How to Develop Stamina in Sports

Stamina is essential to an athlete in order to keep running, jumping, swimming or pedaling for sometimes hours on end, and sometimes without even taking a break. An athlete can build up an impressive physique and large muscles, but without stamina, the body will wear down quickly during prolonged activity. You can practice some techniques to increase your endurance and stamina, keeping you in the game longer.

Instructions

    • 1

      Skip rope, a demanding activity that forces you to operate at a high tempo. Progress to more complicated rope skipping after you have mastered some basic skips. Increase the length of time you skip per session each week. Skip for a minute, jog around to recover and then skip for another minute, reducing it to 30 seconds as you start to tire. Skip for at least five to 10 minutes.

    • 2

      Alternate regular running with bursts of speed. Run at an easy pace and suddenly throw in bursts of speed for varying amounts of time to get your legs and body used to different paces. Go for as little as 15 seconds or as long as 3 minutes during a speed burst; allow enough time--about two-thirds of the bursts--to recover between bursts.

    • 3

      Run up hills, a grueling exercise that will help you run better on flat terrain and reduce knee injuries. Be careful if you have a tender calf or an Achilles tendon injury.

    • 4

      Add time and distance to your runs periodically. Don't be content to plateau at a certain distance or a certain time limit--add a little bit each time you go for a run. Add 5 more minutes to the routine every other weekend if you run/walk for an hour.

    • 5

      Swim or cycle. Swimmers and cyclists depend on stamina as they must go long distances without a break. Invest in a bicycle or a membership at a gym that has a pool and start doing these activities for a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes at a time.