Today we take a dive into the EXPLOSIVE aspect of health and fitness.

Being able to move freely, be fast agile and maintain that optimal movement as we age is determent to our health. We like to mix things up and offer some alternative types of training within our challenges to keep our challengers bodies excited and responding to a variety of movement.

One in particular which has a butt load of benefits to it is Sprint Training.

Today we are going to explain the muscle types used for this type of training and why it will help you in a lot more ways than you realise. When designing the Sprint Performance program I had 3 main areas in mind and broke that up into the 3 weeks we did this for:

Week 1: Speed & Agility - Flat Surface, & we use things like hurdles & cones, short distances, lots of jumping, single and double leg and body weight plyometric exercises

Week 2: Strength & Power - Flat Surface with some Grassed area speed work. Same Equipment as above utilised

Week 3: Combination - We mixed the top 2 into on session, BUT we added an incline to make the challenge harder Firstly not only will this give you many benefits to your fitness and speed over all, it will help build a super sculpted toned lower half.

With my own personal interests in Sprint Training I also thought it’s a good idea now that we have utilised that training type for our clients, to dive into my opinions on why it is beneficial to everyone. There are 3 main areas that i came across myself when i was first taking a serious interest in this training type and those areas are strength building and injury prevention, neuromuscular development and cardiovascular adaptation. All in which hold huge input into Sprint Training.

STRENGTH BUILDING & INJURY PREVENTION This first reason being first and foremost the strongest aspect of the 3 main points. This in my opinion is the most specific strength training that a runner can do. Yes, our squats, lunges and every other exercise we do in the gym for our prime movers, but actually practicing the art of running up hill or on an incline you are increasing specifically running strength. When sprinting we cause an explosive reaction which is caused by lifting the hips, glutes and quads up the hill.

This utilises the exact same muscles/ mechanics of performing plyometric training When we add the incline to our sprint training which we did on week 3, we shorten the distance than increased the distance, meaning that there was an inconsistent lactate build up in the muscles with little to big fatigue depending on the distance we performed Also - And added benefit of up hill sprint training for strength building is…… The hill shortens the distance that your foot has to fall or land before it hits the ground, therefore decreases the amount of shock to the body!

NEUROMUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT This one might leaving you thinking WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I defiantly was like that the first time i read about it. This basically is the way that your brain and muscles communicate. A short and sharp Sprint gives you a boost of those endorphins you would get from a workout, which then increases your neuromuscular system and allows your body to increase the speed at which it send signals to the muscles. More importantly it allows your body to activate a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres and get them pumping in a really forceful way.

CARDIOVASCULAR ADAPTATIONS the third and last point for today. Sprint Training on a flat or inclined surface will increase the maximal stroke volume of your heart. If you are wondering what that is - Its the amount of blood the heart can pumped form the heart to the body in one stroke aka. Heart Beat. When performing this type of training you will feel breathless and the lactic acid build up within your muscles will make you feel sick. So having a greater stroke volume decreases the heart rate and makes your heart more efficient. Another example of this is trying to hit the red zone in class. As you stroke volume get s greater, you get fitter and you find it harder to hit or hold that red zone!

I hope this has given you some insight into why we utilise the Sprint Training in our challenges for some added extra! If you participate in our next challenge you will get access to this program I designed to keep and also do in your own time.

Cheers Coach Channy