Sprinting & Calories

Sprinting is a high-intensity exercise that boosts your heart rate and burns a serious number of calories. How many calories you'll burn during a sprint depends on your speed and weight, but that's not where you'll get the true benefits of sprinting workouts. You'll actually burn more calories after a sprint than you will during a sprint, which makes it a more effective way to lose weight than traditional aerobic training.

  1. Aerobic Versus Anaerobic

    • Steady jogs and elliptical workouts are common methods of exercise for weight loss, but aerobic exercise is not the best way to burn calories. Sprinting is so intense that it puts your body into overdrive. You need an energy source to propel you in a sprint, which your body consumes to keep itself going. When your heart rate skyrockets at top speed, you'll enter the anaerobic conditioning zone, burning calories at a high rate without losing muscle tone or mass. Aerobic exercise burns more fat relative to glucose, while anaerobic exercise has the reverse effect.

    Calories Burned

    • A 150-pound person sprinting at a rate of 12 miles per hour can burn 25 calories per minute. Since your body can't handle a high-intensity sprint for as long as a long, slow jog, it might be difficult to put these numbers into perspective. A 2012 study conducted by researchers in Sydney, Australia found that men who sprinted on a bicycle for an hour per week burned the same number of calories as men who jogged for seven hours per week. Alternating between high-intensity sprints and low-intensity recovery rounds for three 20-minute sessions per week is all you need to achieve noticeable weight-loss results.

    Aftereffects

    • Because it pushes you into the anaerobic heart rate zone, sprinting kicks off an endocrine response that has a big effect on your metabolism. A 2005 study conducted on sprinters by Dr. Christopher Scott at the University of Southern Maine found that 95 percent of the total calorie burn occured after exercise was completed. You may not be able to sprint for a long time, but you don't have to in order to get results.

    Fat-Burning Zone

    • A pervasive myth in the fitness industry tells us that there is an optimal heart rate zone for burning fat. While it is true that exercising at a lower intensity burns more fat relative to glucose, this stat is misleading. High-intensity exercise still burns more calories overall than low-intensity exercise, since it catabolizes a huge number of carbs along with fat. Additionally, you won't get an increased metabolic effect without anaerobic exercise.