Sprinting vs jogging?

[Spanky Deluxe]

Any people with fitness experience here?

I'm looking at shedding a few pounds at the moment. Although diet is one thing that I'm looking at, I've known for a while now that I need to start doing some exercise.

The problem is, I hate running or cycling. I've always felt my body is not built for that kind of thing. Swimming is great but I don't have the time to go to the nearest pool. I don't want to join a gym as 1) I don't have time to go to a gym and 2) they cost an insane amount in London. I've been looking at buying a good used rowing machine but haven't had much joy in snapping one up.

Now I live right next to a park and large grassy heath so there's the nearby space to do exercise for free. As I said though, I hate jogging. My breath gets tight, my knees start to ache and I feel so miserable that every time I do it, it puts me off for ages. I do enjoy walking and there are some big hills around here but again, time is an issue.

This brings me to sprinting. I can run pretty fast for short stretches which knacker me out, blow the breath out of me and send my heartrate through the roof. Googling suggests this can be 'better' than jogging but most google results are linked to people trying to push their paid exercise schemes so I take the stuff with a pinch of salt - hence why I'm looking to see if anyone who knows fitness type stuff can offer any advice on here.

In terms of my physique, I'm a naturally broad guy and I've always been naturally very strong. When hitting the gym in the past, my body has responded very quickly to strength type weight exercises - bench press, leg press etc.

Does anyone have any tips? Is sprinting actually a good way to lose weight and build strength or it it a pipe dream 'shortcut'?

 

[charlieegan3]

I'm no weight loss expert but jogging is something you can really build up, say you have an hour here and there, run as far as you can 1/2 an hour and run back. Don't worry about going to slow, you can just go faster/further next time. That's what i do, but i have always enjoyed running.

If your breathing is annoying you try music, blocks out the sound a little. I can't run without music anymore.

If your knees are giving you trouble try different shoes/surface/style and see if you notice a difference. Are you landing hard on your heal?

Doing sprints up hill then walking slowly down and repeating is a great workout if you don't like jogging.

 

[Demosthenes X]

Try this. I'd wager that most of your problems with running are a result of not doing it vert often. With time, those things will go away.

 

[twietee]

The problem is, I hate running or cycling. I've always felt my body is not built for that kind of thing. Swimming is great but I don't have the time to go to the nearest pool.

Now I live right next to a park and large grassy heath so there's the nearby space to do exercise for free. As I said though, I hate jogging. My breath gets tight, my knees start to ache and I feel so miserable that every time I do it, it puts me off for ages.
This brings me to sprinting. I can run pretty fast for short stretches which knacker me out, blow the breath out of me and send my heartrate through the roof.
Does anyone have any tips? Is sprinting actually a good way to lose weight and build strength or it it a pipe dream 'shortcut'?

Maybe you should sprint to the pool?
I don't really think sprinting will solve your problem, especially when you say you can't jog because of your legs and knees.

Maybe you can explain a little bit better what exactly it is that let's you dislike jogging and cycling. And I wouldn't consider it a good thing that your heartbeat goes through the roof. I personally for example can't jog alone..I just can't do it, but with a friend or two it's actually a whole different story.
If you like swimming, I suggest finding a shortcut (e.g. bike) to the pool and do that. Will do you much more good than sprinting alone can do.


Just read the other posts and have to agree with charlieegan3. Steep stairs at a hill are usefull, too.

 

[soloer]

What I'd be interested in knowing is, do you really not have any time to go to the pool or gym, or do you just not want to make time?

 

[eric/]

Both are valuable. This isn't an either-or proposition.

 

[TSE]

I understand some people have a harder time jogging, just as some people have a hard time lifting weights as others. Different body types yield different results.

What I would do is jog to the best of your ability to where it is still not complete hell, you know? Jog to the best of your ability that will make it so you want to do it again. Then just keep on improving from there.

