How to Use Bodyweight Sprints

Guest Post from Dennis Heenan, CTT
Creator of SuperHero Sprints 

Ah, the power of sprints. You know the feeling… That sensation in your body that feels as though you just worked out hard for an hour straight yet when reality sets in, you realize you’ve only been going for good 10-minutes.

Yet, here’s the thing…

Although your body may have that similar “tired” feeling… short, very high intensity workouts actually allow your body to recover much faster compared to longer slow workouts.

PLUS, multiple studies have shown that sprints will help you burn far more fat while letting you retaining your hard earned lean muscle. Now before I go any further, I have a confession to make…

I have actually created my own definition for the word “sprints.” See, the problem with the word sprints is that when people hear it, their first thought is this:

“Oh gosh, I have to go out to a track or park and run as fast as I can for 100 yards… I can’t do that.”

Although this is most definitely a form of sprinting, there are WAY more options for you to choose from. Take a look at my definition:

“Certain exercises done at your highest intensity for a short period of time, followed by a short rest and repeat.”

Yes, this means certain bodyweight exercises or even some weighted exercises can be turned into sprints. Let me explain:

Let’s say you want to complete a full bodyweight sprinting workout but don’t feel like going to the park to do actual sprints. Here’s what you could do:

Choose a bodyweight sprinting exercise: My favorite options are sprints in place, burpees, squat jumps, and mountain climbers.

After you have chosen your sprint, choose a circuit to do and then simply get it done. For example:

Bodyweight Sprint:

Circuit:

**Rest as long as you need to and repeat 4 times!

Seems pretty simple, right? That’s because it is. Listen, there is a reason sprints are so powerful and why certain bodyweight exercises will help bring you an incredible amount of fat burning.

According to a study done by Experimental Biology, researchers tested 11 men and 11 women, all who were working out at different levels of intensity. What researchers found was that the group of individuals working out closest to their anaerobic threshold, they experienced maximal fat utilization.

What this means is that those who performed sprints, burned far more fat than those who worked out at a lower intensity.

That is the key my friends, working out at or near your anaerobic threshold for as long as possible, resting and repeating.

And remember earlier when I told you that sprints allow for maximal fat burn while letting you maintain your lean muscle? Well check this out:

In another study, researchers found that the combination of diet and traditional long cardio caused participants to lose up to 22% of their lean muscle.

In comparison, participants who combined diet and resistance training and sprints saw 97% fat loss and only 3% lean muscle loss. 

That’s a 19% difference!

Yes, you can retain up to 19% more lean muscle when doing sprints and resistance training… Pretty sweet deal!

My love for sprinting runs pretty deep… It’s what I used to get wedding day ready in just six-weeks. It was my go-to conditioning all throughout my college basketball career thanks to my brilliant coach who commanded me to never run over one mile ever again.

Listen, I know that sprints are hard. I get that. Yet the rewards and the results they bring are worth the 10-15 minutes of work that you spend doing them.

In closing, I’d like to share a little workout I put together a few months ago when I still had my mini afro (what looks like a mullet in this video) that can be done right at home.

Although you may not think of this workout as a “sprint”, I can promise you that if you push hard through the entire workout, you will be working near that anaerobic threshold the entire time… Which is exactly what we want:

As I like to tell my readers, keep your workouts short and fast (intense) and your results will be short and fast. 

And I know you like the sound of that!

Dennis Heenan, CTT

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Good stuff from Dennis – that’s the PERFECT workout to do this weekend because on the weekends, it’s time to relax and eat pancakes.

Next…

==> Get all of the SuperHero Sprint Workouts here