Endurance can be defined as the ability to withstand stress over prolonged periods of time. An endurance sport is therefore any sport in which there is a prolonged physical stress.

Types of endurance:

According to the nature of activity, the endurance is classified into following types:

1. Basic Endurance- Also known as aerobic endurance,because basic endurance depends mainly on aerobic endurance.In fact, basic endurance is the ability to perform movements in which large number of body muscles are involved and the activity is performed at slow speed or pace for a long duration.
2. General Endurance- General endurance means doing sports activity in  the condition of fatigue.General endurance is not specific to any sports.It is developed through general exercises. The better the general endurance , better the performance in sports.
3. Specific Endurance- Specific endurance is the ability to resist the fatigue caused by a particular sports activity.As the nature of fatigue is different from sports to sports, the specific endurance is different from sports to sports.For example, the specific endurance for a wrestler is to combat effectively in three rounds or six minutes, whereas it is 4 rounds for a boxer.

1. Speed Endurance- Ability to resist fatigue in activities that last up to 45 seconds.For example.400m sprint.
2. .Short-term endurance- Ability to resist fatigue in activities that start from 45 seconds and last up to 2minutes.For example.800m race.
3. Medium-term endurance- Ability to resist fatigue in activities that range from 2minutes to 11minutes.For example. 1500 m race.
4. Long-term endurance-  Ability to resist fatigue in activities that last more than 11 minutes.for example. 5000m cross country, 10,000m race, and marathon requires such type of endurance.