Too many people think they need all these supplements, special workouts, and try to make the workouts complete hells to the point where they make their workout not enjoyable so they don't stick with it. Fitness is supposed to be fun and something to look forward to, not something where you HAVE to do it. That doesn't yield any results. You'll just end up making excuses to not go.

First couple weeks is tough in any workout anyways, you will be winded and sore, after you get over that hump it's a breeze.

Losing weight is 75% diet, by the way. No more pop, no more candy, eat lean cut chicken, lots of greens, drink lots of water, and eat lots of fiber. If you want something sugary, move to yogurt or have the occasional desert.

 

[charlieegan3]

What I'd be interested in knowing is, do you really not have any time to go to the pool or gym, or do you just not want to make time?

That doesn't matter, as long as he has some time to loose some weight on a regular basis its fine. The fact that he is planning to use some time to exercise shows that he has got over the not wanting to exercise feeling.

 

[Liquorpuki]

If you wanna lose fat, it's 80% diet.

Far as the other 20% though, sprinting is better because of intensity level.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/sprinting-not-jogging-sheds-more-harmful-belly-fat-study-says.html

Taking it further, the most intense thing you can do is weightlifting or some kind of resistance training that builds muscle. I'd try and do that

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

My knees don't have time to start hurting when sprinting because I'm not doing it for very long. Whilst I love swimming and would love to do more of it, the only pools nearby are pretty darned expensive (I think the nearest one is £10 a day). Cycling could be an option but it would mean buying a bike and even then, cycling around London is pretty miserable.

Modifying the sprinting thing to sprinting up a hill is a great idea and I'll be sure to give that a try when the reopen the park after all these Olympics shenanigans as there are plenty of hills in there.

Earlier today I went out for some sprinting as a trial run and only managed 6 ~150 yard full out sprints separated by several minutes of recovery in between. It really got my body pumping and I still feel energised now from it (probably due to the endorphins and whatnot).

I want an exercise that takes me about half an hour and that I can do easily every day before I shower etc. To overcome my dislike of running before, I used a treadmill and walked at a brisk pace on it but at a 10% incline with big fans facing me (to keep me cool and for wind resistance). I'd do this for just under an hour and it certainly increased my fitness and helped me to lose weight. Unfortunately, we've since moved and have had to sell the treadmill as there was no longer any 'out of the way' place like a garage to store it. Besides which, I don't really have time to spend an hour a day doing exercise - I'm getting married in just over a month, lots of work on and a thesis to write!

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If you wanna lose fat, it's 80% diet.

Far as the other 20% though, sprinting is better because of intensity level.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/sprinting-not-jogging-sheds-more-harmful-belly-fat-study-says.html

Taking it further, the most intense thing you can do is weightlifting or some kind of resistance training that builds muscle. I'd try and do that

Thanks for that link, that's very interesting. I'd love to do some weightlifting but I'd either need a gym membership or some home weights. I'd love a mechanical weights machine (don't trust myself alone with free weights) but there's no where to store it anymore. Maybe simple press-ups would be a good alternative though.

 

[twietee]

Never did it myself, but you can also attach small weigths to your body (arms, legs) while running/sprinting.
The problem I had/have with jogging is, that I tend to run, quite fast somtimes, but that's not the point of jogging.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Sprinting will not make you losses weight. Burning fat take oxygen and during a sprint your body does not have any to spare and it is a short burst so it stored sugars and proteins that it will burn.
On top of that sprinting is going to be a lot harder on your knees

 

[Liquorpuki]

Sprinting will not make you losses weight. Burning fat take oxygen and during a sprint your body does not have any to spare and it is a short burst so it stored sugars and proteins that it will burn.
On top of that sprinting is going to be a lot harder on your knees

What about after though? Look up AMPk

Also, sprinters tend to gain muscle mass, which shows their bodies aren't catabolizing proteins. Joggers don't have this problem either. The guys who do are marathon runners because they end up hitting the wall.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

What about after though? Look up AMPk

Also, sprinters tend to gain muscle mass, which shows their bodies aren't catabolizing proteins. Joggers don't have this problem either. The guys who do are marathon runners because they end up hitting the wall.

