Why is stamina important to gymnastics?

Answer 1

"Stamina" refers to the physical or mental ability to remain active for long periods of time. There are factors relating to both, or either, physical or mental stamina which affect an individual's overall health.

Physical endurance is increased by aerobic (low-intensity, long-duration, oxygen burning - or anaerobic (high-intensity, short-duration, sugar-burning exercise. Each type of exercise increases the body's ability to use oxygen or carbohydrates respectively.

Running, jogging, swimming, cycling and brisk walking (exercising continuously for more than a couple of minutes) are used to increase one's aerobic stamina. Weightlifting, sprinting and other physical activities of no more than about 2 minutes in length between rest periods help to build one's anaerobic stamina.

Mental endurance refers to an individual's ability to focus on particular thoughts or concepts for long periods, and relates strongly to motivation and will. Meditation is a common method of increasing stamina: one can meditate by picturing a simple or complicated object in the mind's eye ("imagining" or "visualizing"), or clearing the "mental canvas" and simply focusing on a blank surface, such as the inside of the eyelids when the eyes are closed. Some excellent tips on increasing mental stamina can be found in the related link.

Stamina is simply increased by conducting a particular activity many times over a long period. The more you practice such activities, the more energy (or focus) you can devote to those activities, which can have positive impacts on your overall physical and mental stamina and your peace of mind.

Answer 2

A stereotype about the heavyweight division on Boxing; many heavyweights such as David Tua, can bench press 450 lbs in Round 1, but, by round 7, that number drops to 150 lbs. What good is great strength if it doesn't last? Regardless of orientation strength needs to be long lasting, especially in Martial Arts. I am personally not against weight training in Boxing although, I am only a casual fan; problem is, there aren't any traditional western weight room endurance based weight training programs out there, the closest thing is circuit training.

If you're into martial arts, putting on too much muscle weight WILL kill your stamina, if you do not balance it out with stamina stuff such as jogging and swimming. Bodybuilders are against "excessive cardio" because they need to pack on mass, see if you do too much cardio, your muscles won't grow big. When building up a body for both strength and stamina, its somewhere in between "big," and "skinny guy who doesn't lift weights." There are hulking bodybuilders, there are lean skinny guys, and, martial artists and combat sports athletes, have to be somewhere in the middle, somewhere in between the body of a marathoner and a bodybuilder, with atributes of both.

Of course as they say everything is a trade off; a well conditioned MMA fighter, will last ALMOST as long as a marathoner, and lift ALMOST as much as a power lifter or bodybuilder, but not quite be there because they are somewhere in the middle. Not in the stamina or strength extreme but "the place you need to be" if you're into combat sports. The "ultimate" in physical fitness, is the ability to bench press your body weight about 30 times, and being able to run 7 miles in about 21 minutes, 22 if you want to be reasonable. Most of the top MMA guys can do that, as well as most top kickboxers and some boxers these days, with Boxing, its usually the dudes below the heavyweight division which is pretty out of shape these days compared to previous generations.