One of the most effective ways to get in shape and quite frankly the easiest is sprinting – it has the ability to transform your body, because you are not only performing a conditioning workout but you are also developing strong powerful legs and the don’t under estimate the impact of driving your arms on having nice toned arms. Take a look at the 100 and 200 meter sprinter in the Olympics….
So how do we go about performing a sprint workout? The very first thing is to warm up. Once you get to the track (after foaming rolling and using a lacrosse ball), run 1 lap around the track and then perform the lower body warm up described in the Warm Up Blog. Once you complete the warm up, you can add in some high knee runs, skips, pogo jumps and 3-4 build-up sprints. The build-up sprints are exactly as they sound, pick a distance (30 meters) and slowly accelerate through the distance.
There are two concepts to sprinting volume and intensity. Most sprints should be performed sat submaximal times. For instance if you can run 100 meters in 12.5 seconds, and you want to run at 70% - divide 12.5 by .70 – you would run at 17.8 seconds. Depending on the number of days that you are running, you want to slowly build up volume (distance x # of sprints) and intensity (70%-90%, usually at 5% increments per week). By slowly building work capacity – you will avoid the risk of injury. Another alternative is you are a beginner is to start out with hill sprints, as its less taxing on the hamstrings, as you slowly build up. As always remember to foam roll and stretch afterwards.
Some sample workouts depending on fitness level and then you would build up each week (as your intensity increases you would decrease the number of actual sprints):
- 10 sprints x 20 meters @ 70% (rest time = walk back) – following week increase from 10 to 12 or stay at 10 sprints and go to 30 yards or do 10 x 20 meters and increase % from 70-75%
- 12 sprints x 100 meters @ 70% (rest time = 1 min) – the following week increase to 14 sprints or do 10-12 sprints @ 75%
- 12 sprints x 200 meters @ 70% (rest time = 2 min) – the following week increase to 14 sprints or do 10-12 sprints @ 75%
Some other fun workouts on the track include performing tempos (any sprint that is done submaximal) with other work capacity drills. For example:
- Sprint 50 meters @ 70% - perform 10 pushups
- Sprint back 50 meters @ 70% and perform 10 band pull-a-parts or 20-50 crunches or core exercise
- Work up from 8 sets of this to 14
- You can also add in medicine ball throws and use that during your sprint workouts or afterwards for extra work.
Some things to keep in mind while sprinting:
- Stay relaxed – don’t tense up your body
- Keep your arms at 90 degrees and your hands should come to your nose and drive them back powerfully.
- Stay on the balls of your feet – not your heels
- Ensure as you are sprinting your leg lands underneath you (i.e. avoid over-striding, which will avoid injuries).
The workouts can be performed stand alone or before your upper body or lower body workouts.
So how do we go about performing a sprint workout? The very first thing is to warm up. Once you get to the track (after foaming rolling and using a lacrosse ball), run 1 lap around the track and then perform the lower body warm up described in the Warm Up Blog. Once you complete the warm up, you can add in some high knee runs, skips, pogo jumps and 3-4 build-up sprints. The build-up sprints are exactly as they sound, pick a distance (30 meters) and slowly accelerate through the distance.
There are two concepts to sprinting volume and intensity. Most sprints should be performed sat submaximal times. For instance if you can run 100 meters in 12.5 seconds, and you want to run at 70% - divide 12.5 by .70 – you would run at 17.8 seconds. Depending on the number of days that you are running, you want to slowly build up volume (distance x # of sprints) and intensity (70%-90%, usually at 5% increments per week). By slowly building work capacity – you will avoid the risk of injury. Another alternative is you are a beginner is to start out with hill sprints, as its less taxing on the hamstrings, as you slowly build up. As always remember to foam roll and stretch afterwards.
Some sample workouts depending on fitness level and then you would build up each week (as your intensity increases you would decrease the number of actual sprints):
- 10 sprints x 20 meters @ 70% (rest time = walk back) – following week increase from 10 to 12 or stay at 10 sprints and go to 30 yards or do 10 x 20 meters and increase % from 70-75%
- 12 sprints x 100 meters @ 70% (rest time = 1 min) – the following week increase to 14 sprints or do 10-12 sprints @ 75%
- 12 sprints x 200 meters @ 70% (rest time = 2 min) – the following week increase to 14 sprints or do 10-12 sprints @ 75%
Some other fun workouts on the track include performing tempos (any sprint that is done submaximal) with other work capacity drills. For example:
- Sprint 50 meters @ 70% - perform 10 pushups
- Sprint back 50 meters @ 70% and perform 10 band pull-a-parts or 20-50 crunches or core exercise
- Work up from 8 sets of this to 14
- You can also add in medicine ball throws and use that during your sprint workouts or afterwards for extra work.
Some things to keep in mind while sprinting:
- Stay relaxed – don’t tense up your body
- Keep your arms at 90 degrees and your hands should come to your nose and drive them back powerfully.
- Stay on the balls of your feet – not your heels
- Ensure as you are sprinting your leg lands underneath you (i.e. avoid over-striding, which will avoid injuries).
The workouts can be performed stand alone or before your upper body or lower body workouts.