It only goes after proteins when it runs out of carbs.
Also the wall in marathon runs is not burning protein but that is burning fat. It takes some time for your body to switch over. It mostly the time it taking for your body converting fat over to sugars and that wall is pushing threw that line.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Also the wall in marathon runs is not burning protein but that is burning fat. It takes some time for your body to switch over. It mostly the time it taking for your body converting fat over to sugars and that wall is pushing threw that line.

I thought it was both but I'm not a runner so what do I know.

All I know is marathon runners are skinny as hell because they end up catabolizing any muscle that doesn't help them run for 4 hours straight.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Does anyone have any tips? Is sprinting actually a good way to lose weight and build strength or it it a pipe dream 'shortcut'?

There aren't really any short cuts to anything and you'll only build strength in the muscles you work out. I mean, you aren't going to improve your arm strength by doing sprints.

If you wanna lose fat, it's 80% diet.

Far as the other 20% though, sprinting is better because of intensity level.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/sprinting-not-jogging-sheds-more-harmful-belly-fat-study-says.html

The study the article talks about has people sprint on an exercise bike in 8 second bursts with 12 seconds of low speed 'recovery' in between for 20 minutes. I'm sure the OP could mimic this though by jogging or walking at a brisk pace between sprints.

What about after though? Look up AMPk

Also, sprinters tend to gain muscle mass, which shows their bodies aren't catabolizing proteins. Joggers don't have this problem either. The guys who do are marathon runners because they end up hitting the wall.

I feel like multiple factors are getting mixed together here. Sprinters add muscle because it makes them more explosive and faster over short distances (which is their goal). Marathoners, or any other endurance athlete, on the other hand don't want to bulk up because it's more weight to carry and more muscle to suck up resources. Endurance athletes diet and train to be leaner, have insane cardio and be incredibly efficient because those atributes help them win. They will also lose a lot of water over the course of the event which will give them a thinner, gaunt look. If you ever see pictures of fighters at a weigh-in they will usually look smaller because they've typically wrung all the excess water out of their bodies in order to make weight.

 

[RITZFit]

I too thought I hated jogging, but it is easiest / quickest way for me to fit a good workout in the day. I usually go for about 30-40 min per day (mix of jogging and walking when I get tired). It may take a week or so to build up your endurance for it, but definitely gets easier. Add a good amped up sound track and you're set. And don't forget to do LOTS of stretch before and after.

 

[Liquorpuki]

The study the article talks about has people sprint on an exercise bike in 8 second bursts with 12 seconds of low speed 'recovery' in between for 20 minutes. I'm sure the OP could mimic this though by jogging or walking at a brisk pace between sprints.

What I took from the article is that intensity matters. Weightlifting, sprints, HIIT Cardio, Crossfit, flavor of the month workout DVD's all help drop bodyfat because of the intensity factor. Contrast with someone doing a low intensity 3 mi/hr jog around the block and that person's not building any muscle, generating minimal EPOC, not triggering AMPk for fat oxidation, etc.

Though in the big scheme of things, none of this matters if your diet is screwed up.

I feel like multiple factors are getting mixed together here. Sprinters add muscle because it makes them more explosive and faster over short distances (which is their goal). Marathoners, or any other endurance athlete, on the other hand don't want to bulk up because it's more weight to carry and more muscle to suck up resources. Endurance athletes diet and train to be leaner, have insane cardio and be incredibly efficient because those atributes help them win. They will also lose a lot of water over the course of the event which will give them a thinner, gaunt look. If you ever see pictures of fighters at a weigh-in they will usually look smaller because they've typically wrung all the excess water out of their bodies in order to make weight.

Yeah fighters usually go on a strict keto diet or something similar to drop water weight.

