Sprinting is running as fast as you can over a short period of time or distance. Although sprinting burns a lot of calories, there is not enough time for your body to use fat as a fuel source during a sprint. Many people who wish to lose weight often get confused about what type of exercise is the best to increase fat reduction. According to Robert dos Remedios, director of speed, strength and conditioning at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California, the best way to burn fat is to perform high-intensity exercises.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is any type of exercise that you can sustain over a long period time at a steady pace, such as jogging and walking. Your body uses oxygen, glucose and fat in aerobic metabolism to produce energy. Sprinting does not use the aerobic metabolic pathway to function, but the after-effect of sprinting does.
Anaerobic Exercise
Anaerobic exercise does not require you to use oxygen to perform. Your body's primary source of fuel comes from high-energy compounds called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, that is stored and recycled in your muscles. Since your body has a finite amount of ATP storage, you will not be able to do high-intensity exercise for longer than 10 seconds. According to Vern Gambetta, director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems in Sarasota, Florida, your body uses the stored ATP and some glucose for energy during sprinting. For longer sprints or any high-intensity exercise, you body uses glucose as an energy source to make more ATP.
EPOC
After a bout of sprinting, your body's metabolism increases to recover the lack of oxygen and to recover to its resting state. This process is called excessive post-exercise consumption, or EPOC, where your body burns a higher number of calories after strenuous exercise. While your body repairs muscle tissues and replenish cell nutrients, it uses fat as the main fuel source for energy in EPOC. In 1994, Dr. Angelo Trembblay, an exercise physiologist at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, conducted a study on EPOC with two groups of people. One group did high-intensity exercise at several intervals, while the second group did steady-pace aerobics. The first group burned three times more body fat than the second group. Therefore, sprinting causes your body to undergo EPOC, which uses fat for energy to recover.
Misconceptions
Many people believe that doing low-intensity exercise for a long period of time burns of the most amount of fat. Although your body uses about 50 percent of your calories from fat during low-intensity exercise, the number of calories you burn is much lower than that of high-intensity exercise, which uses about 90 percent of its energy from glucose. According to Gambetta, the effects of EPOC from doing sprinting and other high-intensity exercise will help you burn fat after exercising.
Expert Insight
After a sprinting training session, Remedios recommends eating a small meal of carbohydrates and lean protein within 30 minutes to prevent the loss of lean muscle mass and expedite recovery. Otherwise, your body will convert proteins in your muscles to glucose to supply energy for your body. A sample meal consists of non-fat milk, fresh fruit and 3 oz. of baked chicken.
References
- "Cardio Strength Training"; Robert dos Remedios; 2009
- "Athletic Development"; Vern Gambetta; 2006
- ExRx.net: Impact of Exercise Intensity on Body Fatness and Skeletal Muscle Metabolism
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