Has anyone used a program of sprinting for fat loss as oppossed to traditional cardio (tradmill, stairmaster etc.)? If so, how many sprints vs rest periods. Also how many times per week. What were your results. Any help is appreciated.
Tommyboy: I haven’t done interval sprinting, but after a while on this site, I’m convinced that it’s something to seriously look at. (Which I’m doing). I “suppose” you could get similar cardiovascular and fat burning benefits on the treadmill, but a LOT of guys swear by the fact that they get better results, hitting the field, track and/or steps. And it’s not just psychological. Many say you “push” more in an open space.
I’m looking forward to the responses on this thread…
I sprinted last year and got the leanest I’ve ever been. I kind of made my own program. I would jog for 50 yards, all out sprint for 100 yards, and walk 2-3 minutes. I started out doing 3 sets, 2-3 times a week. I worked up to 8 sets. I got down to 8-9% body fat which is awesome for me. I used to be a former fatty and lost about 87 pounds in a year with sprinting to lose the last 8 pounds (started sprinting after I already lost 79 pounds). I was stuck before I sprinted. I think T-mag has a 50-yard sprint article by TC. Look it up with the search option in the article section.
Any exercise will burn calories. Anaerobic exercise is extremely inefficient at producing ATP (4 units of ATP per gram of carbs from glycolysis vs 38 units Aerobically).The ATP-CP system lasts 0-approx 10 seconds and is replenished aerobically. thats why you puff after sprints, to repay O2 debt & replenish ATP. Sounds ideal for causing calorie deficit/weight loss hey? Consider though the stress on the nervous system and soft tissues of the body such as muscle recovery on top of your weights program and the possibility therefore of overtraining. If it is speed you after fine, I forget how many sets to do and common sense is not accurate details so buy a book on the subject. Finally when it comes to fat loss, continuous sustainable exercise is best because it burns roughly as much fat and larger amounts of glycogen than the fat burning zone. i.e. just below lactic acid threshold or roughly 70-75-80% max heart rate. The more efficient the energy production the longer you will have to pound the running track.
I was thinking about this very topic. After I finish putting on the last few pounds I was going to go to a sprinting routine. I guess it all depends on if you want toreally try to increase speed and vertical, or if you just want to lose pounds. I personally want to work on speed and vert. I will probably do a progaram that I used a while back. You sprint 20 meters, walk 10, sprint 30, walk 10, sprint 40, walk 10, sprint 90. That is one set. When I say walk, it is more like slow down until you get to the 10 meter mark, and take off again. You don’t stop until you are done with the 90 meters. Starting off I do 3 sets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And after the first 2 weeks I adjust the number of sets accordingly. If you want to really increase you vertical you can do 2 sets of 10-20 power jumps. Then on Tuesday and Thursday you can go run windsprints. I do about 20. The key to all this is proper stretching. If this is not the type of workout you are looking for, then just go to the track warmup, stretch, and just run a few 100’s, 200’s. If you got big balls you can throw in some 400’s. Good Luck.
Tommyboy, definately incorporate some sprint work on your routine. Sprint work is outstanding for fat loss, and can increase your metabolism incredibly. T-mag has a great article about sprinting search for it under 50-yard sprint.
Sprinting rules! It’s not so much a cardio replacement as it is an overall fat burner of metabolism accelerator. I was doing them until the fall came, in the morning, until it got too cold. It was the only thing to spark my metabolism when I wanted to shed that winter fat.
I would do a series of 50 yarders. My goal was just to do ten all out. That was enough for a morning workout. My squats suffered though.
Give 'em a shot!!
try this…4 minutes of moderate pace running then at the end of 4 minutes sprint for 20 secs jog for ten and repeat thru the next 4 minutes.After that another 4 minutes at a moderate pace. Do this 3 times a week on an empty stomach.
Sprinting is great for both shedding bodyfat and increasing power and speed. Don’t bother doing them on the treadmill…dry-ground running is completely different than treadmill work, and much more effecient. All of the advice given here is good, but make sure you start off slow. High-intensity sprinting will tax your body and CNS, so don’t overdo it. Start off with three or four sprints of 50 yards with at least 30 seconds of walking in-between. Sprints will really work your abdominal region as well, so you might find yourself sore there for the first few days. Once you get used to these, try sprinting uphill if you really want your legs to get big!
