When people think about WorkOut the first thing that comes to their mind is various kind of pull-ups and push-ups, a little later different types of push-ups on bars, and in general a great variety of exercises on outdoor street spots. But the vast majority of exercises that comes into their mind when somebody speaks about WorkOut, involves and trains only the upper half of the body. Hence many people have an impression that workouters don’t train their legs at all.
But this is not exactly so, it’s just that legs exercises are much less spectacular and therefore less often get into cameras. But we are actively training our legs, and peep a lot of ideas from sprinters!
Spint, short distance running, multi-stage fitness test running and all such things perfectly fit into workout philosophy (because you can do them almost anywhere and anytime as well as any exercises with your own weight). You can hardly call sprint as a running, because essentially it’s a series of explosive movements with your legs in combination with arm movements at maximum speed. In fact your whole body is involved in the work! And from the aesthetics point of view, sprinters are the most balance developed athletes.
Such tremendous results are associated primarily with the fact that sprint workouts make your body train every time at 70-90% of your maximum (otherwise what sprint is it?),and intensity is exactly what you need in this case! However such intensity carries not only positive effect, but also a negative one. Without proper physical preparation and warming-up sprint can be quite a traumatic experience. Various sprains and minor injuries – it’s the commonly faced issue, especially among beginners. Thus, firstly, a lot of attention should be paid to the correct technique, and secondly, speed increase must be gradual.
Why do you need to include sprint running into your training program?
* It pumps your body
* It pumps your cardio-vascular system
* It pumps your respiratory system
* It accelerates your metabolism
* Contributes to fast-twitch muscle fibers development
* Contributes to testosterone and growth hormone production
Certainly sprint running is not suitable for everyone, because it’s quite demanding in terms of physical training and strain, but those who can do sprints, just have to do it!
Thanks to the user Barad who analyzed the proper sprint training during the second previous “100 days of WorkOut” program - today we can share this info with you!
Let’s start with the most important, safety. The most harmful moment in sprint is the start moment, that is we’ll not discuss it today at all. This article is for newcomers and beginners, and our main task is to give you all sprint running benefits and minimize the possibility of getting injuries. What else you may say, if even professional athletes are not allowed to start from a static position, until they learn to run 3 km for за 15-16 min?
Small adding from @Gunner89: Here are the key moments besides MANDATORY warm-up BEFORE and stretching AFTER running:
1)You must start smoothly even for the short intervals like 20-30 meters, without any sharp first sprint, increasing the speed to the end and the same way you must gradually go out of the sprint without any sharp stop.
2) It’s better to have a rest between intervals also in movement: slight jogging helps to eliminate lactic acid, аnd breathing will recover faster than during a static position.
3) The steps have to be short and quick, you can learn how to mince properly with a help of additional trainings at gentle slopes: the gravitational force will contribute to the skills of imminent relocation of support point. However here as elsewhere it’s necessary to take care of yourself and remember that while downhill running shock strain for the joints significantly increases comparing to the training on the flat surface.
Sprint components
The primary task for the beginner is, strictly speaking, to learn runing. What exactly does it mean?
1. You need to learn how to steadily run 3 km (I won’t mention the specific pace or total time in here)
2. You need to "distinguish" different running paces, such as
step, transition from step to running, slow running or jogging, cruising or comfortable pace, fast running or gallop, maximum possible speed running.
3. You need to train your running technique in each pace, it is very important for sprinters.
Typical training session
1) Warm-up
* Warm-up/stretching (rotate all joints from top to bottom) - 5 min.
* Jogging - 2 min.
* Running at cruising pace - 2-3 min.
* Exercises while running (running with high knees, running with legs up to the hips, jumps, “hair” jumps from a seated position, running sideways) - 5 min.
2) Training
There can be quite a lot of options here, 30-60-100-200-400 meters. You should give yourself a rest between sets in about 3-4 min. The common rule for the beginner – try to run for a different distances:
* no more than 1 time for 400 and 200 meters
* no more than 2-3 times for 100 meters
* can’t advise anything for 30 and 60 meters
3) After training
* Jogging - 5 min.
* Stretching - 5 min.
4) Fitness exercises
If you want to achieve any significant results in sprint, you cannot do so without additional fitness training exercises. And here the sprinters have got rather large arsenal of possible exercies (you can perform almost all exercises with additional weight in the form of barbell, dumbbells or weighting):
- Lunges (50-100 meters)
- Step up onto the high bench
- Jumps from a seated position
It should be noted that this is just an example of a training program which you can use, actually everything is much more complicated, because even in sprint running various types aimed at achieving different goals can be distinguished. However if you are ready to go further into, this article is for you http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par46.htm
Another typical two-day training
Here is another training option, based on roughly the same principles. This time the sprint running is split in two days, between which it’s supposed to have 2-3 days of rest (warm-up and after training exercises similar to the previous version are always REQUIRED!):
Day А:
1) 5 times for 80 meters, 10 min rest between sets
2) 4 times for 70 meters, 3 min rest between sets
3) 3 times for 60 meters, 3 min rest between sets
4) 2 times for 20 meters, 3 min rest between sets
* Orange marking cones are perfectly suited to indicate the desired distance
Day B:
1) 3 times for 200 meters with speed-ups after 100 meter, 5-10 min rest between sets
2) 2 times for 100 meters with maximum speed, 5-10 min rest between sets
3) 1 time for 50 meters with maximum speed
Even despite the fact that some distances are supposed to be run at maximum speed, I remind you that you gain such speed during the process, and do not try to start immediately with a maximum. More safety, less injuries, better results! This is a slogan!
A few words in conclusion
Not the last importance in all of this goes to the equipment you utilize, and those conditions in which you are going to train.
Firstly, the surface on which you will run is crucial. The best of all is a special coating (tracks on the outdoor and indoor stadiums), worse – gravel, crushed stone, worst - asphalt or dried loam.
Secondly, the running shoes in which you are going to run are also critical. The main thing - NOT sneakers. Another crucial moment – rigid fixed heel. Everything else: the absorber shape, its thickness, type of tread, weight, aeration is the subject of active debates and discussions both in the internet and among professionals.
<url="http://workout.su/100dw">100 Days WorkOut - Contents</url>
кто не сворачивает тот дойдет (c) DoXoD
