A Guide to Hill Sprints for Fitness
What can Hall of Fame National Football League players Jerry Rice and Walter Payton teach you about burning fat? A lot. They had a secret weapon that they used to overcome the opinions of so-called experts that predicted both of them would be average football players at best. What is the unadulterated fat-shredding, strength-building secret employed by those and other notable professional and Olympic athletes to stay in shape? Hill sprints.
Hill sprints benefits
If you want to stick to sheer science, sprinting burns 200 to 250 calories for just 2.5 minutes of intense work. Moreover, it does not matter if that time is run consecutively, or broken down into smaller segments. For comparison’s sake, you would have to walk 2 miles (30 to 40 minutes) to burn that same amount of calories. However, walking does not build the lean muscle that burns fat for up to 24 hours after your workout like hill sprinting does.
You may be thinking, “I am no professional athlete!” You know what? It does not matter. Professional and amateur sportsmen and athletes alike can still harness the benefits of what goes on in your body when you are sprinting up the hill. Here is what you need to do.
1 – Locate a hill that is at least 40 or 50 yards long, and longer than that is even better. (You can Google the terms landfills, hiking trails, sledding hills and other applicable phrases to locate a hill in your area.)
2 – Before you hit the hill, warm up with stretching and body weight exercises for 10 to 15 minutes first.
3 – Sprint! Try to focus on a straightforward movement, minimizing how much you move from side to side. Lean your chest forward slightly, with your shoulders back. You want to elevate your knees when you pick up your feet and explode off of the balls of your feet.
4 – When first getting started, just add 1 to 3 sprints a week to your fitness regimen. Start out at 70% or 80% of your maximum running speed. Do not overdo yourself, but challenge yourself at the same time.
5 – When you are done, walk on flat ground until you can breathe regularly. Then stretch to keep your muscles from tightening or cramping.
That is it. It is that easy to see significant fat and weight loss in a very short period. You should continue to improve until you can perform 10 to 15 sprints during each workout at maximum speed and effort.
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