SPRINTS – Why they should be in your training arsenal

* Research shows Sprints training delivers superior fat loss results compared to steady state training protocols due to greater fat burn during and increased caloric burn post workout.

* Helps build lean muscle, imparts greater toning and improves size and strength of fast twitch muscle fibers. This greatly improves body composition, ability to generate power and increments in speed.

* Sprints have been shown to be better than mere aerobic endurance training in improving overall endurance, maximizing oxygen intake and delaying time to fatigue. Endurance athletes thus, can benefit from these.

* Trains the body to use fats as fuel source, preserving muscle glycogen, thus aiding more efficient use of energy and increasing work capacity across sports and in general. Helps arrest loss of muscle that can result from mere aerobic endurance activities.

* Enhances body’s ability to better remove exercise induced waste products from muscles, leading to better muscle buffering capacity (ability of muscles to neutralize acid accumulation in them). Research demonstrates this ability is enhanced by anaerobic training (high intensity) rather than aerobic.

* Improves cardiovascular health by increasing blood stroke volume, lowering resting heart rate and systolic blood pressure, leading to better heart function.

* Improves pulmonary (lung) condition making it easier to handle daily activities and challenges.

* Lowers cholesterol and improves circulation compared to steady state aerobic training.

* Improves insulin sensitivity and blood sugar tolerance across age groups and beneficial in Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes management.

* Reduces time spent on workout while offering superior challenge. Incorporating it in one’s training protocol offers comprehensive time vs results benefit.

* Sprint Training is invaluable in imparting cognitive (brain) benefits and in generating the feel good factor. It is considered to reduce chronic inflammation, improve hormone balance and render greater mobility to participants. The sheer challenge of participating in such a program is a lesson in mental endurance and mind over body experience. Not to mention the endorphin induced euphoria and renewed faith in one’s abilities to take challenges head on.

Make no mistake. Sprints are hard. You are staring at doing an ‘all out effort’ in a short period of time. But by pushing through the challenge and discomfort you are breaking mental and physical barriers, reaping big physical and mental dividends across different levels of the fitness and well-being spectrum.?