Thread: Hill Sprints

looking for a good new hill sprints routine to smash out once a week. any suggestions?

Find a moderately steep hill run up it at 60% of your fastest pace taking note of the time you completed it in and then jog back down and sprint back up at 100% pace trying to beat your first time. This way your body will realise the intensity you are working at and will ask more from you in the next session. So it is a very quick way to increase your cardiovascular fitness.

and a very quick way of loosing muscle, it will tone, because its both in the fat burning zone (60%) and in the cardio fitness zone, great workout, but not for building more for loosing.

hope that helps

Have to disagree with Elevensies on this one... If you find a good hill and sprint at 100%, 4-6 times, twice a week then I guarantee your legs will increase in size and strength! If doing a leg workout once a week too then your squat numbers will go down but after 4-6 weeks theyll actually be stronger!

jaykay, basically your correct, as hill sprints are a leg killer, but i stand by my statement. any form of hard cv consistent over a period of time will reduce muscle size, as it will become accustomed. you will need to add weights into the training to keep muscle.
look at body physique of sprinters vs distance runners.

Surely whether he gains or loses muscle will depend on his diet? I lost a lot of muscle last year when cutting but you soon get it back, and i dont think i wouldve lost half as much had i been on a mass gain and doing shorter more intense cardio.

so true, it also depends on what weight training is being combined.