On that first day of practice or tryouts, you’ll likely regret it if you focused too much during the off-season on getting bigger and stronger at the expense of improving endurance. No matter how much strength and mass you’ve gained, you still need to survive those mandatory wind sprints to see some playing time.

This conditioning workout can help you elevate your lower and upper body muscular endurance. Increasing size, strength, and power definitely enhances sports performance, but endurance is equally essential for achieving optimal success on the field, court, mat or ice.

This brief (under 10 minutes) yet intense stamina-boosting training session requires minimal equipment and can conveniently be done indoors or out. Just make sure you have adequate vertical and horizontal space for jumping rope and performing push-ups, squat thrusts, and mountain climbers. The immediate area should also be clear of objects or people.

Note that along with endurance, the workout also incorporates power, upper and lower body and core strength and muscle-building. You’re getting a complete sports performance package all in one challenging conditioning workout!

Equipment

• Jump rope
• Timer
• Exercise mat (optional)
• Water bottle

Guidelines

• Perform a dynamic upper and lower body warm-up of walking toe touches– aka “Frankenstein walks (Stepping forward with left leg, then kicking right leg upward and trying to touch right toes with left hand. Then reverse). Do 1×10 per side.
• Finish workout with cool-down upper and lower body static stretches for promoting range of motion and flexibility.
• Take a 15-second water break after each non-stop two minutes of exercise.

Workout

• Jump rope (30 seconds)
• Explosive push-ups (do as many in 30 seconds with hands leaving mat between reps)
• Squat thrusts (as many in 30 seconds)
• Jump rope (30 seconds)
• Water break (15 seconds)

Explosive push-ups build the upper body size and power you need to push away opponents on the field, wrestling mat or ice. Squat thrusts help you develop powerful thighs and hips required for vertical and horizontal jumps and for game-breaking bursts of speed. Jumping rope continuously for 30 seconds, then repeating this after a few exercises reinforces muscular endurance especially for shoulder, back, chest arm and leg muscles and indirectly targets abdominal muscles.

• Push-ups with left foot airborne (30 seconds)
• Mountain climbers (30 seconds)
• Push-ups with right foot airborne (30 seconds)
• Jump rope (30 seconds)
• 15-second water break

Performing push-ups with one foot off the floor not only enhances upper body muscular endurance and strength but also engages core stabilizer abdominal, lower and middle back muscles that help maintain balance. Mountain climbers and jumping rope also involve core muscles while improving muscular endurance.

• Squat thrust/push-up combo. Perform a squat thrust and immediately follow with a push-up. Continue alternating each exercise for 60 seconds.
• Jump rope (30 seconds)
• Mountain climbers (30 seconds)
• 15-second water break

The squat thrust/push-up combo is a lower and upper body muscle- and power-building movement. Jumping rope for 30 seconds, then doing 30-second mountain climbers this late in the workout really challenges your endurance.

• Hands-close-together push-ups/mountain climbers. Do as many push-ups as you can in 15 seconds and then 15 seconds of mountain climbers.
• Hands spaced slightly wider than shoulders push-ups/mountain climbers. Do as many push-ups as you can in 15 seconds, immediately followed by 15 seconds of mountain climbers.
• Jump rope (30 seconds)
• Squat thrusts (30 seconds)
• Have water and end workout with cool-down static stretches.

Performing push-ups with hands close together particularly builds triceps and inner chest muscles. Doing push-ups with hands spaced slightly wider than shoulders targets the outer pectoral muscles. Legs, hips, shoulders and arms will really be burning and fatigued after performing the 30-second jump rope and squat thrust sequences.