Xtreme Hill Sprints Video!

Hi everyone, can't wait to share with you my latest fitness video 'Xtreme Hill Sprints!'



Back in May when I started the Wag Doll Protocol fitness regime, I did a post 'Killer Hill Workout' explaining how I love to get outdoors when the weather is nice and do some hill running as part of my cardio routine.

Four months later and I've continued to include hill sprints in my workouts on a regular basis. Luckily I have a couple of great hills, including this one, near where I live. I tend to workout for 15 to 20 minutes doing the sprints, running as fast as I can up the hill, jogging or walking back down.

A steep hill like this will really target your heartrate and get the blood pumping through your body, working your lungs to maximum capacity, then jog or walk back down to allow you to recover slightly, before doing it all over again! Hill sprints are a great high intensity interval workout (HIIT) and really compliment the style of training I do.


I'm not a long distance runner as I don't have the patience or time to devote hours towards training, my workouts, whether at home, in the gym or outside, are half an hour long and done!

So as my workouts are short, I need exercises that are multi-functional, working more than one area of the body. Hill running also works the lower body, shaping up your legs as you use explosive power up the hill, and your arms as you use them to help drive you up the hill.

This type of high inensity exercise burns a ton of energy both during and after the workout, meaning inches and fat loss ...woohoo!


Don't forget to watch until the end of the video to see an out-take... bearing in mind I'd run up and down the hill numerous times for filming, including wearing the helmet camera, then the camera man decided to run with me.....



Now the plan was for me to do my workout and then talk to the camera, explaining what I'd done and showing how out of breath I was....only by the time I'd got my microphone on and the camera was rolling, I had recovered!



Just goes to show how much my fitness has improved over the last four months. Now I think that's the best advert for hill sprints you can get!


Comments

What a coincidence, I set myself a challenge a couple of weeks ago to run up a nearby hill (thinking Rocky here).
Only trouble is I can't run for toffee, so last week I started on the Couch-to-5K running plan. Do you think once I can do 5K on the flat I should be able to manage the hill?
Wag Doll said…
Two great challenges there LBM!
To be honest they are very different types of exercise, long distance (ie the 5k) will target your cardio and endurance, the hill sprint will target your cardio and explosive power (getting you into fat burning mode). It's v scientific involving fast & slow twitch muscles fibres and burning energy aerobically and anaerobically and the different hormones and chemicals you release, by doing different types of exercise.
So sure, the 5k will make you fitter which will def help your hill sprint cardio wise, but you will prob feel the hill sprint in your leg muscles much more. They are 2 very different beasts, both with their own advantages :-) Good luck and let me know how you get on, I'm in awe of anyone who does the 5k challenge because long distance is not my forte!

Popular Posts