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There isn’t anything better than being a slow white dude, getting out to the track, and going through a sprint workout. I feel like I’m Usain fucking Bolt every time I open it up on the straight away. Even if I’m so slow NFL offensive lineman could kick my ass in a foot race.
That doesn’t mean I stop sprinting though. Because there’s almost no better workout than a sprint workout.
Sprinting is one of the best things to do if you’re looking to build nice glutes, strong legs, awesome abs, and shed fat. Ever since HIIT got popular, sprinting has started to get more and more recognition for being a badass workout.
Here are 4 sprint workouts to use once or twice a week that’ll leave you feeling like Usain Bolt, and only slightly slower than you are right now.
- Slow curves ahead.
This one is simple, you’re using the curves to build up to top speed, and then you open it up like a motherfucking cheetah on the straightaway.
- Start at the beginning of the curve, and slowly jog. Real slowly.
- About half way through the curve start to pick it up into a light run.
- Once you’re about 10 meters away from the curve straightening out, really pick up the speed.
- Balls out the entire straight away.
1 curve and 1 straight away counts as one rep. The entire process shouldn’t take any longer than 30-45 seconds. The whole key to sprinting and HIIT in general is giving yourself enough time to recover. Shoot for 2-3 minutes to recover before starting the next rep. Repeat for 10 total reps and say goodbye to your hamstrings.
- Hill sprints.
Hills are brutal, and one of the oldest sprinting challenges known to man. Sweetness himself, Walter Payton is famous for his hill. Same with Jerry Rice. Hills kick ass. Nearly every hill out there is different. Ideally we want a hill that doesn’t go any longer than 50-100 yards, and has a steep incline.
The workout goes like this:
- Hill sprint at 70% intensity – 3 reps with 2 minutes rest in between.
- Hill sprint at balls to the wall intensity – 6 reps with 3 minutes rest in between.
- Hill sprint at 50% intensity, with a focus on driving hard up the hill – 2 reps with 1 minute rest in between.
Give yourself adequate time to get warm on this one. Also, be prepared for your quads to feel it more than normal sprinting. Hill training places a ton of emphasis on the quads, instead of the hamstrings like normal sprinting does.
Short on time or space? No biggie. You can still squeeze in a quickie. One of my favorites goes like this:
- Set up 2 cones (or rocks, shit it doesn’t matter) about 20 yards apart.
- As a warm up get in high knees, butt kicks, lunges, and high skips in. Do each one down and back.
- Start at cone 1 – back peddle to cone 2. Emphasis on reaching your leg back behind you as far as possible.
- As soon as cone 2 comes into your peripheral vision, immediately sprint back to cone 1. That’s one rep. Focus on changing direction as quick as possible.
- Rest for 45 seconds, and then repeat for 10 total reps.
If you’re feeling really crazy, or just want to up your game on D next time you play pick-up basketball you can also work in some lateral movements like shuffling then sprinting into the reps as well.
Anyone who has ever played organized basketball is familiar with this one. Suicides suck. And there’s no way Samuel L Jackson in Coach Carter actually got a player to run 1,000 of them. That’s downright preposterous.
Suicides are awesome if you don’t have a track or hill to use, but you do have a basketball court. They go like this:
- Start at the baseline.
- Sprint to the free line, then sprint back.
- Immediately turn around and sprint to half court, then back.
- Immediately turn around and sprint to the opposite free throw line, then back.
- Immediately turn around and sprint to the opposite baseline, and back.
That’s 1 suicide.
Rest for 3 minutes between each suicide, and repeat for 8 reps total. All in all it shouldn’t take longer than 20-30 minutes.
With all sprinting give yourself adequate time to recover between reps, and pay special attention to getting warm. Dynamic warm-ups like high knees, high kicks, skips, and jogging are best. If you don’t pay attention to the warm-up, and you’re not ready to sprint, it won’t be long until you’ve pulled a hammy and you’ve got another excuse to be skipping leg day.
[J.Camm’s Note: And, when you lose all that fat and get super fast, you’ll for sure be doing this with your best Bro. Man, that friendship is a thing of goddamn beauty.]