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September Sprints

Last month I embarked on Yoga for weight loss.  I found 30 days with Adrienne on YouTube but, thus far, I have only completed 1/3 of it–I will finish the challenge. I will say, however, I don’t think yoga is enough for me to lose weight from; but, I do believe it can loosen my tight body and better position me to work out smarter and harder in the future.  I still can’t sit with my legs crossed … no doubt, I have a greater appreciation for yoga moves. 

Moving onto mid-September, I need to incorporate something new/different – I’ve chosen sprint work.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am no longer a fast sprinter; but, I can increase my movement and get my heart pumping more-so than I have for a long time.

From the WebMD archives it states, sprinting is one of the most explosive exercises you can do.  It’s a complete, total-body workout — targeting the butt, hips, hamstrings, quads, calves and abs — that builds long, lean muscle.  In fact, many professional athletes incorporate sprints into their training for that reason.

Sprinting also promotes fat loss and increases your metabolic rate for several days after the workout, a phenomenon known as the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) effect. EPOC — also known as “afterburn” — allows you to continue burning calories long after the workout is over.

According to the Men’s Journal, you can burn 500 calories by running 10 100-yard sprints.  But, doing that is just pure misery – I’ve seen soccer coaches do that to their athletes making the sport no fun.  As a former soccer coach, one of the sprint works I incorporated was soccer speed training developed by Vern Gambetta.  I tested my athletes before the season and after the season while incorporating his speed plan – it works. 

So, I will be doing my sprint work doing the same soccer speed training I asked my former players to do – I’m sure they would like to see that!

In addition, I recently read that “men who can perform 40 pushups in one minute are 96 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease than those who do less than 10.  The Harvard study focused on over 1,1000 firefighters with a median age of 39.” 

So, here is how the next month will go:  continue to finish my yoga challenge, add a push-up regimen that will get me to that 40 count, and do sprint work – starting with 15 minutes in week 1 and adding 5 minutes for the next 4 weeks to get up to 30 minutes.  Are you ready to join me? 

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