12 Benefits of Sprinting + How to Do Them

The benefits of sprinting eluded me for man years in my training. I wanted to focus on running farther, not puking my guts out. Silly, silly me. If I’d known then what I know now, I would have started doing short intense intervals even while marathon training!

As a running coach, I love that I can share what I’ve learned in my own experience over 20 years as a non-elite who still has goals to be the best runner that I can.

When we think of sprinting, the first image that comes to mind might be of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, arguably the greatest sprinter of all time. Other well known sprinters include Justin Gatlin and Allyson Felix.

In other words, we visualize a professional!

But that doesn’t mean the average recreational runner can’t sprint. In fact, sprint training offers a lot of benefits!

We don’t need to focus on them day 1 of our running journey. We do need to learn to embrace a different kind of discomfort for some pretty radical benefits. Adding sprint interval training (SIT) to your training can provide a wide variety of benefits from improved speed and increased endurance to better heart health and metabolism boosts.

Sprints are an intense effort that require a LOT from your body and mind. Before adding them, you need to understand how to do them and when you’re ready to aim for that max effort.

Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of sprinting, as well as how to add it to your training, where to do it, how often, and more.

What Is Sprinting?

To put it simply, sprinting is running at your top speed or a percentage of your top speed over a short distance or short period of time. Sprints are both a cardiovascular and anaerobic exercise.

With sprinting, the distance you’re able to maintain your all-out effort will be limited. A true maximal sprint is a pace you can only maintain for probably 10 to maybe 20 seconds! Each repeat has a very long rest and recovery period (2-4 minutes often).

100 meters is one length of a track. That’s a great way to think of the very short distance we’re talking about for a true sprint effort.

We will often refer to hills repeats that are 30 seconds long as sprints to describe the effort level you’re aiming for, but due to the incline you can’t hit that true top speed and thus will push a bit farther.

When using the Rate of Perceived Exertion chart a sprint is that top number 10 level in red! It’s a specific workout and not the goal of most runs.

RPE Sprint Workout

Sprinting aims to improve your anaerobic capacity, which is your body’s ability to generate energy without the help of oxygen. When you sprint, you are engaging your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for explosive movements.

These muscles are different from slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are used during endurance exercises such as long-distance running. By engaging your fast-twitch muscles, you can build strength, power, and speed.

How Fast Should Running Sprints Be?

According to TrackSpikes.co.uk, the average sprinting speed for 100 meters is 15 mph. Honestly, I laughed when I read this because that’s a 4 min mile pace and while the goal is only to hold it for 10-20 seconds tops, that’s absolutely NOT where the average runner is.

BUT that’s also because most of us haven’t practiced sprinting and thus aren’t accustomed to how it feels and the form. So it’s a great average starting point to work towards.

For elite athletes, it’s around 26 mph with Usain clocking in at 27.78 mph when he ran a world record time in the 100 meters.

Since most distance runners aren’t as familiar with track numbers and distances, here are some for reference:

100M – Average runner – 4 min/mile pace
100M – Olympian Usain Bolt – 2:10 min/mile pace
100M – Female Record Holder Florence Griffith-Joyner – 2:49 min/mile pace
100M – Record Holder, 105 Year old Julia Hawkins – 16:54 min/mile pace

Sprinting Vs Running

In track and field, 100M, 200M and 400M dash are all classified in the sprint category. Most racing these distances will be done in less than 60 seconds.

After that you move in to running and by the 5K (5000 meters) it’s being called an endurance event! I think this surprises a lot of runners, but helps to explain why you have to tackle running farther by slowing down.

The average half marathon pace is over 11:30 per mile based on data from 2017.

Not only is easy running more of an aerobic workout than anaerobic, but your form will change slightly and the benefits of the workouts change.

Knees will drive much higher during a sprint
You’ll be doing more forefoot running, up on the toes to sprint
Sprints increase risk of injury

Is Sprinting Better for You Than Running?

No. Both have a distinct set of benefits. Both are useful to most people in building up their total fitness level.

Even sprinters do some amount of running, though it’s much, much less than those training for anything over 400M. So again, it comes down to specificity and the goal you’re working towards.

Sprints are HARD. It’s a maximal effort workout that cannot be done daily. It’s uncomfortable and there fore hard for many people to stick with or develop a consistent fitness routine.

For those reasons, it’s rarely something we recommend to new runners. Instead, we focus on learning how to do some easy runs, run/walk intervals and building a good solid base!

Learn more about the benefits of distance running >>

12 Benefits of Sprinting

Adding sprint workouts to your training has a number of health benefits, as well as fitness perks. This doesn’t necessarily mean more is better and that you should switch most or all of your runs to SIT workouts. But I’ll touch on that later in the article.

In the meantime, here are some of the benefits that make it worth doing.

#1 Improved Heart Health

A healthy heart is a must regardless of age. Because sprinting is a cardio exercise, it raises your heart rate. As we know from discussion the power of incline walking , raising our heart rate helps:

Strengthen our heart muscle
Helps improve total cholesterol numbers (lowers triglyceride LDL and increases HDL)
Lowers blood pressure
Lowers resting heart rate

Steady state running is also great for heart health, but there appear to be some additional benefits from doing HIIT running workouts like sprints.

