Humans need exercise.1
There’s just no way around this if you genuinely want to perform, look, and feel your best. However, this doesn’t mean you need to spend hours every week pounding away at the pavement or stuck inside of a gym. If you are intelligent with your training and nutrition, it actually takes a lot less time than you’d think to reach a healthy, and even elite, level of fitness.
I just turned 37 last October.
I’m the lightest I’ve ever been in my adult life (155 lbs. at 5”11); I’m in excellent physical condition (my resting heart rate is in the mid-fifties); and, to top it all off, I maintain this state of health and fitness with about three 45-minute training sessions per week (sometimes two if I need the extra rest or my schedule is packed).
One of the largest contributors to my success on this front is that many years ago I completely changed the way I did “cardio.”
In my late teens and early twenties, I spent hours running up to 25 miles weekly. Not only was I hungry and tired all the time, but I was never quite able to burn that last 5 to 10 pounds from around my midsection.
Not just that, but my weightlifting sessions suffered because of it, and I never saw an improvement in the amount of weight I could lift or in my ability to master bodyweight exercises like dips and chin-ups.
In short, I was suffering through what so many men and women continue to suffer through today: I exercised relentlessly but didn’t perform, look, or feel like I did.
Then I read a book by Mark Sisson.2
Along with shifting my entire approach toward nutrition, it radically changed the way I viewed exercise—especially cardiovascular training.
It turns out that because of our evolutionary hardwiring, our genes—specifically those associated with more muscle and less body fat—respond better to training patterns that are more intense but less frequent. Conversely, regularly engaging in moderate- to high-level endurance activities for extended periods of time can cause our stress hormone cortisol to surge unnaturally.3
While cortisol is a vital hormone involved in a host of bodily processes such as the regulation of metabolism, blood sugar, and blood pressure, as well as the management of our circadian rhythm, chronic stress placed on our system—including from too much exercise—can deregulate its production, leading to an array of problems including (but not limited to) anxiety and depression, insomnia, digestive irregularities, and yes, weight gain, particularly around the midsection.4
Another important concept to think about, if your main goals are to maximize lean body mass and keep senescence at bay, is that chronically elevated cortisol levels suppress the production of anabolic (regenerative) hormones like testosterone and human growth hormone, severely limiting our ability to recover from training sessions and build muscle while simultaneously promoting inflammation, visceral fat production, and cellular degeneration.5
Therefore, if your goal isn’t to run a marathon or compete in some other ultra-endurance event, and you simply want to promote good health, move better, and look good naked—all while balancing a busy (and stressful) lifestyle—the exercise prescription is actually quite simple: A lot of daily walking; a couple weekly bouts of full-body strength training; and, every 7-10 days or so, some variation of sprinting.
Why sprinting?
Well, for starters, it’s the most efficient way possible to keep your heart healthy. In fact, one study concluded that sprinting just 3 times per week for 4-6 sets of 30 seconds (2-3 minutes of total work) was just as good at improving whole-body insulin sensitivity, arterial elasticity, and muscle microvascular density as spending five days per week cycling for 40-60 minutes.6
Sprinting can also help you burn more calories while at rest. The reason is because of something called “Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption,” (EPOC) or simply the “afterburn” effect.
Whenever we engage in intense anaerobic activities that tax our fast twitch muscle fibers, our bodies are required to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate)—the molecular compound responsible for driving cellular processes, including muscle contractions—faster than our aerobic metabolism can supply.
After each successive sprint, and more so after a whole session, our body must pay back a greater “oxygen debt” in order to facilitate the recovery process—thus resulting in a higher resting metabolism.
Sprint training is so effective at instigating this physiological mechanism that as little as two minutes of interval training has been shown to elicit the same EPOC response as thirty minutes of continuous endurance exercise.7
Sprints also boost testosterone levels and protein synthesis in both men and women, potentially leading to increases in lean body mass over time.8 9
Not just that, but sprint training also facilitates improvements in insulin sensitivity, cholesterol ratios, blood pressure, resting fat oxidation, and can also reduce hyperglycemia while increasing mitochondrial capacity in those with Type 2 diabetes.10 11 12 13
And speaking of mitochondria—the energy “powerhouses” of our cells—sprint training activates mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle, leading to a more powerful metabolism and, therefore, a healthier brain and body.14
I could sit here all day and continue citing studies affirming the amazing benefits of sprinting. But regardless of how much evidence mounts in support of this type of training, the truth of the matter is that this information is useless unless people actually begin to incorporate them into their fitness routine.
Unfortunately, most never do, because, to be quite honest, they’re extremely hard.
And of the ones that do begin sprinting, the rate of eventual cessation is quite high.
The reasons for this are twofold:
(1) some people never achieve the level of intensity required to elicit the beneficial physiological effects from sprinting, and so they give up, discouraged with their lack of results.
(2) Another group begins at an intensity level far beyond their current fitness level, and they eventually get burned out and/or injured.
The following guidelines are meant to prevent either of these scenarios from happening to you.
If you have never sprinted before—no matter your current level of fitness—I recommend that you start with Level 1.
Unfortunately, you will have to have access to a stationary bike of some kind (my personal favorite is the Assault Bike Pro, by Rogue Fitness) for this initial stage.
If you don’t, but you would still like to incorporate some type of sprinting into your fitness routine, I recommend starting at Level 2—though only with a qualified fitness professional (such as myself).
If you are interested in a personal session at either Level 2 or 3 of the process, and you live in Miami, Fl., shoot me a message to schedule an appointment.
