It is a crucial element of fitness for athletes such as distance runners, swimmers, cyclists and rowers. It's also important for success in many team sports like soccer, field hockey and Australian rules football.
Traditionally, muscular endurance programs have used moderate loads lifted for 12-25 repetitions. However, this is completely inadequate for many sports such as boxing, canoeing, distance running, cycling, swimming, rowing, x-country skiing, triathlon and many others.
Any form of training must mirror the specific demands of the sport. In resistance training, this means that the load used should match the resistance that must be overcome while competing. The number of repetitions or the duration of exercise bouts in a session should approach that during the event.
Recall that muscular endurance training makes up only one part of the annual strength program - even for endurance athletes. It should follow a phase of maximal strength training. This makes sense because the greater an athlete's maximal strength, the greater their potential for strength endurance - i.e. the more force they will be able to apply over a prolonged period. Heavy strength training has also been shown to improve exercise economy in endurance athletes (3,4,5). For more information on the the annual strength program see the the sport specific approach to strength training programs.
Muscular endurance is a muscle’s ability to work continuously against resistance over a long period of time. To build muscular endurance, an athlete must train her muscles to overcome fatigue. Gains in muscular endurance are not made by increasing the weight