The whole angle I'm getting at is that if you have a choice to do a high intensity and a low intensity exercise when it comes to dropping body fat - do the high intensity one. The whole marathoners vs sprinters discussion came up because we were talking about protein catabolism.

 

[Apple Key]

If your goal is weight loss, jogging for a longer amount of time will make you lose more weight, as opposed to sprinting for a short period of time. Also, the lower intensity workout will burn more fat.

If your knees hurt from jogging, you probably need to build up over time, and may lack the muscle strength to properly support your knees.

I would highly recommend not doing sprinting, as you may injure yourself. You should only begin doing sprints if you are well conditioned physically, and know what your body can handle.

 

[LethalWolfe]

The whole angle I'm getting at is that if you have a choice to do a high intensity and a low intensity exercise when it comes to dropping body fat - do the high intensity one. The whole marathoners vs sprinters discussion came up because we were talking about protein catabolism.

My understanding is that, basically, during low intensity activities your body will use fat for fuel but during high intensity activities your body will use carbs for fuel because it can metabolize the carbs faster. The trade off is that the you will run out of carbs to burn way faster than you'll run out of fat to burn. This is why a key to endurance activities like long distance cycling or marathoning is to stay in the fat burning zone for as long as possible (and these athletes will train their bodies specifically to use fat as a fuel longer than a normal person's body would).

Of course in the grand scheme of things you just need to burn more calories than you ingest in order to lose weight and during a high intensity activity for 20min will burn more calories than doing a low intensity activity for 20min. I think since the OP jus wants to shed a few pounds eating a proper diet and exercising in any way more than he his now will get the job done.

There are certainly different levels of fitness and I think we might be overcomplicating what the OP needs. Sure, if the OP wanted to become a solid sprinter the exercise regimen would be very different than if he wanted to tackle a triathlon but for the goal of becoming less sedentary and dropping a few pounds just getting involved in pick-up basketball or football matches a few times a week in the park would probably do the trick (along w/the right diet of course).


Lethal

 

[Liquorpuki]

My understanding is that, basically, during low intensity activities your body will use fat for fuel but during high intensity activities your body will use carbs for fuel because it can metabolize the carbs faster. The trade off is that the you will run out of carbs to burn way faster than you'll run out of fat to burn. This is why a key to endurance activities like long distance cycling or marathoning is to stay in the fat burning zone for as long as possible (and these athletes will train their bodies specifically to use fat as a fuel longer than a normal person's body would).

From what I understand, you're still burning carbs when you're in the fat burning zone. It's just the ratio of fat calories burnt to carb calories burnt is at its peak. With higher intensity exercise the ratio gets smaller (if you're anaerobic, ratio is 0) but it's all offset by the fact you're burning way more calories anyway, plus gaining EPOC benefits, building muscle, generating growth hormone, lessening the effect of cortisol, etc.

There are certainly different levels of fitness and I think we might be overcomplicating what the OP needs. Sure, if the OP wanted to become a solid sprinter the exercise regimen would be very different than if he wanted to tackle a triathlon but for the goal of becoming less sedentary and dropping a few pounds just getting involved in pick-up basketball or football matches a few times a week in the park would probably do the trick (along w/the right diet of course).

Yeah I agree. I just like talking about fitness/nutrition.

 

[Iscariot]

This is what the world's greatest jogger looks like:

And the world's greatest sprinter:

Enough said.

Does anyone have any tips? Is sprinting actually a good way to lose weight and build strength or it it a pipe dream 'shortcut'?

I'm a fitness professional. It's what I do for a living, and I can tell you that empirically sprinting is a superior exercise.

My knees don't have time to start hurting when sprinting because I'm not doing it for very long.

It's acute vs. chronic. A muscular imbalance in your hips or ankles will result in an overuse injury in your knee while jogging and a catastrophic injury while sprinting. Think persistent tendonitis vs. an ACL tear.

 

[fox10078]

Bruce Lee would jog and sprint switching off between the two durring his daily run. Keeping a steady pace and bursting randomly.