The Top 5 Things to Improve Your Stamina

The more stamina you have, the more you’re able to get done in a day. Endurance, both mental and physical, can contribute to how satisfied you are with your life and how quickly you can make adjustments or improvements.

The following five stamina-improving strategies can help you improve your mental and physical fitness and give you even more stamina in bed, too. The following tactics will work best when applied together, though small improvements should be able to be seen with every minor adjustment to your current routine or habits.

Rework Your Diet

While eating right in and of itself won’t increase your stamina, it can make it so that your diet isn’t holding you back. In many cases, you aren’t able to take advantage of the strength you really have because your body isn’t getting the nutrition it needs, or it’s devoting too much time and energy to digestion.

To make the most of your diet and keep your stamina level high, you should make sure that your diet includes plenty of the following nutrients: Lycopene, Arginine, Monounsaturated Fats, Vitamin E, and Zinc. The nutrients help support healthy energy levels and cardiovascular function which can help increase healthy blood flow and deliver nutrients where they are needed most efficiently.

Drink More Water

Water plays several critical roles in the body. It can help regulate blood pressure, curb hunger and food cravings, distributes vital nutrients to the different parts of the body, and lubricates joints, among other things.

Lack of water can interrupt these critical processes. Over time, this can lead to heavy fatigue and take some time to remedy. Hydrating is easy- just drink plain water. Better, drink a little bit at a time over the day.

Drinking a day’s supply of water all at once isn’t recommended as this causes more of the fluid to be excreted as it cannot be absorbed that quickly. Drinking water slowly throughout the day allows more of it to be absorbed.

Shake Up Your Exercise Routine

“Routine” is the enemy of stamina. If you want more stamina, start varying your activities. Choose compound movements over isolation exercises. Take a martial arts class instead of running every single day.

Stamina can also be built up by rapidly increasing the intensity of your workouts. This can be done by including “explosive” movements, like jumping, into your routine, or adding weights to basic body-weight exercises. Alternatively, you can reduce or eliminate the recovery period between movements or sets.

Activities like these will not only build up your cardio and basic muscle strength, they also work on increasing the sensitivity of nerve feedback. These nerves can, over time, help make adjustments to prevent injury as well as make the most of your energy stores.

Cut Back on the Caffeine and Alcohol

Caffeine can “wake up” your CNS, but there are many downsides, too. Sure, it may give you an energy boost, but for many, this will result in a lack of energy and stamina later.

Not only that, but caffeine over a specific dose will inhibit or considerably decrease your body’s ability to absorb various nutrients. These include iron, calcium, B-vitamins (necessary for stamina and recovery), and magnesium. Over time, this may lead to nutrient depletion, and it’s associated side effects.

Alcohol, in contrast, doesn’t prevent nutrient absorption in most cases, though it can contribute to dehydration. Even small to moderate amounts of alcohol have a diuretic effect and raise body temperature, often leading to sweating. Both of these things contribute to fluid loss. Alcohol also lowers your blood sugar, leading to less energy while the alcohol is in your system.

Meditation

Stamina isn’t solely about what you can physically handle. Mental fitness can also play a significant part. To reduce stress and be all that you can be, it’s essential to pay attention to your mental health. For many, meditation will allow you to work through any psychological barriers to the performance you may have.

If you don’t have time to meditate, mindful deep breathing can also help improve your stamina by increasing your focus and concentration. Box breathing is the most basic form of this technique. All you need to do is inhale for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, exhale for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, and repeat.

This technique is famous for being used by U.S. Navy SEALs and those that work in crisis situations as a way to stay on task and avoid stress and panic.

We all want to be the best we can be. And, with a few adjustments, you can dig deep and get the stamina you need to meet your goals and make those gains.