Sprint for Fat Loss

[StrawberrySun]

Sprinting not only burns HUGE amounts of calories, it also keeps your metabolism flying for days after. Sprinting combined with running / jogging can bring amazing results, especially when combined with a healthy diet!

It can be done on a stationary bicycle, a stair stepper, or any activity where you can alternate periods of high intensity with periods of low intensity.


The research, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, shows that just 15 minutes of sprint interval training over a two-week period was enough to improve exercise performance by almost 100%


Benefits to sprinting
Sprinting is an amazing exercise period. It is a great tool to help in fat loss, kill stress as well as increasing your metabolic rate for days. On top of all this, sprinting is a great exercise for your hamstrings and can help sculpt and tone those muscles you would kill to have. Besides, sprint training may offer an option for individuals who cite lack of time as a major impediment to fitness and conditioning. One other positive motivational benefit you will find with sprinting is that the uncontrollable human urge to beat a STOP-WATCH can help your clients' blast through plateaus and dramatically increase performance. Plus there is at least some preliminary evidence that sprint training causes the body to release anabolic hormones: testosterone and human growth hormone with all the positive physiological and anti-aging effects you are striving for in a workout. Sprinting is the original CORE exercise. That means, for a minimum amount of time you spend sprinting you can replace hours spent in the gym on CORE or Functional exercises.

A study was conducted on 16 subjects: eight who performed a two-week sprint-interval training program and eight who did no exercise training . The training program consisted of between four and seven 30-second bursts of "all out" cycling followed by four minutes of recovery three times a week for two weeks. Researchers found that endurance capacity in the sprint group increased on average from 26 minutes to 51 minutes, whereas the control group showed no change. The muscles of the trained group also showed a significant increase in citrate synthase, an enzyme that is indicative of the tissue's ability to utilize oxygen.


How many days a week should I be sprinting?
WF team suggest spreading your sprinting out evenly and doing it two times a week. Mondays and Thursdays would be fine, leaving enough time for recovery between each day as your muscles will need time to grow and heal. Not only will spreading it out help you recover faster it will also keep your metabolism peaked more evenly and prolong the effect.


http://www.womenfitness.net/sprinting.htm

[NightTrain]

humph, i will have to add some sprints to my 3x a week run....

[Johan]

High intensity interval training rules

[NightTrain]

i will try it out

[Johan]

Never actually done sprints, have to try it. But I like to do intervalls on treadmills and on exercise bikes. Give Tabata intervalls a try on exercise bike. 20 seconds 100% intensity, 10 seconds low intensity. Repeate 8 times. Thats 4 minutes of pure agony

[t-gunz]

i tired this the other day. 5 x 40 min sprints. and then run for 25 mins. definitely felt this 2 hours after cardio was done

[StrawberrySun]

I think I'm going to give it a try in my next cardio session as well. May do it on the bike or elliptical though. I think the treadmill or stairmaster will all but kill my knees

[t-gunz]

i did my sprints on the soccer field and then ran on the grass along the beach. works out well cause i can do a good loop. love cardio outdoors