Breaking Through Fat-Loss Plateaus With Sprints

Article by Dennis Heenan

When it comes to crushing fat loss plateaus and taking your fitness to new levels, there is one exercise that does it best.

An exercise that simultaneously allows the body to build lean muscle, burn fat, and produce the exact right hormones that your body thrives on.

Before I tell you what that exercise is, first let me share this quick study with you…

The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism divided participants into two groups. Group A did 30-minutes of steady-state cardio while Group B performed 2-minutes of intensive sprint interval training.

Each group trained 3 times per week for 6-weeks. After the study researchers found that both groups we able to boost their metabolism by the same amount even though the joggers got to workout for 28 more minutes each session.

You may be thinking, "How is that possible?" Well let me just say, that is the power of sprinting.

As one brilliant fitness expert once said, "Sprints are the purest, most powerful physique-shaper in an athletes arsenal."

Reread that statement and let it really sink in for a second…

Listen, when it comes to breaking fat loss plateaus and building an incredibly strong and lean physique, sprints are an absolute must.

And as you saw in the study above, sprint training can burn fat in the smallest amount of time possible.

So the question we have to ask is, "Why are sprints such a powerful exercise for the body?"

First, sprint training manipulates the perfect fat burning hormone combination in your body.

Sprint training has been shown to drastically increase your body's ability to produce Growth Hormone (GH), a hormone that allows the body to stay strong, lean, and healthy.

Now when you have optimal levels of GH in your body, you are also able to decrease the fat storing hormone known as cortisol. Cortisol is often produced from workouts that last too long (like long cardio workouts) or from things such as lack of sleep or high stress.

What's great is that your sprint sessions do not have to last very long in order to get GH pumping.

In a study done by the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found that one single 30-second sprint had a "potent physiological stimulus on GH release."

Yes, just ONE single sprint can boost your GH levels in a very positive way.

Now I am not saying to do just one sprint and call it a day, however, as you can see that's the kind of power sprinting has on the body.

Sprints allow for maximal fat utilization to occur which means all the energy you use in your workouts come directly from fat. Not like traditional cardio that eats up your lean muscle, sprints directly target fat as its source of energy (and most times, belly fat!)

So What Does This Mean For Your Fat-Loss Training?

Well, by starting to incorporate sprints you can guarantee yourself that your body will burn fat and build muscle simultaneously. And that's exactly what everybody wants.

Often times, it's the simplest exercises and workouts that bring the best results. And sprints are one of those exercises.

To close, I would like to share with you a quote that I always tell my clients when it comes to sprint training:

"You will see more results in the next six-weeks than you have in the previous six-months, all while working out less."

That's a pretty powerful and confident statement, however, it's 100% true when applied properly.

Adding just 4-6 sprints at the end of your workouts is often all you need to see these positive benefits.

Now get out there and start sprinting!

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