The best cardio… tell you the truth I really dislike the word “cardio”. Probably because of what it associates with- countless hours, spend on the treadmill, stepper, running and other boring stuff like that.
Personally I do not do none of that. When I work out outside the gym, and I am not “playing” with big tires, I sprint! Here you can check out my opinion about sprints as a whole, and in today’s post I will talk more about hill sprints.
If I had to pick between sprints on the track and hill sprints, I’d choose hill sprints. Why?Because they are a lot safer, because the angel is different and that plays a huge role in the way you perform them.More often than not, if you see a person sprinting on the track, you will se him dragging his feet, staying too straight and so forth. If you ask the same person to run up a hill, you will see he is running way better, because it is way harder to drag your feet when you run up a hill or stay straight. It just naturally feels better to lean a little bit.
Hill sprints are a great way for conditioning, and they will help you lose weight(if your diet is in check), and help you build on some muscle( that does not mean to ditch your work outs in the gym!).
Besides that work outs that include hill sprints, takes less time than cardio and it is way more effective. It gives you most bang for the buck! What could be better?
If the last time you remember you were sprinting, was when you ran for the bus, that means you should start easier.
Find a nice hill.
Do some dynamic stretching.
Do some running drills up the hill.
Do a couple sets of short jumps up the hill and try to make the jumps wider with every set.
Do one set of walking lunges up the hill( if you are a beginner you might skip this one).
Depending on the length of the hill, choose the number of your sprint wisely. Make sure you won’t need to call a friend, so you can get back home 😉
If you are a beginner 4 sprints of 20-25 meters should be enough. I know it looks too little, but don’t rush yourself!
Increase the number of the sprints with every sprint session,
The feeling after hill sprints is amazing and the results are even better!
Yesterday I went to the park and I did some hill sprints(12). The pics aren’t very good, but if you keep in mind I went to do sprints while the rain was pouring down on me(almost like in Phil Collins’ song 😉 ), you will understand! Next time I should keep in mind that it is not a good idea to run up a hill while raining, when the water comes down the hill, towards you! 😉
After that I did 5 sets of 10 push ups and on the way home, I stopped at a pull up bar and did some pull ups. What could be better?
Do you incorporate hill sprints in your work outs?
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