Sprint training

Have you noticed the difference in physique between a sprinter and a marathoner?

The body of a marathon runner is shaped to perform a long task, repetitive and low power task. Most of their muscle fibers are Type I (slow twitch muscle fibers). Fibers are smaller, they can make a prolonged effort, and takes long to fatigue.

A sprinter's body is carved to short bursts of high intensity. The muscles are composed of more Type II fibers (fast twitch muscle fibers). Are larger and thicker than the slow, and can generate force quickly.

If the goal is muscle hypertrophy, after an aerobic base is important to exercise your ability to run or swim faster.

A sprint lasts 10 to 15 seconds. At that time, you can not get oxygen to the muscle so it uses the ATP that is already stored. It is short-lived, but is capable of generating the major powers. After that you'll be depending on the speed of blood circulation to transport oxygen to your muscles, your heart beats faster and restores the ATP stores. So the rest interval is so important in sprinting. The rest time should be sufficient to take the next rep at full power again. 2, 3 to 5 minutes may be needed.

Whenever possible, train explosively, and use the intervals. Your body will be at a state of EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen comsuption) that increases your metabolism after exercise and helps burn more calories even sleeping!

- Run / sprint: On a straight track, shoot out from scratch and accelerate to reach full speed. Keep running until you feel that you are not producing much more power. Slow down gracefully, stop and rest. Do not need to run 100 meters. It can be 40, 50 or 60 meter's sprints. Practice full speed is what matters. Do more sprints until you notice a drop in performance.



- Swimming: Try lowering your time in the 25 or 50 meters. Rest swimming slowly for 50 to 100 meters. Take more sprints until you notice a drop in performance.


After sprint training, it is common for people to want to "burn" a few more calories jogging a little bit or some more swimming. There is no need! The training is fast, do not worry. You will see that the time spent on exercise is lower, from 25 to 35 minutes. Way to go!