The Top 3 Benefits Of Sprinting
Apex predators like lions and tigers have something in common with sprinting: they dominate their respective domain, and the competition has no chance against them.
Sprinting is without a doubt the apex predator of conditioning exercises. When I look for a physique that is lean, muscular, and athletic I have to look no further than to sprinters.
Sprinting is so ridiculously effective for fat loss that if all you did right now was add 2–3 days of sprinting to whatever your current training program is, you would get considerably leaner over the next few weeks and months.
There are multiple different benefits that sprinting can deliver. And the first benefit is that sprinting will allow you to save time with your workout.
1) Time Management
One of the main reasons why many lifters and trainees cannot lose body fat and build muscle is because of how they use their time.
Do you want to know where most people waste the majority of their time when they are at the gym? The “cardio” section. Do you truly want to stay on a soul-draining device like a basic treadmill, elliptical, or Stairmaster for 1–2 hours just to have the machine tell you that you burned 100 calories? Are you kidding me?
Unfortunately, many trainees will repeat this process over and over for years, but when they look in the mirror, they do not see the lean physique that they wanted to build. Instead, they see a below average body and realize they have wasted many years doing nothing productive.
Time is the most valuable thing we have on this planet and once it has passed by, we can never get it back. With this knowledge, you do not want to waste your valuable time in the “cardio” section of a commercial gym. Your time would be better served out on the track.
The difference between using a machine and going outside to sprint on the track is massive, like the Solar System. No “cardio” machine can compete with the supreme, Infinity Gauntlet-like power of sprinting.
Sprinting will allow you to get an effective workout done in a fraction of the time. A full sprinting workout for fat loss (not specific speed training) will on average take anywhere from 15–20 minutes to complete if you perform it correctly. The old adage of quality over quantity applies here.
The process for a sprinting workout looks just like this:
* Eat your pre-workout meal (about 1.5–2 hours before you sprint).
* Show up at the track.
* Perform a sprinter warm-up for 10–15 minutes.
* Realize the workout is going to hurt.
* Perform the sprint workout for 15–25 minutes then collapse.
* Dust yourself off, go home, and have your post-workout meal.
While you are sprinting, you will be improving your athleticism, decimating body fat, building glutes of steel, and developing thick hamstrings.
I have never met anyone in life who does not appreciate naturally built, round glutes that sit high and tight like a military fade haircut! You cannot achieve this effect in the lame “cardio” section.
2) Sprinting Will Allow You To Build Muscle And Drop Body Fat
Sprinting is the one move that can achieve this effect.
When a lifter spends hours slogging away doing mindless “cardio” and consuming a bad diet at some point they begin to sacrifice muscle mass.
Losing muscle mass is never the goal when it comes to physique building. Think about this. When was the last time you spotted a serious athlete or lifter who was in phenomenal shape, pounding away on a treadmill while watching a sitcom on the gym TV?
Conditioning like sprinting, which is short, intense, and to the point, will build and retain your muscle mass while kicking body fat in the rear. Sprinting is similar to lifting weights, in that the contractions of the muscle during the exercise are intense. When you consistently repeat sprinting over time the muscles in your legs will grow and your whole body will become leaner.
While sprinting alone can and will get you leaner, you will make the process much harder if your diet is not in order. Remember the only way to lose body fat is to use more energy than you consume. As powerful as sprinting is, if you are consuming more energy than you burn, you will not lose the body fat. No one can out train a bad diet.
3) Sprinting Develops Mental Toughness
I have done many types of lifting and conditioning workouts, ranging from bodybuilding to bodyweight training.
These are some of the hardest training methods of all time, but I would choose any of those workouts over running repeat 300-meter sprints any day of the week.
Hard sprinting workouts can make you feel like you want to die at times. Sprinting, especially long sprinting can be that unbearable, as there is no worse feeling then these things happening simultaneously:
* Your heart is beating out of your chest.
* Your glutes and hamstrings are pumped up beyond belief (Bootylock!)
* Your abdominals are cramping.
* Your shoulders are getting tight.
* Your mind wants to quit.
* And you still have 100 meters to go on your second of three 300-meter sprints for the day.
Without mental toughness, you will fold at the first sign of adversity. Repeatedly completing these sprinting workouts will undoubtedly forge that toughness into your being.
Note: If you have not sprinted since playing high school sports, do not start out at 100 percent, max effort speed unless you want to pull that precious hamstring. If you are new to sprinting, I emphatically suggest you download my comprehensive sprinting eBook, Use Speed To Get Lean to learn about how to sprint.
Conclusion
Sprinting is an absolute game changer of an exercise.
By adding sprinting into your training program, you will make serious improvements in terms of your performance, physique, and mindset.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
