Guest Post from Dennis Heenan
Author: Super Hero Sprints
“But I can’t sprint…”
Ahh if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one…
When people hear or see the word sprints, they often do one of two things:
- Sprint away as fast as possible in order to get away from the workout
- Make an excuse about why they can’t sprint
Here’s the thing… Although going out to a track and running as fast as you can is most certainly a sprint, that’s not the only definition of the word. 
See, I have worked with people from all walks of life and understand that sprinting outdoors on a track simply does not work for some.
Or if you are like Shawna living in the tundra 9 months out of the year, outdoor sprinting becomes very difficult…
So what do you do? You follow my sprint definition below:
“Certain exercises done at your highest intensity for a short period of time, followed by a short rest and repeat.”
No matter what your fitness level, you should be doing some form of sprinting. Aside from sprints on a track, field or hill, here are other great options that you can start doing anytime, anywhere:
Beginners: Jumping Jacks, Mountain Climbers, Total Body Extensions, Jump Rope
Intermediate: Cross Body Mountain Climber, Modified Burpees, Squat Jumps, Jump Rope
Advanced: Burpees, Sprints in Place, Jump Rope (preferably double unders), Box Jumps, Prisoner Squat Jumps, Jump Lunges
All of the exercises above are what I consider to be sprints because they force your body to work near your anaerobic threshold the entire time.
That’s the key… You must be sure you are staying at your highest intensity for as long as you comfortably can, take a short rest, and repeat.
Studies have shown that the closer you work near your anaerobic threshold, the more fat utilization occurs. This means, the harder you work the more fat you burn.
PLUS, when working out like this, your workouts only need to be 10-25 minutes long depending on your fitness level.
As you all know, Shawna has a complete Burpee Challenge program (which is awesome by the way) and when I first found this out, I just about leaped out of my chair.
The reason for this is I am one of the few people on earth that can actually say “I love burpees” and fully mean it!
Call me weird or crazy, but I LOVE BURPEES.
In fact, in my own Superhero Sprint program, burpees are one of the sprint exercise options simply because they are so dang powerful.
Now Shawna and I are both known for our crazy intense workout programs and recently while we were in Las Vegas, we did a video together on just how powerful sprints and burpees are.
Check out what we had to say about the two in the video below:
There are two things I want to point out in this video:
1. Burpees are one of the best sprinting exercises that you can do because they force your body to work near that anaerobic threshold.
If you don’t believe me, try doing 1-minute of burpees and come back and tell me you weren’t winded…
2. I am A LOT taller than Shawna… 🙂 (who else noticed that? HA!)
In all seriousness, I want to make sure that you know when you hear the word SPRINTS… I means one thing:
Serious results.
Since I think Shawna and her readers are awesome, I decided to share a “fun” little workout I did the other day in my hotel room. I call this one, “The people below me must think I am crazy”. Take a look:
Complete all exercises in order, resting only where it says to rest. Take as long as rest as you need just making sure you are pushing hard throughout:
- 30 seconds of sprints in place
- rest as long as needed
- burpees: 10 reps
- squat jumps: 10 reps
- pushups: 10 reps
- planks: 60 seconds
- Rest as long as needed and repeat 3-5 times
Can you see why I named the workout the way I did?…
This workout, although short, is incredibly intense and forces you to work at the anaerobic threshold the entire time, which in turn forces your body to burn tons of fat. And that is what we all want…
Short workouts, faster results.
Start sprinting my friends… because you CAN!
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Thank Dennis, especially for pointing out our height difference, I hadn’t noticed it before 😉 (Wait till you see the video of Dennis and I doing jump rope together…)
I have two great options for ‘sprinting’: You can try out Challenge Burpee if it’s not already in your workout arsenal…
OR
If you want to try more ‘sprinting’ workouts like the one above from Dennis, you can’t go wrong with the program that he created called Super Hero Sprints. It’s well worth the $14 investment for 6 weeks of programming that you can do anywhere no matter what your fitness level.
