Cardio

Burn Crazy Calories With These 6 High-Intensity Sprint Workouts

By Maggie Young

September 27, 2016

Looking for a way to burn calories quickly? Sprint workouts utilize your entire body and provide a burst of cardio, while strengthening the dynamic power of your legs.

Signup & Get Early Bird Access To Our Personal Training App

And for those looking to improve their cardiovascular endurance exponentially, high-intensity sprint workouts are one of the most efficient and effective ways to do it.

Another bonus? You don’t need equipment, so you can complete these workouts anywhere, any time. (When it gets too cold, feel free to move your workout inside to the treadmill. you can move your workout inside to the treadmill.)

Sprinting should be considered running at a very hard pace for you. You shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation with a friend while sprinting, and the goal is to be considerably out of breath afterwards. Remember to consult with a physician before incorporating sprints into your workout and don’t be afraid to start slowly. Sprints are a hard workout and have a heavy impact on joints, so while they are extremely effective, they aren’t for everyone.

1. Sprint Interval Workout

High intensity interval training amps up the post-workout calorie burn by pushing your muscles to exhaustion and burning through glycogen stores. In order to get the most out of this workout, make sure that you really push yourself when it comes to speed. Warm up with a five minute jog to loosen up your muscles. To begin, sprint all out for 20 seconds and then either stop, jog, or walk for 10 seconds, depending on your desired level of difficulty. Repeat this cycle for eight rounds. To increase or decrease the challenge, either decrease the amount of sets or length of rest and sprint time. Remember to jog for a cool down and incorporate some basic stretching.

2. 10-Minute Sprint Routine

Sprinting is the ideal workout when time is tight, because it smokes your muscles with a small amount of sets. After doing some light jogging to warm up, set your time for 10 minutes to begin. Sprint for 30 seconds followed by a minute-and-a-half jog. Complete this sequence five more times to finish out the 10 minutes. Walk or jog for at least five minutes to complete your cooldown.

3. Sprint Ladder

As with other sprint workouts, remember to incorporate a light jog to get your muscles ready for the dynamic sprints. Begin by sprinting all out for one minute, followed by a one-minute break. Then, sprint for 45 seconds, followed by a 45-second break. After this, sprint for 30 seconds followed by a 30-second break. Keeping with this pattern, sprint for 15 seconds followed by a 15-second break to end the ladder. If you’d like, you can repeat this ladder multiple times to increase the intensity. Remember to cool down with a light jog or walk.

4. Simple Sprints

After you complete your warmup, launch into this basic sprinting workout. Pick a point in the distance and sprint to it. Jog back to your original starting point and then sprint again. Aim to complete 10 sets. Increase or decrease the intensity by adding or subtracting sets or the distance that you sprint. This simple variation is easy to incorporate on running trails, tracks, neighborhoods, or most other places you can go on a run. Jog it out to cool down to complete this quick and effective routine.

5. Sprint And Burpee Burnout

Once your warmup is complete, get ready to challenge yourself with a sprint and burpee combo that will get your heart pumping. Sprint for a solid 30 seconds and then drop down into 10 burpees. After you complete your 10 burpees, rest 10 seconds before heading into your next set. Feel free to adjust the amount of burpees, rest time, or sprinting time to tailor the workout to your exercise wants and needs. The main point is to work on cardio and strength, and of course, burn off those extra calories. Burpees are a dynamic workout move, so they will add to the burn and boost your post-workout metabolism.

6. Short Sprint Repeats

Jog it out to get your legs ready for quick, but intense sprints. Sprint 10 seconds all out and then jog for 30 seconds. Repeat this sequence 25 times. This sprinting scheme works on firing up the muscles quickly since the sprints are so short. Try to keep the sets higher since the sprints aren’t as long. It’s smart to change up the length of your sprint times, so this workout challenges your muscles and cardiovascular endurance in a different way by facilitating a more explosive movement. It’s important to train your muscles in a variety of ways, so this routine helps with that goal.