Hill Sprinting: Improve your performance and strength

This topic could take up so many pages because there are so many benefits to hill sprinting that it would take all day to read.We are going to cover the ones that will give you the most bang for your buck. To start off hill sprints/running can be used in two different ways. The first way is if you find a short hill you can focus on maximal speed work. This means that you are going all out up the hill and walking back for full recovery.  The second option is if you find a longer hill you can use it to focus on speed endurance, which is almost max speed but maintaining a pace the whole time, about 75-80%.  Here are a number of benefits to why you should incorporate these into your training program, especially now if you do not have access to a gym. Increased force production/ Improved stride length Moving your body up a hill as fast as you can requires a lot of power to be directed into the ground. The increased ground contact time means that your glutes, hamstrings and calves have more time to exert forces into the ground. You’ll be surprised just how quickly their ability to move improves. Decreased joint stressDuring normal sprinting, the impact of your body crashing into the ground is distinctly damaging to the joints, muscles and tendons. Since the slope continually brings the ground up to you, impact forces are decreased significantly, leaving everything feeling good while still keeping the work intensity high. Increased activation of Type 2 (fast twitch) muscle fibers We’ve talked about how we lose our fast twitch fibers at a much faster rate than our slow twitch fibers as we age, leading to disproportionate loses in strength, power and functional capacity. I’d argue that this is largely a function of disuse – most people just don’t incorporate any high power activities into their workouts. Sprints such as these fit that bill for having a positive impact, without devoting a ton of training time to it. When You Should Do Hill Sprints The best time to perform this workout is after you lift weights. This will keep your strength from being compromised in the weight room. If you can’t do your sprints shortly after you lift weights, do them several hours later or on your day off. How Often Should You Do Hill Sprints Start with 2 weekly workouts and increase to 3-4 per week over the course of a few months. Once you can do 20 hill sprints 3-4 times a week you will be in the best shape of your life. Guaranteed. Making Your Workout More Challenging Once you can perform 20 hill sprints with good technique it’s time to make the workout more challenging. Below are several ways to do so. Only try one of these at a time. Include more as your conditioning improves.  

• Add an additional workout later in the week.
• Increase the distance you sprint.
• Decrease the amount of time you rest between eat sprint by running down the hill instead of walking.
• Wear a weighted vest.
• Perform a set of another exercise (i.e. bodyweight squats, kettlebell swings, push ups) before each sprint.