THE CASE FOR SPRINTING - NEVER WASTE TIME JOGGING AGAIN
So listen up. I will try to keep this short and sweet without actually getting into the boring science behind it
Jogging makes you flabby and gross, while sprinting makes you lean and mean.
But for you geeks out there here is a little bit more detail. If you want to check my work and research this topic yourself then by all mean's I welcome you to do so.
For the purpose of this article/blog post the two main points you need to understand are
- FAST TWITCH VS. SLOW TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS
- VO2 MAX
Here is the premise of my argument. I assume you are working out and exercising to LOOK and FEEL great. You want to be healthy of course, but you have to admit and come to terms with the fact that you DO want to look better and you DO exercise with the intent of burning fat, getting toned, firm and sculpted. I refuse to believe you want to look like a soft smooth smaller version of yourself. It's 2017, we all know lean, toned defined muscles are in like flynn.
This being said, I want you to make the most out of your time at the gym and get the FASTEST and THE MOST effective results possible. So in very very simple terms, you need to SPRINT, as fast as you can and get faster, sprinter longer and sprint harder.
Unless you're a bodybuilder, there is no need to walk for 45-60 minutes at 3mph to avoid all possibility of burning hard earned muscle. Jogging or running at anything below your absolute max potential will not maximize long term fat burning and will only promote shedding muscle. It will in fact cause you to shed extra muscular weight and hang on to some levels of fat, since your body will prefer to have fat stores for your long 30 minute non-stop run sessions.
Sprinting is an-aerobic, which trains the fast twitching muscle fibers at 90-100% intensity and will elicit a better response for muscle shape, size and glycogen retention. Fast twitch muscle fiber's are the one's that grow the most and create the toned sculpted look. The body's preferred energy source for an-aerobic is glycogen and atp, Once you burn through these fuel sources your body will be forced to start creating glycogen as rapidly as possible to keep up with demand. This process of gluconeogenesis is a huge metabolic demand which in turn leads to the elevated metabolism over a 24-48 hour period.
Sprinting will increase your body's VO2 max which, in a very brief description means you will burn more oxygen and fat for the next 48 hours after said sprint workout in order to compensate for the oxygen deficit that was incurred due to the body burning off glycogen rapidly then having to restore it with it's own bodyfat through the process of lipolysis and then gluco neogenesis.
Long distance and long term running at a steady state promotes oxygen and fat burning only which leads to adaptions in the efficiency of fat use, meaning more physical output for lesser amounts of fat burned. It also promotes the shedding of additional muscle mass not necessary for efficient long distance running. This may sound counter intuitive to you, but the body operates on efficiency, so to be an efficient long distance runner, your body needs to get the most possible use out of the least amount of fat possible and shed the excess muscle, which is only weighing you down. Which means that you will be able to cover super long distances while burning as little fat as possible with no extra muscular weight, once your body has adapted.
On the other hand, training for explosive bursts of energy like sprinting causes you to adapt to increase max muscular force output and max energy production in the shortest period of time, which means a stronger hotter burning engine once you've adapted and have become geared for sprinting.
I present to you the evidence
BELOW: A MARATHON RUNNER VS SPRINTER
BELOW: UK MEN'S SPRINT TEAM
BELOW: US MEN'S MARATHON RUNNERS
BELOW: A LINE UP OF FEMALE MARATHON RUNNERS
BELOW: THE COVER PHOTO, UK WOMEN'S SPRINT TEAM
HOPEFULLY YOU'VE BEEN CONVINCED.
Here's a simple way to become a sprinter
PROPER WARM UP
4-5 MINUTE WALK
A FEW LUNGES AND STRETCHING
ONCE THE LEGS FEEL WARM AND PLIABLE
JOG 1-2 MINUTES TO BEGIN WAKING UP YOUR FAST TWITCH MUSCLES
1ST SET - RUN 1 MINUTE AS HARD AS YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN SAFELY
WALK - 2 MINUTES
2ND SET - RUN AS FAST AS YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN FOR WHATEVER YOU CAN HANDLE, FINISH WITH A MINUTE JOG COOL DOWN
WALK - 2 MINUTES
3RD SET - HIT MAX SPEED ON THE TREADMILL, HIT THE HIGHEST SPEED YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN SAFELY HANDLE FOR A MINUTE STRAIGHT. JOG FOR 1 MINUTE AFTER AS COOL DOWN
WALK - 2 MINUTES
4TH FINAL SET - SPRINT FOR 2 MINUTES, PUSH YOURSELF HARD.
EVENTUALLY THE GOAL IS TO BE ABLE TO GO FROM SPRINTING TO WALKING SEEMLESSLY
ALWAYS AT LEAST MATCH THE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU SPRINTED WITH AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF WALKING THEN BEGIN SPRINTING AGAIN.
A GOOD MEASURE WILL BE TO START TIMING YOUR HALF MILE RUN OR 800METER. YOU SHOULD NEVER REALLY RUN LONGER THAN THIS IF SPEED AND POWER IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL. SURE THE OCCASIONAL MILE WON'T WITHER AWAY ALL MUSCLE BUT BE SURE TO GO FOR SPEED AND LOWEST TIME POSSIBLE.
Always strive to get faster and better and a short distance and literally watch the fat melt away and watch your muscles pop through!
If you enjoy these short no-nonsense practical applications on how to get fit and lean as fast as humanly possible then I highly recommend you buy my ebook
YOU'RE NOT FAT, YOU'RE JUST DOING IT WRONG
The whole point of my book is getting the root of your problem as fast as you can, killing it and then applying real world lifestyles that work as fast as possible. As long as you keep living that lifestyle, you will be happy, lean and fit for the rest of your life! Guaranteed!
Thank You All for Reading.