Sprint Away Pounds

Sprint Away Pounds

By Jonathan Daniel

When I turned 28, I became very aware of the fact that my metabolism was slowing down. I immediately laid aside extra long cheese coneys from Sonic and the jumbo cheeseburgers I was getting from my local gas station and started focusing on weight loss. My family and I live in a very small town, and the selection of places to eat are few.

Groceries are expensive and eating right every day is a challenge, but being a family man, I also face the challenge of not having the time to work out. My quest for success using weight loss pills was a very short journey. After mediocre progress with weight loss drugs, I finally turned to natural weight loss. I have recently started running in the mornings around 6:00am because it conflicts the least with my schedule and it is easier to burn fat at this point of the day. This activity lasts about 20 minutes a day. I chose sprinting, because endurance and distance running is not as effective in my opinion.

I weight train with a friend, but run alone since he believes that boring cardio is more effective. Many fitness experts boast the effectiveness of low to moderate intensity cardio to people as the answer to their weight loss efforts. My exercising efforts have led me to believe that steady paced cardio is not as effective as many think it is. Sprinting allows me to experience bursts of exertion followed by recovery. this stop-and-go movement has proven to be more effective for me than steady rate movement.

I'm currently doing 100 yard sprints from fieldgoal to fieldgoal at my local schools practice football field with 30 to 60 seconds of rest between runs, and have adopted this exercise to be a permanent part of my fitness efforts. I don't think any piece of fitness equipment can replace this, I am also considering resistance running. I am now 29 years old and am very pleased with the rapid weight loss I have achieved. I credit sprinting as a huge part of my success. I also do some dumbell and free weight exercises such as front squats, and drink protein shakes to maintain my muscular build.

I have been at it for about 3 1/2 months, and at this point, I am very satisfied with my body. My 10 year class reunion is this weekend, and I am prepared to tell all of my out of shape classmates that sprinting helped me achieve healthy weight loss. Sprinting should definitely be a big part of any weight loss program.