Which program is most appropriate to primarily improve muscular endurance of the lower body for a novice client who also wants minimal gains in muscle size?

Resistance sessions 2–3 times per week using moderate loads (40–60% 1RM), higher repetitions (12–20 reps per set), 2–3 sets per exercise, short rest intervals (30–60 s), combined with adequate protein (≈1.4–1.6 g/kg/day) and a slight caloric maintenance or small deficit to avoid hypertrophy.

Only steady-state aerobic sessions such as cycling for long durations to failure, with no resistance training, because endurance always transfers fully to muscular endurance in resistance contexts.

Daily maximal effort plyometrics and sprint training with no structured resistance work, expecting that the speed training will produce specific lower-body muscular endurance identical to high-volume resistance protocols.

High-load low-rep strength training (85–95% 1RM) across 1–2 sessions per week focused on 1–5 reps to maximize neural adaptations, with unrestricted calorie surplus to guarantee size gains.