Sprinting is one of the most challenging yet the best exercises. It requires you to run over a short distance within the shortest possible time frame. It utilizes all your energy and burns plenty of calories in a short period. While it burns fat, it also helps you to build strength and muscles, improve heart health, and live a well-balanced life. Regular sprinting has unparalleled effects on your body composition, fitness, and immune system. [1]
When sprinting, muscles need increased blood flow making your heart beat faster. Over time, it helps you achieve a high heart rate and keeps your mind healthy. It also contributes to your cardiovascular fitness and you are able to breathe in more oxygen while working out. [2]
Benefits of Sprinting
Sprinting is a powerful exercise when it comes to shaping your physique. You get a body as lean as it can be, as it makes all muscles work for it. In addition to offering physical and health benefits such as building muscles, increasing metabolism rate, burning fat, improving heart health and better insulin control, sprinting also helps make you disciplined, relieves stress and tension, and builds perseverance. Let us discuss each benefit in detail. [3] [4]
Burns Calories
This high-intensity workout can help in a noticeable fat loss. As compared with aerobics, jogging and running, sprinting easily enables faster fat loss especially around the abdominal areas without having a negative impact on muscle mass. It is often called as, “time-efficient strategy for decreasing body fat.” [5]
Sprinting helps you burn more calories in less time. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Builds Muscles
Sprinting does the same to your muscles as a comprehensive weight training does. Your body produces short bursts of energy when you are on a sprint and that helps increase muscle strength. It won’t be wrong to call sprinting a complete muscle training exercise as it involves dozens of muscles of your body at the same time. [6]
Improves Metabolism
Sprint training not only burns calories but it also increases your speed and strength and has metabolic advantages when trained well. A boost in the body’s metabolism results in weight loss and burn more calories even when not sprinting. [7] [8]
Heart Health
Sprinting improves your heart health as the effort that goes into building muscles helps improve your heart health by making it pump harder. This leads to better blood circulation and reduced risk of heart diseases.
Relieves Depression
Sprinting workout makes you happier and your brain works better. While reaping mental benefits, it also makes you feel energized, stops inflammation in the brain and prevents hormonal imbalance, after you are done with a series of repetitions of a sprint. [9]
Sprinting Technique
Sprinting can be done in several ways and before you start exercising, you must adopt the right technique, choose the right ground, and warm up enough to avoid injury. Sprinting isn’t limited to a 100-meter dash but can be performed in various settings. You can start from a 200-meter dash to a full 400-meter dash while taking a break of 30-60 mins. You can also do a sprint workout by cycling or swimming if you have bad knees, as this will not put stress on your joints. Take a look at the steps below to understand correct sprinting technique: [10] [11]
Raise Knees: Firstly, sprint 10 meters by raising knees at a level higher than normal. Now, jog for 10 meters and again switch to sprinting for up to 10 meters. Take a minute to rest.
Fast Knee Pick Ups: After 10 meters sprint – 10 meters jog – 10 meters sprint –> rest, jog on the spot while raising your knees up till waist. Do this for 10 meters while keeping the maximum number of ground contacts. At this time, your focus should not be on how fast you can cover the distance. [12]
Leg Speed: This is a normal sprint training done for just 60 meters while keeping all your focus on your legs.
Elbow Drive: Sprinting for 40 meters while keeping your elbow in a straight line and at the right angles. While performing this, keep your arms relaxed. [13]
Skipping: Do skipping exercise for about 40 meters.
High Hops: This action is similar to skipping except you have to stay in the air for as long as possible, for about 3 x 40 meters.
Difference between Sprinting and Running
- Running is a form of exercise that doesn’t have a determined speed but the runner while sprint training tries to achieve full speed to cover a much shorter distance. [14]
- Sprinting cannot be held for long-distance and is up to 400-meter dash. Whereas, running starts at the 800-meter dash and above.
- Sprinting basically is the highest intensity, more powerful and faster form of workout that makes you tired very quickly. While running is a medium-paced intensity form of aerobic.
