Sprinting is one of the best cardiovascular workouts in terms of fat loss and increasing your metabolic rate. It is a great exercise for sculpting your hamstrings, quads, butt, calves and abs. Before doing sprints it is important to warm-up properly before starting the exercise because it is very easy to injure yourself if you don’t warm up and stretch efficiently. I would advise you to run a lap around the track to get the blood flowing in your muscles before stretching. After about 15 minutes of stretching your lower body you should be ready to perform the sprints.
The main lower body areas to focus on while stretching are your groin, quad and hamstrings. Those muscles are the easiest muscles to pull and injure while sprinting. An adequate distance for sprinting is anywhere from 50 meters to 100 meters. I would run about 10 of these at 50 to 60 percent speed in the beginning. Trying to run these at full-speed in the beginning would not be advisable because your muscles aren’t ready to handle it at that speed quite yet.
When you sprint you can sprint to the 100 meter line and then walk back to the starting line and proceed again. Your rest would be your walk back to the starting line and once you get to the starting line proceed to run the next sprint until you complete your 10 sprints. Always make sure when you are sprinting that your body is relaxed and you aren’t tensed up through the sprint. How you will know that you are really relaxed is your cheeks will flap rapidly while sprinting. I would also advise you running these sprints at least twice a week.
For example run the sprints on Mondays and Fridays because you want to give your body at least 3 days rest before you run sprints again as your muscles needs that ample time to recover and repair. When sprinting mechanically make sure your arms in a 90 degree angle. When you are running your arms are to your side and it’s like you are taking something from your pocket. If you can remember that when you are sprinting then you know you have proper arm form. Always run on the balls of your feet and not on your toes. Running on your toes eliminates the power and stability of your sprint.
If you implement sprinting for a month twice a week I guarantee you will see changes in your quads, hamstrings, calves and abs immediately. Your metabolism will elevate infinitely throughout the week because of the exercise and you will burn some serious calories as well as increase fat loss. This sprinting workout can be completed within a 30 minute timeframe. I hope this blog helps someone that is trying to incorporate something new in their workout routine. I honestly attribute my ab development and lean physique throughout my years of sprinting.
Obi – this is awesome! I have been meaning to incorporate sprinting for a while now – and this is just what I need to give me a kick up the butt and get going! Thank you! :)