Sprint Your Way to a Better Butt!

Well, running is mainly powered by your body’s biggest muscle: the gluteus maximus…your backside in other words. Any exercise that involves high resistance (weight training) or high speed (sprinting, jumping etc) challenges the muscles used in the activity, which results in those muscle getting stronger and firmer. In this case you can give your butt a non-surgical lift with just a few weeks of sprint training. Your hamstrings and calves help your glutes to propel you along, so they will also receive a good tone up.

 

A secondary benefit of sprinting is a boost to your metabolism. After high intensity exercise, your body consumes a higher than normal amount of energy during the recovery and repair process, and the majority of that energy is sourced from body fat. New research has actually shown that the fat burning effects of high intensity exercise continue for up to 36 hours!

 

Now you have to understand that sprinting is a lot harder than just jumping on an elliptical trainer and flicking through a
 magazine. It requires an effective warm up, good technique and a lot of determination. But don’t worry, it’s not all bad news; a sprint workout can be started and finished in no more than 30 minutes! So you get to save time as well as achieve better results. Many people don’t think that running requires any special technique, but it does if you want to prevent injury. Strangely enough, good old fashioned jogging, although a much milder form of exercise, causes much more injury than sprinting due to its repetitive, overuse nature. But sprinting is a lot tougher to learn than a slow jog and thus requires a bit more attention.  You don’t need to be
an expert, just keep a few things in mind and your sprint workouts will be safe and more productive.
 

Warm up
A good warn up is essential. Start with arm and leg swings in all directions, move on to bodyweight squats, lunges and press-ups; a few reps of each. Then a light jog, moving forwards, backwards and sideways for a few metres each. 

Technique
Your first sprint should be at a low intensity, with your speed gradually increasing over 3-4 repeats until you’re at 100%. Keep your torso erect and your head high. Use your arms to power your body; with each stride your hand should move from your hip all the way up to your cheek. Lastly, keep your shoulders relaxed and try not to force the speed too much. Try five repeats of 100 metres with 2-3 minutes rest; about the time it takes to walk back to where you started. As your fitness improves, add extra sets, increase the distance, decrease the rest; anything to keep your body challenged.

Now you might be thinking to yourself ‘I don’t want to be a buff athlete!’ But it’s not just sportswomen who use sprinting to get lean and toned. Celebrities Jessica Biel and Jennifer Garner are in fantastic shape and both include sprints and other forms of high intensity exercise such as circuits, kettle bells and weight training in their routines. 

 

Get to your local park and give it a try!