Strength is regarded as a very essential part of sports performance. It is a conditional ability and can be improved to a greater extent by the training. There are various methods by which one can achieve the level of strength one wants. Whenever we think about improving the strength ability of an individual, the first thing which comes to our mind is the structure of our activity where we are going to use this strength. In some of the activities, our own body weight acts as a resistance and in some cases, external resistance plays the maximum role. For example, in cross country races while running on the hill, our own body weight acts as a resistance and in weight lifting, external weight acts as the resistance. So, when we design resistance training for developing strength ability of an individual, we keep both the conditions in our mind. We know that countering the resistance again and again will help us to improve our strength ability. For improving the strength ability, the following methods are used.
1. Using our own body weight as a resistance: In this method, we design our strength training in such a way that our own body weight acts as a resistance, for example, rope climbing, hill running, etc. In this, the pull of gravity plays a very vital role. We try to carry our own body against the gravity which helps us to improve our muscular strength. This method is very effective for the young athletes.
Exercise with own body weight
2. Using external weight as a resistance: In this type of training, the athlete uses external weight as a resistance. This is a more effective method of improving the strength abilities. For example, weight training where weight plates, medicine ball, weight belts, etc., are used to develop strength ability. The resistance is increased or decreased according to the need. Along with weight training, several other methods are also used for improving the strength where external resistance is used. For example, swimming against the flow of water in the river, drag running, etc.
Excercise with external weight as resistance
Endurance
When an individual continues doing physical activity for a longer period of time, then he or she is said to have good endurance for doing that particular work. By nature, it looks like both physiological as well as psychological abilities of an individual play a crucial role in determining the endurance ability.
As an individual continues doing any work for longer duration, after some time he or she may feel physical as well as mental fatigue. But in spite of this, if he or she is able to continue the work for longer duration then this shows that he or she is having good endurance.
Endurance is normally understood as the ability to do any work for longer duration. It is task specific in nature. We come across many such examples in our daily life which shows that this ability is task specific such as we see a teacher who stands and continues taking his classes for hours together. If the same teacher is asked to run for an hour or more, he or she will not be able to do so. At the same time, if you ask a long distance runner to run for an hour, he or she will do it easily, but you ask the same runner to sit and work in the office for long hours, he or she may not be able do it. Mental toughness, interest for the task and physiological qualities all have a very important role to play when we talk about endurance.
So considering all such things we can say that ‘endurance is the physiological as well as psychological ability of an individual to do some specific type of work for longer duration with the desired quality under the condition of fatigue’.
Endurance can be divided into three types, as far as nature of the activity is concerned.
1. Basic endurance: This type of endurance ability makes an individual capable to carry out any type of work for longer duration. It is not task specific. This type of endurance largely depends upon aerobic capacity of an individual. In this type of endurance, the pace of the activity is slow.
2. General endurance: This type of endurance ability makes an individual capable to carry out any type of work for longer duration with various movement patterns and pace. The nature of the pace may change according to the demand of the activity.
3. Specific endurance: This type of endurance ability makes an individual capable to carry out a specific type of work for longer duration with a set type of movement patterns and pace. This involves aerobic as well as anaerobic qualities of an individual and is highly trainable in nature.