BTW, has anyone ever done cycling sprints? If so, what kind of results did you get (hypertrophy, fat loss, etc.)?
Well, I’ve done A LOT of cycling sprints (crits, track racing, road racing, dog sprints), but never as a fat loss regimen (this was well before I got into the heavy weight training that I do now). There’s a different dynamic at work cycling than running, and the intensity of the muscle contractions isn’t there, but as an aerobic type workout, it is a good one.
I used to do fart-liks (funny sounding name= good results) for my basketball conditioning for the past 3 off seasons. basically you sprint 300 ft and jog 300 ft repeate for a time limit. these worked really well and burned alot of fat off me and i even gained explosive strength in my legs and as a result can run all day withg out getting tired. They even work better if you run up hills. Great torso work.
will
Check out my page on this www.tcnj.edu/~marion4/cardio.html
As far as my progress, my pics are on my homepage. good luck.
P.S. i need to update alot of the information on my site. However, this page is still very current, and is very effective.
For future reference, the term is Fartlek training. Fartlek is a swedish word meaning “speed play” and is an adaptation and mixture of interval and continous work. You guys know what continous work is (go out and run at 6mph on flat ground for 30 min). Interval training is defined as exercise, rest, exercise, rest, repeat…Like: run a 400 rest for 2 min, run another 400, rest 2 min and so on. Fartlek is mixing exercise intensities over a continuous period of time (Bill Phillips 20 minute aerobic solution in BFL is a good example of Fartlek training). Most people confuse interval training and Fartlek training and use the two interchangeably but they are very much different.
Actaully, it’s fartlek, a Swedish term (I think) that translates to “speed-play.” It’s meant as a free-form interval session. Basically go hard when you feel like it, go easy when you feel like it. No set time or distance. Some people liked to make it structured, but in my mind it loses the “play” aspect.
I use a sprinting program for Rugby, and maintain a max of %8 Bf all year round, but usually well below that. Here it is (30 second rests in between each sprint, distances in meters, dammit!):200x1, 400x1, 600x1, 400x1, 200x1…and I repeat this 3x total. On other days I run for 30 seconds (covering 150m each time, minimum) and rest for 30 seconds (when I can no longer reach 150m in 30 seconds, I call it a day). Rarely, I’ll do a timed 3k or just a 40-45 min run, when I’m too sore to make sprinting productive. I realize that this isn’t a pure sprinting program (under 100m. runs), but it kicks ass, and is pretty short to complete.
My sprint workout went as follows:
3/4 - 1 mile light jog.
10 x 100 yard sprints under 17 seconds, with 1 minute rest between sprints.
1/4 - 1/2 mile cooldown run
Stretch 10-15 minutes.
I did this workout on my off day from lifting. Personally, I prefer 15-20 minutes of traditional cardio (treadmill, elliptical, etc.) after a weight training session.
I do 3 or 4 sessions a week of interval, fartlek, or tempo type training. The above recommendations are all good however I would like to add you don’t necessarily have to be outdoors or on a piece of equipment to train in this fashion. I have a routine I do when it rains or is too cold outside or whatever that utilizes the same principle with bodyweight calisthenic exercises and a jump rope. It has the added benefit of being plyometric in nature so an increase in explosive power is likely to result. (depending on conditioning of course)For example I might go high speed 5 knees to chest, 5 burpees, 5 star jumps, (or about 20 seconds worth of high intensity effort) followed by 30 seconds jog in place and 30 seconds rest…repeat 7-15 times. Or another favorite is double rope skips for 20 seconds (these are a chore!!) followed by regular rope skipping 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds…repeat 7-15 times. Get creative and see what kinds of stuff you can come up with.
Sprinting is the way to go sonny Jim. Its necessarily the sprinting but the very high intensity of training. Plus the extra leg development included, you cant go wrong with this one. Lactic acid hurts like a biatch, but will cause you to release GH, a great fat burner.