Improved heart health reduces our risk of heart disease, which means a longer healthier life for many of us.

#2 Better Body Composition

One research study, showed that sprinters have a lower body fat percentage than endurance athletes. I think this would surprise many.

But it comes down to muscle. The power and intensity needed to sprint encourages muscle building.

This partially happens because the body increases the production of human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 200%!

In fact, Run Repeat did a meta-analysis of over 70 studies and found that Sprint Interval Training “resulted in a 91.83% higher reduction in body fat percentage than MICT (Moderate-intensity Continuous Training.”

So if running for weight loss is your goal, then it’s time to make sure that some sprint training is incorporated in to your week alongside easy runs and strength training.

#3 Improves Insulin Resistance

A 2010 study in the Journal of Physiology showed, that both sprint training and standard endurance running can improve insulin sensitivity.

Improving the way your body responds to insulin means that it can more effectively use glucose. This means reduced blood sugar levels preventing diabetes and as an athlete it means more efficiently using it for fuel during workouts.

#4 Enhances Metabolic Function

Sprinting can also improve your metabolic function. High-intensity exercises like sprinting have been shown to increase your body’s ability to burn calories both during and after the workout.

This is because sprinting causes a significant metabolic disturbance, which can increase your metabolic rate for hours after you finish exercising.

#5 Improved Running Pace

Is it any real surprise that spending some time running faster is going to help you run faster?! I’m sure the major benefit of sprinting that comes to mind is speed. But let’s talk about why this is happening.

I’ve talked in the past about what mixing in different types of runs (fartleks, intervals, tempo, etc) can do for your training. Sprint workouts fit right in with similar benefits, including:

Activates Fast-Twitch Fibers which decrease with age
Teaching your body to run at faster paces (muscle memory from repetition)
Time spent focusing on better running form
More powerful glutes, calves and quads to propel you forward
Helps slower paces start to feel easier
Overall improved running performance

create fast-twitch muscle

#6 Better Running Endurance

A 2018 study exploring SIT outside the confines of a lab using trail runners found that the training improved the participants 3,000m run time, time to exhaustion, and power. They found it to be a time-efficient and cost-free means of improving endurance and power.

By building up the muscle in your legs and pushing your heart rate up, you’re improving total fitness which then allows you to run farther more efficiently.

Additionally, slowing down to an endurance pace suddenly feels much easier and you think you can go a lot longer.

#7 Post Menopause Symptom Reduction

For all of my perimenopause and post menopause runners it’s a requirement to add in some high-intensity interval training style workouts and eventually sprints.

Dr Stacy Simms has done a great job of detailing the ways in which our bodies change with the reduction in hormones. From the loss of muscle to loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers, we know that some plyometrics or SIT is going to benefit us.

Additionally, the body doesn’t utilize carbohydrates as effectively. But we can improve that by doing a HARD workout session and then refueling with carbohydrates. This improves our performance and body composition.

#8 Improves Focus and Concentration

Sprinting requires a high level of focus and concentration. It forces you to push yourself to your limits, which can improve your cognitive function. Plus, sprinting also requires mental discipline, allowing you to develop greater focus and concentration skills.

Plus, the mental focus required for sprinting can translate to other areas of your life, such as work or school. By developing your focus and concentration skills through sprinting, you may find that you are better able to stay on task and accomplish your goals in other areas.

#9 Bone Health

Did you know sprinting is considered a weight-bearing exercise? National Osteoporosis Foundation and others have increasingly noted that we don’t need to avoid high-intensity intervals or high impact exercise as we age. Instead, it needs to be added in slowly and safely to give your body the maximum benefits!

A 2018 study showed that masters runners who sprinted had higher hip and spine bone density than their traditional running counterparts!

#10 Time Efficient Workout

If you don’t LOVE to run, but want the benefits, sprint training could be the answer.

There have been several studies focused on the benefits of sprint training. Some found that it’s a great option for runners who don’t enjoy running for long periods of time or aren’t long distance runners, allowing them to achieve endurance, strength and power improvements in less time.

Obviously doing only sprint workouts and then trying to run a marathon is not advised because there are adaptations that occur with time on feet. BUT it’s one reason that the Run Less, Run Faster program works.

Plus with the EPOC (exercise post oxygen consumption), you’ll get getting a big burn during and after the workout for those focused on this aspect.

#11 Improves Mitochondiral Density

Previously I’ve talked about the benefits of long slow easy runs for increasing mitochondria, but a 2018 study says sprints might provide the same results!

This is the powerhouse of your cells which helps to generate energy. So the better they function, the better you run!

mitochondria

#12 Enjoy the Runner’s High

Researchers have determined that the runner’s high has to do with chemical reactions occurring in the body and brain under exercise-induced stress. While we often credit endorphins, it’s really related to your endocannabinoid system!

Crazy, right?

It turns out there are a few ways to get that feel good moment, one is the long easy run and the other is a hard running workout.

The result of either is a shift in chemicals to the brain which have been shown to help with anxiety and depression.

