Most people who have a gym membership waste a lot of time pounding away on a treadmill at a commercial gym.
They are on that treadmill because they believe that doing hours and hours of cardio is the main key to fat loss. Cardio can assist with fat loss by helping you burn more calories, but the true key to losing fat comes from creating an energy deficit. This means you must use more energy on a daily/weekly/monthly basis than you consume to lose body fat at a steady rate.
Despite what a cardio machine may tell you, you do not actually burn that many calories from pounding on the treadmill for 2 hours. If your main goal is fat loss, the main key in terms of reducing your energy intake would be to reduce your daily caloric intake from food. Cardio is important in terms of heart health and actually being in shape, but the type of cardio you do has a major impact of your end results.
Meandering away on treadmills, ellipticals, and stairclimbers for hours on in is not the answer in terms of fat loss, transforming your physique, getting into ridiculous shape, or time management.
Time Saved
Sprinting is the apex predator of speed, conditioning, and fat loss training. No other exercise will make a lifter faster, more powerful, and stimulate fat loss like sprinting. But another benefit that is not talked about much in terms of sprinting is the time you will save sprinting vs. going nowhere fast on the treadmill.
One of the main reasons (with the main one being a lousy diet) why many lifters and trainees cannot lose body fat is because of how they use their time. Do you truly want to stay on a soul-draining device like a treadmill, elliptical, or stairmaster for 1-2 hours just to have the machine tell you that you burned 100 to 200 calories? Are you kidding me?
Unfortunately, many lifters will repeat this process over and over for years and still see a below average body when they look in the mirror. This is a deflating feeling.
Time is the most valuable thing we have on this planet and once it has passed by, we can never get it back. Sprinting will allow you to get an effective workout done in a fraction of the time. Look below to see a brief comparison of sprinting vs. exercising in the cardio section in terms of time:
Sprinting Workout:
• Warm- Up: 10-12 minutes
• Workout: 15-25 minutes
• Cool Down: 5 minutes
• Total Workout Time: 30-42 minutes
Cardio Section Workout:
• Warm-Up: 5 minutes
• Workout: 60-120 minutes
• Cool Down: 5 minutes
• Total Workout Time: 70-130 minutes
The old adage of quality over quantity applies here as no “cardio” machine can compete with the supreme power of sprinting.
If you are new to sprinting or you have not run sprints since high school, you would be better off starting with hill sprints. Sprinting up a hill will prevent you from reaching top speed, which will significantly decrease the likelihood that you pull a hamstring.
While you are sprinting, you will be decimating body fat, building glutes of steel, and developing thick hamstrings. I have never met anyone in life who does not appreciate a naturally built, high butt that sits high and tight like a military fade haircut! You cannot achieve this effect in the lame “cardio” section.
Conclusion
There is no reason why if you are healthy and injury-free that you should not be sprinting.
You won’t be good on day 1, but have you ever met anyone who was good at something on day 1? We all need to put in the time, work, and consistency to become great.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
