So it’s the off season and you want to stay in shape over the summer by doing some running. Sure you could just head out and hit the pavement or log hours on the treadmill, but if you want to optimize your training and come back a faster more explosive athlete then you need to stop running and start sprinting.

Far too often SSTsees athletes from explosive sports such sports as basketball, volleyball, and even some football players doing too much distance work.
Unless you’re an endurance athlete, or distance runner then you shouldn’t be training like one.

The reason why it’s counter productive is because you’ll be teaching your body to move at a slower speed than your sport requires. Secondly the more distance work you do and the better distance runner you become the weaker you’ll be. Speed & strength are on the opposite ends of the training continuum in relation to endurance.
Stop and look at what you do on the field or court, don’t look at the total time of the sport. Yes your basketball coach may want you and your team running and gunning for 40 min. but how much of that time are you actually running? Not as much as you think. Think of all the stoppages in play, fouls, free throws, substitutions, etc. Not even in soccer, are you running continuously. Even as a mid-fielder it’s a game of short sprints with some jogging and walking in between.

The interesting thing is that studies are now showing what coaches have known for years, sprinting not only improves your speed, strength, and body fat (as if you need any more reasons!) but it can also improve your endurance. Studies out of Mc Master University show that in as little as 6 sessions over two weeks muscles improved in their endurance capacity by 100%.**

Would you like to know the great thing about this type of training? It can be done in under 20min. Thus giving yourself time to work on any other areas and skill for your sport!

So the bottom line is if you compete in football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, tennis, rugby, or similar type of sport then sprinting will help you improve your performance, make you more efficient with your time and you’ll look better on the beach!

**Burgomaster KA, Heigenhauser GJ, Gibala MJ. Effect of Short-Term Sprint Interval Training on Human Skeletal Muscle Carbohydrate Metabolism During Exercise and Time Trial Performance. Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2006.

**Kirsten A. Burgomaster, Scott C. Hughes, George J. F. Heigenhauser, Suzanne N. Bradwell, and Martin J. Gibala. Six sessions of sprint interval training increases muscle oxidative potential and cycle endurance capacity in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, February 10, 2005

- Paul "PT" Thomas