Burn Fat As Fuel During High Intensity Intervals

Limited on Time & Equipment?

Combining sprints with body weight movements is a great way to get a full body workout in, work both your cardiovascular system and muscles at the same time, and  boost your metabolism throughout the day, which leads to an increased rate of calories being burned as fuel long after you’ve finished your training.

The best thing about this sprint training is that you really don’t need any equipment, and not even that much space. Even if you don’t have any steps to run up, this routine can even be performed inside. All you need to do is be able to perform an activity such as running on the spot, star jumps, skipping etc, for at least 30 seconds, and then immediately perform a bodyweight movement, such as push ups, squats, or sit ups, for a further 30+ seconds. Then you simply repeat this approach of cardio and resistance training for duration. Usually somewhere around 15-20 minutes is enough to boost you metabolic rate and give you a good workout, but if you’ve got it in you – try pushing this for 30 minutes.

Sprint Work

Sprint work can be performed on stairs, on an open stretch of land, most pieces of cardio equipment, and even stationary. Really it just means keeping your heart rate elevated by performing an activity at all-out effort for a period of time (usually somewhere between 20-40 seconds). This is then followed by a period of recovery (a walk back after a sprint, or reduced intensity level on the cardio machine), which is where your heart rate lowers and you recover enough to be able to perform the same activity again at near enough the same intensity level for the same period of time. If you can do this for 10 intervals, then you can certainly consider yourself as having a good level of fitness.

Body Weight Movements

While resistance training is the preferred was of being able to overload your muscles, which can lead to greater strength, endurance, and size, the concept of overloading your muscles can still be applied by training them through fatigue and adding in explosive movements that can add to the perceived level of resistance/exertion.

This can be easily achieved by adding in an explosive element to each rep whereby your entire ground leaves the floor. Think about a jump squat, split lunge jumps, and plyo push ups. Even without the explosiveness, just these types of movements will still feel like you’ve got added weight on top of you after having performed at least 5 sprint sets. Modify these exercises as you see fit, but the goal is to challenge yourself and push hard for the full duration of time.

Warm Up and start with the most energetic moves

Before you start any type of sprint work, I always recommend spending at least 5 minutes warming up and preparing the body for the type of workout ahead. This may consist of some light jogging on the spot, or walking up and down the stairs for a few times, a few sets of easy body-weight exercises (push ups on knees, half body squats), and some joint mobility (arm and knee rotations).

After you’re fully warmed up, you should start with the most energetic movements first while you’re still feeling fresh and strong. Just like you would in the gym where you would begin your routine with the heaviest free-weight type movements before moving on to machines, cables, and bodyweight. Structuring your workout this way will ensure you are able to give it your all for each circuit and exercise station, which will have the greatest impact on burning calories and improving your overall fitness levels.

Unilateral Exercises

Don’t forget about adding in at least one unilateral-type movement, where you focus on on just one side of the body at a time. This is important as it means we don’t become to reliant on dominant muscles that usually lead the way when performing movements together with both arms (or legs). You just need to use a little imagination sometimes as to how you could perform this with just one arm or leg at a time.