Sprinting: run your fastest for a shorter and more focused amount of time. 

It’s a great cardiovascular exercise and works wonders at increasing your metabolism, even after you’ve completed your workout. If you talk to your friends about running most will suggest long distance running or jogging but here are 5 reasons why you should try sprinting and interval running. 

1) Overall benefits

Sprinting has active-aging benefits. As you age, the loss of muscle mass can be contributed to the loss of type II muscle fibers. By doing high-intensity training and workouts like sprinting you improve your type II muscle fibers and maintain your muscle mass through aging. In addition, it will sculpt your legs and give them more definition. Sprinting as also been shown to lower your blood pressure which will help your heart. By adding sprinting to your workouts it can help you maintain and increase your levels of lean muscle mass, help tone your glutes, abs and legs, as well as calorie burning, which in turn helps you achieve a more youthful appearance.

2) Feeling the burn

If you’re familiar with HIIT workouts then sprinting will fit right in with your routine. With your body accelerating at a quicker rate, your heart rate will increase at a higher rate. These styles of exercises help you burn lots of calories in a relatively short amount of time. Sprinting also helps your body burn calories even after you’ve finished your workout. 

3) Increasing your endurance levels

Sprinting can help you improve overall aerobic efficiency and your body’s ability to use oxygen for fuel. When your heart and muscles are working at their limits, your body will begin using its reserves to function. Sprinting breaks down your glucose levels stored which in turn will allow you to burn an increased level of calories. Therefore the more sprinting which you do the better your endurance shall be, as fatigue levels will set in later after your training.

4) Range of motion and your joints

If you’re running long distances you’re getting a limited range of motion. In comparison, sprinting allows for a much large range of motion due to the use of a longer stride, incorporating your ankles, legs, hips and arms to gain the speed you are working towards. Long distance running also increases the amount of pressure put on your joints do to the amount of time you’re spending running. Sprinting shortens that time and therefore the pressure on your joints. 

5) It’s a mind set

When you think of sprinting you might be thinking ‘this is horrible’ and ‘I’m going to die.’ That’s normal but you must be resilient and not give up. Like most forms of exercise, sprinting is a great way of relieving stress; both mentally and physically. Sprinting, like any exercise, will cause your body to release endorphins which in our helps with confidence and feeling happy! Like miss Elle Woods said “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”…we’re not shooting anyone here but you get the point. 

Lace up those shoes and get to sprinting! 

This story was written using content written by Jenni Withnall.