Sprint Workouts For Weight Loss

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercising at a moderate intensity for an hour to 90 minutes five days per week to help with weight loss. If you do not have that kind of time, or don't want to spend so much time slogging away on the treadmill or other fitness machine, sprint workouts might be for you. To lose weight, burning calories and fat should be your goal, and sprint training can help you do this effectively and efficiently. Consult your doctor before beginning any new diet or exercise regimen.

Features

Sprint workouts, sometimes called high-intensity interval training, involve alternating bouts of very hard work with periods of lower-intensity work. You can do sprints on a treadmill, a track, on a stationary or outdoor cycle or on another piece of cardiovascular equipment like an elliptical trainer. The actual protocol you follow can vary from workout to workout. An easy sprint workout involves performing one minute of running at your absolute maximum speed followed by one or two minutes of easy jogging or walking. Complete about 10 of these drills for one workout.

Potential

Sprint training can help you burn more calories than you might during a steady-state workout. You might not be able to maintain a very fast speed for a half hour at a time, but adding in even a few intense drills during a workout will increase your overall calorie burn and accelerate weight loss. Sprint workouts are generally shorter than steady-state routines, meaning you can get in and out of the gym much more quickly. Constantly changing your intensity during your workout makes time go by faster and combats boredom, which could make you more likely to stick to your program.

Expert Insight

Research published in a May 2007 issue of the "Journal of Applied Physiology" found that women can improve their fat-burning capacity by 36 percent with sprint workouts. In the study, eight women who performed 10 sets of very hard cycling followed by two minutes of modest work seven times over two weeks burned more fat during exercise in subsequent steady-state exercise sessions than they had prior to the training.

A study published in the journal "Metabolism" in February 2010 showed that six sessions of four to six 30-second anaerobic sprints followed by a 4 1/2-minute recovery done over two weeks increased the metabolic rate of overweight men for 24 hours after each workout and resulted in decreased hip and waist measurements.

Caution

Though high-intensity training has benefits, more is not better. Just one sprint workout per week along with other steady-state cardio exercise can offer benefits, the "New York Times" reported in May 2007. Sprint workouts can be done more often, but you must leave at least 48 hours between them so your muscles have time to recover and repair. Doing sprint workouts everyday can lead to burnout, over-training syndrome, decreased performance and a plateau in your weight-loss progress.

High-intensity sprint workouts may be inappropriate for people with heart conditions, cautions Walter R. Thompson, professor of exercise science at Georgia State University, in the "New York Times" article.

Considerations

A sprint-workout regimen can help you lose weight if you combine it with proper diet. No matter what type of exercise you do, if you eat more calories than you burn, you will not lose weight. Try calculating your daily calorie burn at a site like the Daily Plate (see the Resources section) and include those burned during your sprint workouts. Eat 250 to 1,000 calories fewer than this number to stimulate weight loss. Remember, when on a restricted calorie diet, to choose healthy foods to maximize your results and your energy levels. You will need proper fuel to make your workouts as strong as possible.