When was the last time you really had to run as fast as you could, your heart racing and your legs heating up?
If you can’t remember, you’re missing out on one of the best tools to challenge your body and improve your body composition. Sprinting is probably one of the most important training tools for improving athletic performance.
If you incorporate sprints into your routine, you should consider how best to approach them to get the most out of them and protect yourself. Then you will see that your body’s performance capacity is improving.
What are the benefits of sprints?
improves athletic performance
Sprinting has carried over into every sport because of its power, strength, and speed advantages. “Because the explosive force is so high, it activates almost every muscle in the human body,” says Dr. Mike Young, director of Athletic Lab, which focuses on improving speed and improving athletic performance. “In the fitness world, there aren’t many exercises that actively engage every muscle group like sprints do,” says Young.
improve body composition
Beyond sports performance, the benefits of sprinting also impact the physical properties of the body, Young says.
“You can benefit from high intensity through improvements in body composition and lean body mass, which in turn improves the athletic performance of your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps,” he says. “This is why elite sprinters look really lean and muscular. Part of that comes from just the act of sprinting.”
How to get your body used to sprinting
Sprinting is an intense, high-impact exercise. Follow these tips to protect yourself and get the most out of your sprints.
warm up
When starting a sprint, start with a simple warm-up, such as lunges with your knees high, to loosen up your body and prepare for the sprint. Next, start with basic movements to get your tissues, muscles, and even bones used to the intensity, Rooney says. Sprinting in place is also a good starting point as your body gets used to the movement.
“You have to wake up the nervous system that accesses the big muscle fibers, the big motors, so you can put that muscle tissue to work,” Rooney says.
Please start slowly
Even if the last time you sprinted was in high school gym class, don’t run 100 yards right away. Let’s start by moving fast again, says Martin Rooney, CSCS, founder of Training for Warriors.
It could be taking quick steps down the speed ladder or running at a slightly faster pace than you feel comfortable with. There is no “perfect” distance for sprinting, but aim for around 30 yards to start.
maintain your body
To lower your risk of injury, you should strive to increase your mobility through dynamic movements such as stretches and lunges that increase your range of motion.
And if you’re heavier than your ideal weight, adjusting your nutrition to lose weight can improve your sprinting ability, Rooney says.
4 sprint tips to run faster
If you want to make sure you reap all the benefits of sprinting, here are four tips to do it the right way.
1. Keep your mechanics strong
The fastest body is the most efficient body, meaning it doesn’t waste energy by putting body parts in the wrong place. Running fast may seem like just running faster, but that means you’re not getting the most out of your efforts.
Anatomical checklist for good splint technique:
- Lean your entire body forward. Instead of just rounding your back, think about leaning upward from your ankles so that your head, neck, spine, and pelvis are in a straight line, Young advises.
- stabilize the head. “A common mistake is letting your head flop out of normal postural adjustments,” Young says. This means that the force from the ground is not transferred efficiently throughout the body. Since the human body is not ideally designed for sprinting (we’re too vertical compared to the horizontal posture of, say, a cheetah), a wobbly head makes the system even more inefficient.
2. Accelerate with large strides
Good sprint form is all about how you accelerate throughout your run. “The physics of running haven’t changed, and when you run in a physics-driven world, you have to accelerate to reach top speed,” Young says.
In other words, the first step is a big, long step while swinging your arms, not short, choppy steps like people do. When walking, the contact time with the ground is short, so you cannot exert much force.
Young says a longer stride means more time in contact with the ground and more force propelling your body forward.
3. Experiment with intensity
When most people hear the word “sprint,” they think of “all-out.” That doesn’t have to be the case, Rooney says. You can aim for 70 or 80 percent of your maximum effort in your workouts, and you can experiment with different distance and intensity combinations.
“Sprinting doesn’t mean you have to be like a tiger chasing you,” Rooney says.
4. Strengthen your sprint muscles
The glutes, hamstrings, and all the muscles in the posterior chain act as speed engines, Young says. Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, glute ham raises, and step-ups are great for strengthening these muscles and boosting your sprint performance. Single-leg exercises can also help, says Young.
And few movements do a better job of building power and speed than plyometrics, which help improve explosive strength.
