I cut back on strength training,
and somehow got more stamina

3 min read

I used to lift hard at the gym three times a week, for hours at a time.

Now I go hiking about every other week and do around 15 minutes of bodyweight training four times a week. By any measure, I was "training more" back then. I lifted heavier weights and trained for longer.

And yet, strangely, I get tired far less in daily life now.

I can walk for a long time without trouble. I have energy left after going out. I find myself thinking "I'm tired, I don't want to move" less often than before.

That made me wonder: what do we actually mean by "stamina"?

Stamina isn't strength

You often hear "I'm lifting to build stamina." That isn't wrong, of course. If you get stronger, carrying bags and climbing stairs get easier.

But going from an 80 kg to a 100 kg bench press doesn't mean you won't get tired walking all day. And someone who walks a lot every day can't necessarily lift a heavy barbell.

It seems the single word "stamina" mixes together many things: strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, recovery, sleep, fatigue, everyday activity, and more.

Maybe stamina is "reserve"

The idea that fits best for me right now is stamina = reserve.

Not how much force you can produce, but how much energy is left after an ordinary day.

Take the same flight of stairs: someone climbing at 60% of their physical capacity gets tired differently from someone who can do it at 30%. The same 10,000 steps mean something different depending on whether they're a big job for your body or light activity.

Seen that way, gaining stamina may mean turning daily life itself into "light exercise."

Is that why I'm less tired now?

From here, this is still my own hypothesis.

Back then, I trained hard to build muscle. I think my physical capacity did go up. But at the same time, I got sore, my legs felt heavy, I wanted to rest after training, and sometimes I moved less in daily life.

Now it's the opposite. I move for about 15 minutes. I walk in everyday life. Sometimes I walk in the mountains for hours. And I'm never so tired that it wrecks the next day.

In other words, before I was doing "exercise to make my physical capacity bigger." Now I may be getting closer to "exercise that makes life easier."

Building muscle and having energy aren't the same

I'm not trying to knock strength training. I like training for muscle growth myself. I want a bigger body. I want visible abs. I want to build a good-looking physique. That's a goal in its own right.

But I think it's worth separating "making your body look good" from "building a body that gets through the day without tiring." Different goals call for different exercise designs.

I want to think more about stamina

For now, my hypothesis is this:

Maybe stamina isn't how high your limit is, but the margin between daily life and that limit.

If so, walking, cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, sleep, fatigue, recovery, hiking, and food can all be reconsidered from the angle of "building reserve."