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Introduction
Hello and welcome to our short, beginners guide on increasing your running speed and also transforming your body with sprint training
Sprinting is an excellent form of exercise, whether you are actively training for competitions, playing competitive or social sports or simply using it as part of your cardiovascular routine. To begin this guide, we’re going to spend a few moments discussing what sprinting is – and isn’t – and also take a look at the history of sprinting.
What is Sprinting?
Sprinting is defined as a competitive running event that is 400 meters or less. Most sprinting events are 100, 200, or 400 meters. Most of them last less than 60 seconds because sprinters are running as fast as they can during the entire length of the race. Some sprinting competitions include relay races that involve 4 runners each sprinting a certain distance. Sprints in a training sense can also mean doing a particular cardio exercise with all out intense anaerobic effort for a brief period followed by rest
Sprinting Verses Running
Although sprinting and running use the same muscle groups and are essentially the same thing, there are some key differences. Sprinting, as mentioned before, involves athletes moving as fast as they can for the whole sprint in an anaerobic environment, making it much more intense than running. From a metabolic standpoint, that means you’re using glycogen rather than oxygen for your muscles, which wears you out a lot faster than a well-paced run.
Running, on the other hand, is slower and less intense than sprinting, so events are much longer and require aerobic fitness. Running competitions include the 5k (3.1 miles), the 10k (6.2 miles), half-marathons (13.1 miles), and full marathons (26.2 miles). Running uses oxygen to keep you going, so you can maintain your pace for longer, which is why you have to run for at least 10 minutes for it to be considered exercise.
Origin of Sprinting
Sprinting dates back farther than any other competitive sport. In fact, it was the first type of athletic competition that was ever recorded. The earliest record came from the original Olympic Games in 776 B.C. Some experts believe that sprinting may have been the only competition at the very first Olympics. At that time, the race was one stade in length, which is about 200 meters.
Modern Olympics
When the modern Olympics were created in 1896, they included two sprinting events: 100 meters and 400 meters. Then, in 1900, the 200-meter dash was added. Relay races were included starting in 1912 with the 4 x 100 race and the 4 x 400 race. At that time, only men were allowed to compete in the Olympics, but when women were included in 1928, sprinting events were on the list.
Benefits of Sprinting
There are many benefits to sprinting. It can increase your maximum heart rate and capacity to exercise. Sprinting also burns a large amount of calories in a short amount of time and can boost your metabolism, making it a great way to lose weight and transform your body composition without needing to spend hours on a treadmill. Some people use sprinting as part of a weight-training program because it uses a big group of muscles all at once and helps to strengthen them.
Well that’s a brief intro into sprint training and what we’ll be covering in this guide. In the following chapters, we’re going to focus in on the different aspects of sprinting and help you develop a plan to get the most out of every sprint session.
Are you ready to begin?...
Let’s dive in!
Chapter 1 – Why Are Some People Faster Than Others?
When you think of outstanding sprinters, you probably think of Usain Bolt. But what makes him so much faster than the average person? Surely there’s more to it than a good training routine. In this part of the course, we’re going to take a closer look at how a person’s genetics and physical build plays into how fast of a runner they are.
Muscle Fibers
What type of muscle fibers you have will predispose you to be a better long-distance runner, sprinter, or leave you somewhere in the middle. Marathon runners tend to have a higher proportion of slow-twitch fibers which help them go the distance. Sprinters usually have more fast-twitch fibers that allow them to go faster for shorter periods of time.
The average person is born with a pretty even mixture of these two muscle types. However, there is some evidence that shows that you can get about 10 percent of these to switch by carefully training them, so even if you weren’t among the few gifted sprinters that were born with more fast-twitch muscle fibers, you can still train to get a few more on your side.
Lactate Threshold
This refers to how much lactate you can take before you have to slow down. Lactate is a natural waste product of muscles as they’re working, particularly if they’re working in an anaerobic state like when you’re sprinting. A higher threshold means being able to run faster and that you’ll be able to maintain that faster speed for longer, which is especially important when you are running at full speed. Fortunately, sprinting training helps to increase this lactate threshold.
Physical Form
This has a little less to do with genetics and more to do with your overall physical state. Obviously if you’re carrying a few extra pounds, you’re not going to be able to move as quickly as someone who’s not. This goes for muscle weight as well, which is why most of the sprinters you see are lean without much muscle mass to slow them down.
Running Form
Important points in your overall form include how your foot hits the pavement, how long your strides are, and how clean your gait is. All of these things put together and more make up your form. As you perfect your form through repeated exercises, you will become a better, faster, and more efficient sprinter. While some people naturally have a better form, it can be gained through practice.
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