If you’re a new runner looking forward to improving your stamina and endurance, your training schedule must be based on proven best practices. You need to start small and gradually raise the intensity while evaluating your goals from time to time. The other important fact is that you have incorporated proper muscle recovery time into your training schedule. If each of the aspects is well balanced, you’ll be able to achieve your performance goals as you have planned.  

When it comes to stamina building exercises for beginners, they comprise both specialized and holistic exercises. Specialized exercises focus on building up strength in chosen muscle group, for example, squats, which mostly activate muscles in the thighs, whereas holistic exercises are different running routines themselves.  

The benefit of specialized exercises is that you can practice in order to strengthen select muscle groups. For example, if you are experiencing frequent knee pains after training, weak muscles around the joints could be the reason. Therefore, you can allocate more time to strengthen those muscles. 

Following are 4 exercises that’ll be useful for beginners as well as experienced runners by integrating them into your stamina building exercises at home.  

Squats 

Squats are one of the most beneficial exercises for runners, in which you’ll focus on all the muscle groups that are required for running.  

• Stand up with your feet shoulder-width apart 
• Hold your hands out horizontally in front of you 
• Involve your body’s core as you lower until your thighs parallelly to the ground and push yourself back to the starting position 
• Keep in mind that the effort should focus on the muscle groups in the legs up to the hips. So, keep your spine straight. 
• Take a break after 7-10 full reps. 

You can learn more about squats and their variants here. 

Speed skaters (Skater hops) 

This is an excellent exercise to harden and improve the agility of your joint tendons, so that you’ll be less prone to injuries. Also, this exercise will improve your balance and coordination.  

• Start by stepping your left leg behind your right leg. Now your thighs are crossed and the distance between feet is about 2.5 feet.  
• Hop sideways and transfer the weight to your left leg mirroring the starting position. 
• This can be a little challenging for a beginner to learn. So, do it slowly by performing 5-7 reps at a time. 

Long jumps 

Long jumps are an easy yet effective exercise for beginners. This exercise prepares the runner to land on the feet with less impact and improves the coordination of the muscles to properly deploy power. 

• Stand up with your feet shoulder-width apart. 
• Lower yourself about halfway through the squat posture. 
• Engage your core and jump forward as far as you can. 
• Fling your arms freely in order to get the momentum. 
• Be aware of the way your feet land on the ground. Make sure the impact is smooth and exert no pressure on your joints. 
• Repeat 10 times. 

Bird dogs 

This exercise mostly focuses on the muscle groups other exercises on the list do not. Predominantly to both the abs and lower back. This exercise will also help with your balance.  

• Kneel and lay your palms on the ground hands straight.  
• Keep your upper body parallel to the ground and make sure your body weight is equally distributed on your hands and knees.  
• Then lift your right hand forward without bending from the elbow. As you do so, lift the left leg until the thigh gets parallel to the ground making a 90-degree angle at the top. 
• Repeat the exercise 10 times per each opposite leg-hand pair. 

What should you do after the exercises? 

Whenever you do challenging exercises, micro tears appear in your muscles. Within a couple of days, the muscles recover slowly adapting to perform the exercises better. This is how resistance training gives you more muscle mass and strength. It’s important to note that endurance training recovery is essential to your training to be effective.  

Besides having a balanced diet, keep yourself properly hydrated throughout the day and rest well.  You can use muscle recovery tools during your recovery period.  

Active compression tools are the most effective way to heal sore leg muscles. SPRYNG is the most advanced muscle recovery tool on the market. It’s lightweight and wireless.  It is easy to put on and find quick relief from muscle soreness in only 15 minutes. It’s preloaded with a range of effective active compression massage patterns to promote blood circulation in your legs and improve recovery from running workout.