How to Do Running Sprints

There are a number of things to keep in mind when adding sprints to your running routine. A few of the questions I will answer are where to do them, how often, and also what the proper form and technique is.

#1 Warm Up

As always, before starting any speed workout, make sure you warm up. This is even more important when incorporating sprints into your workout routine.

You’ll be asking a lot of a lot of different muscles. They need to be sufficiently warm to prevent injury and to perform well.

Do a dynamic warm up
Practice some running drills to improve form and cadence
Run a very easy warm up mile
Do a couple of running strides

#2 Find A Flat Place

You want a flat area to do your sprints. A great option is a high school or college track if you have one nearby. This also can help make it easier to track distance since they are usually a standard size or are marked.

If you don’t have a local track that’s open to the public, you can find a nice flat area to run. Maybe it’s a sports field (although watch for divots) or maybe you have a favorite running route that has a flat portion you can use to do the sprints.

This is the one time I’m going to say that treadmill running is not ideal.

If you’re new to the track and nervous, read our running track guidelines and just do it!

benefits of sprinting

#3 Master the Starting Position

The starting position is incredibly important in sprinting. Your starting position should be low, with your weight evenly distributed on both legs.

Plus, make sure your arms are in a relaxed position, and your eyes are focused on the finish line. Practice your starting position to ensure you’re in the best position to start your sprint.

You don’t need to go all the way down, like someone on the starting blocks. But instead, be thinking about acting like a coiled spring, ready to release!

#4 Do Them With A Group

If you really want to maximize the benefits of sprinting, you’ll do better with others around to help you dig deep.

Additionally, this means someone else can do the timing. So you aren’t trying to tap your watch at the start and stop of such a short effort.

Should You Do Sprints Daily?

No. While you may be able to incorporate sprints into your workouts more often than other types of runs, it is still something that you don’t want to do excessively.

You should not do these every day. Even though the workouts can be short, your body will still need recovery time. In fact, due to the high intensity of this workout you will need more time to recover than a nice easy run.

The sprints themselves can range in distance and time. Your experience level and goals should play a part in determining what types of sprint workouts are right for you.

What is Proper Sprint Form?

Sprinting, like regular running, works mainly our lower bodies. The same muscles are activated when doing both, including the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.

However, different types of muscle fibers are involved. When jogging at a slower pace, slow-twitch muscle fibers are working. These muscle fibers are fatigue resistant.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers are faster to fatigue (that’s a good way to remember the difference between the two types…fast twitch are faster to fatigue), but they provide the contractions that create power.

When you start a sprint, your slow-twitch muscle fibers activate initially, but as you push for more speed the fast-twitch fibers step in.

You’re going to find that your form when running at an easy pace and at a sprint may change a bit. Here are some cues to think about:

Use your arms. While you want to remain relaxed, your arms will help with power. They should move vertically and maintain a bend at the elbow. You don’t want to waste energy with them swinging widely or wildly.
Drive with your knees. Lifting your knees will also help increase your power and speed.
Lean forward. You should have a slight forward lean with your upper body leading the way.
Land on the balls of your feet. You want your feet to land underneath your hips. Do not overstride and lead with your feet landing on your heels.

Another important thing to note is that while I focused on running here, you can also do sprint workouts while swimming and cycling or a number of other cardiovascular exercises. This can come in handy when you may not be able to run.

Sprint Training Workouts to Increase Speed and Endurance

If you want to increase your speed and endurance, incorporating sprint training into your workout routine can be incredibly effective. Here are some sprint training workouts to try:

Sprint Interval Training

Interval training is a popular sprint training workout that involves alternating between high-intensity sprints and periods of active recovery. This type of training can help to improve your speed and endurance by challenging your body to work at different levels of intensity.

To do interval training, try sprinting for 20 seconds, then walking for one minute. Build up to being able to repeat this cycle for ten rounds.

Remember if you start increasing the time of the interval, you’ve moved in to a different kind of speed workout. It’s HUGELY valuable to have a variety of running workouts that you do, but a sprint is specifically this maximum intensity.

Hill Sprints

Hill sprints are a challenging sprint training workout that can help to improve your leg strength and sprinting power. Running uphill forces your muscles to work harder and can help to build explosive power.

To do hill sprints, find a steep hill and sprint up it for 20 seconds. Jog back down and repeat for ten rounds. If you don’t have access to a hill, you can also do this workout on a treadmill by increasing the incline to roughly 5-7%.

Tabata Plyometric Exercises

Plyometric exercises are explosive movements that can help to improve your sprinting power. These exercises involve jumping, hopping, and bounding movements that challenge your muscles to work explosively. Plyometric exercises can help to improve your speed and power by increasing your muscle strength and coordination.

To do plyometric exercises, try exercises such as jump squats, box jumps, and medicine ball slams. These exercises can be done at home or in the gym with minimal equipment.

Program these as a tabata and you’re set!

A tabata is 20 seconds on 10 seconds off, repeated 8 times for 1 movement. Then you’ll take a few minutes to recover and do another round with a different movement.

Looking for more ways to work on your speed?

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