Without further ado:
Level 1
(Performed once every 7 days)
On a stationary bike or Assault Bike, warm up for at least 5 minutes at a moderate pace, or for however long it takes for you to start breaking a sweat. Once ready, increase the level of resistance (if on a regular stationary bike) to what you would consider a “7” on a scale from “1” to “10,” then pedal as hard as you possibly can for 10 seconds.
Once you’ve completed the sprint, decrease the level on the bike by half (so a “3.5” out of “10”) and pedal at an easy pace for 60 seconds.
That completes 1 set.
Proceed to set 2 and complete 5 sets total.
Once finished, cool down by pedaling at an easy pace for another 5 minutes or so at a “3.5” resistance.
On the subsequent workout, stick with 10 second sprints but complete 6 sets total.
Increase the sets each workout until you can do 10 sets straight.
Once you have mastered 10 sets of 10 seconds, drop the sets back to down to 5 and work your way back up to 10 total sets of 15 second sprints, again resting just 60 seconds between sets.
I recommend following this template until you are able to consistently complete 10 sets of 30 second sprints.
(Start resting 90 seconds between sets once you’ve reached 25 second sprints.)
Level 2
(Performed once every 7-10 days)
This next sprint variation is what I personally utilize with clients who are beyond Level 1 but, for some reason or another, can’t perform all-out sprints (running) because they are too harsh on their system.
I first pick a handful of full-body exercises that (1) get the heart rate up, (2) are low-impact, and (3)—this is the most important part (listen close CrossFitters)—are easy to perform with proper technique throughout the full duration of the set, therefore keeping the risk of injury low.
For example: I might pick kettlebell swings, rope slams, a farmers carry, goblet squats, and a plank variation; all of my intermediate- to advanced-level clients will have the prerequisite instruction and fitness level to perform these exercises safely and effectively.
Then, after a solid warm-up, we will perform the exercises consecutively as if they were sprints, with only a short recovery period in between.
So, the client will perform kettlebell swings for 10 (beginner) to 30 (advanced) seconds, resting 30-60 seconds afterward.
Then, they’ll do the same with the rope slams, and so on and so forth, until they finish with the plank variation, completing 1 Round.
After each round I give an extended break of anywhere between 2 and 3 minutes.
A full workout is usually between 3 and 5 rounds, and I will change the exercises up from time to time when I feel like the current selection isn’t challenging them sufficiently anymore.
This type of “metabolic circuit” is an extremely effective way to reap all the benefits of a sprint workout if one doesn’t have the necessary mobility or joint health required to progress to Level 3.
Level 3
(Performed once every 7-10 days)
While this phase is actually the simplest of the 3 to execute, it is by far the most challenging.
I recommend finding a football field in your area or an inclined pathway to run on—I personally use the fields at Gibson and Moore parks for shorter sprints and agility work; and I run up the Port of Miami bridge for longer sprints of 50 yards or more (running at an incline is safer for longer distances because it shortens your stride and slows you down, thus lessening the risk of pulling a muscle due to overextension).
I strongly advise against performing these on a treadmill.
Once you have warmed yourself up with a combination of dynamic stretching, some agility work, and then a few short ramp-up runs to gradually acclimate to your top speed, you are ready to begin the actual sprints.
Start with no more than 20 to 30 yards for 5 to 8 sets.
I recommend that you always begin with a running start; this means that you start running about 10 to 15 yards before your official starting line, ramping up your speed as you get closer to it, and finally hitting your top speed as you cross the line.
Run through the preset finish line, and instead of coming to a complete, forceful stop, simply “take your foot off the gas” and let your body slow down gradually.
Both the running start and the gradual slow down are recommended to keep the injury risk as low as possible; abrupt starts and finishes are very strenuous on the body and are not necessary to gain all of the benefits that come with sprinting.
Once you’ve finished a sprint, walk back to the starting point while giving yourself 2 to 3 full minutes of rest between each sprint.
Remember: The goal is intensity.
You may think you are challenging yourself more by rushing the rest periods, but in actuality you are only diminishing your effort for each subsequent sprint, thus decreasing the physiological response we are looking for from the activity.
Your main objective the very first workout should be to leave injury-free.
You should perform your 5 to 8 sprints feeling strong and thinking to yourself that you could’ve done more; this will ensure you don’t overly tax your system or get hurt.
Once you’ve finished a session, cool down by walking for 5 to 10 minutes, then perform some light lower-body stretches for 30-60 seconds each, focusing on the calves, hamstrings, hip-flexors, and glutes.
If this is your first time sprinting in quite some time (or ever), I guarantee that within the subsequent 2-5 days of your first workout, you will feel muscle soreness throughout the entirety of your body, even if you felt like the initial session was “easy.”
Please be patient with the process and allow your body to acclimate to the new intensities.
Eventually work up to a full 10 sets of whatever distance you started with.
Just like the Level 1 program, once you’ve reached 10 sets at a certain distance and you are finishing each sprint strongly, drop the sets back down to 5 and increase the distance by 5 to 10 yards, working your way back up to 10 total sets.
While sprinting consistently for any distance—especially when combined with the other habits I’ve prescribed on this platform—is sure to boost your health and fitness level far beyond your current state, the long-term goal for anyone seriously looking to perform at an elite level should be to eventually reach 10 sets of 100 yards, resting 3 minutes between sets.
If you want a captivating deep dive into this topic, check out Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding, by Daniel Lieberman