. If you increase your strength, you’ll also be increasing your endurance and vice versa.
For specific programming for workouts focused on muscular endurance and muscular strength, it’s important to work with a professional to create a baseline since everyone’s physical ability and background varies.
