Sprinting can be a very effective way to lose weight.
Why Sprinting Is Great for Weight Loss
Sprinting is great for weight loss because it’s the type of activity that can require one to use a lot of energy in a short amount of time.
Calories are units of energy that we gain through food consumption and expend or burn through physical activity.
To achieve weight loss, you have to consistently burn more calories than you consume.
When you sprint, muscles throughout the body have to move at a very fast pace; such movement requires a lot of energy leading to a lot of calories burned.
Regularly doing high-calorie burning activities like sprinting can help one to burn more calories than they consume thereby contributing to weight loss.
How Many Calories Does Sprinting Burn?
There is no exact number as far as how many calories you can burn as factors such as weight can cause the number of calories burned through sprinting to vary from one person compared to another. Based on your weight sprinting for 30 seconds can burn between 8.25 to 12.21 calories.
So doing several intervals of sprinting can lead to a lot of calories burned, and if you add calories burned from sprinting on top of the calories you regularly burn throughout the day doing your regular day-to-day activities, it can really add up.
Additional Reasons Why Sprinting Is Great For Weight Loss
Sprinting doesn’t just cause weight loss directly through the act of sprinting itself. Sprinting can contribute to weight loss and also the appearance of weight loss in other ways.
• Can Create EPOC
Sprinting is not just great at burning calories while you’re exercising it can burn calories post exercise as well.
EPOC or (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) is a recovery process that the body goes through after exercise.
Sprinting is the type of activity that can push the body to such an extent that it needs recovery time.
Because sprinting is the type of exercise that has the body working at a very high intensity, it can generate a strong EPOC effect.
•Can Help Tone Certain Muscle Groups
Often when people think about losing weight, they think just about burning calories. However, it’s also important to tone muscles.
Because if you focus only on burning calories, you will lose weight, and you can have a thinner frame, but it can still be soft.
What’s going to give you a thin frame with a firm body will be if you not just burn calories but also develop lean muscle. Exercises like sprinting will help you accomplish both things as they burn calories and develop lean muscle.
Studies
The notion that sprinting is great for weight loss is not just a belief. There are studies that show a correlation between regular sprinting and weight loss (1)(2).
How To Sprint For Weight Loss
An effective way to do sprint workouts is in intervals. Where you sprint for a brief period of time, take a brief rest break where you do a lower intensity activity like walking, jogging, or come to a complete rest to recover + recharge, and then sprint again.
For example, sprint for 30 seconds, then take a break for 1 minute (where you walk, jog, or come to a complete stop), and then sprint for another 30 seconds.
You can do this in several intervals.
How Often Should You Sprint
It’s a good idea to break out your sprint work regimes so that you give your body time to recover.
Diet is A Factor
Doing sprinting or any other physical activity to lose weight will only work if you’re not consuming an excessive number of calories. As stated earlier, weight loss is based on one burning more calories than they they’re consuming so if you’re consuming an excessive number of calories, you’re not going to lose weight just because you’re sprinting.