Sprints vs jogging/running?

[Swuzz]

I am still trying to lose some weight though now I am trying something different and looking for input from those who are in the fitness business or have their own experience.

My cardio stamina is awful!  I have a high resting heart rate and believe that I was a heat "casualty" as a child.  Meaning... I HAVE to have water near me while doing any cardio and I turn tomato red and stay that way for hours after a workout as well as my heart rate being in the 170s when I start to actually "feel" it and begin to sweat.  I've been to the cardiologist and to the doctor and I am "fine" so that is not my question.  That was simply context for why I am asking the following.

Sprints.  Do they have the same or better effect of raising the metabolism/burning calories/toning as duration runs?  I've read a lot about it and it sounds too good to be true (meaning since I have difficulty with maintaining cardio due to my heart rate/etc).

I have been incorporating sprints into my morning walk/jog/sprint routine this past week and feel as though I am getting better stamina during my jogs afterwards.

Typically I choose a spot in the distance (not too far, maybe 150 feet or so or further depending on how I feel) and begin to jog then pick up speed until I feel as though I am running as fast as I can until I reach that spot.  Usually I am beat and slow down to a walk for a hundred feet or so and then do a 5mph jog for as long as I can then walk again until I am ready for another sprint.

Is this pointless?  Should I keep trying to pick up my endurance to jog for 30+ min or continue my random sprints/walks?  I usually go about 4 miles in the morning throwing in around 4 decent sprints and several jogs.

[Milkbutnosugar]

It's not pointless it's great. H.I.I.T high intensity interval training. A fantastic way of improving health. In the uk we have a book called fast exercise by Dr Michael Mosley. It explains the science behind it in simple language.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

Cardio stamina is increased by training the lower aerobic range, which happens to be the fat burning system.

If every workout is basically done as hard as possible, the body is trained to raise the HR fast and burn carbs fast, which is what it's going to burn anyway going as intense as you can.

But that method doesn't train the lower aerobic end of the range - and there is only a small improvement that can be made to the upper end of the range compared to the lower end.

Don't use sweat as an indicator - it's not. That just means you've reached the point the muscles are hot enough from their workload the body starts to cool.

That effect could be delayed too, and body gets too hot before it decides to do that.

Spint Interval Training (not HIIT) can indeed increase endurance. But it shouldn't be done daily, as it's really a hard stress on the body. Not as much as HIIT, but still.

The body gets stronger from a workout not during the workout, but during the rest for recovery and repair.

Here's the research studies that showed the improvements.

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

Despite the page name, it's about SIT.

And follow that protocol they give, and you'll see improvements easily.

And if jogging is the hard part and walking is the easy part, that's just fine, don't try to jog if it's not enough time. If jogging prevents you from hitting the next hard interval as hard, then you don't get as much out of it.

[DominicJ]

If weight loss is your goal, in my opinion, the three key goals are

1.  Work out as long as you can.

2.  Work out as consistantly as you can

3.  Work out as hard as you can

And in that order

A 40 minute work out is better than a 20 minute work out for losing weight,

A 40 minute run at 5mph is better than alternating 1minute sprints at 10mph and 1minute rests, for losing weight

A 40 minute run at 5mph is better than a 40 minute run at 4mph for, well, everything.

"Is this pointless?  Should I keep trying to pick up my endurance to jog for 30+ min or continue my random sprints/walks?  I usually go about 4 miles in the morning throwing in around 4 decent sprints and several jogs."

I have spent this year running 5ks.

I ran my first at 8kph, then 8.1, then 8.2, then 8.3

I'm up to 11.7kph now and I'm at the stage where I cant just "brute force" it, I need to start running longer runs and shorter sprints to improve my 5k time.

[Swuzz]

I have heard of Dr. Mosley.  This seems to be working for me as last night my husband commented on my backside saying that I look more "shapely".  He is adorable but hey, he would know!  Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.

I don't do the sprints every day-I can't possibly!  On the days that I am not sprinting I tend to swim or walk or do some other form of exercise.  This morning I am going to the lap pool and swim for as long as I can and then afterwards take a moment in the steam room to ease my muscles.  

Hopefully I will keep it up and lose more weight or at least continue to build up some muscles.

[Heybales]

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@Swuzz wrote:

I have heard of Dr. Mosley.  This seems to be working for me as last night my husband commented on my backside saying that I look more "shapely".  He is adorable but hey, he would know!  Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.

I don't do the sprints every day-I can't possibly!  On the days that I am not sprinting I tend to swim or walk or do some other form of exercise.  This morning I am going to the lap pool and swim for as long as I can and then afterwards take a moment in the steam room to ease my muscles.  

Hopefully I will keep it up and lose more weight or at least continue to build up some muscles.

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There is another routine that was shown to me by Fitbit member @Colinm39 that had great results for someone starting out with exercise. It was done on the bike in the study with participants that had not exercised for any decent time prior to the study - so of course max potential gains could be had. But sounds like you may still be at the start of new exercise, and could still benefit.

This could be done running too.

http://lifehacker.com/5989669/researchers-claim-to-discover-the-single-most-efficient-exercise-regim...

Run a fast steady 8 seconds, walk for 12 seconds. Repeat for 20 min.

Start and end with 5 min warmup/cooldown walk.

Simple as that.

Timex Ironman watches with 50 lap ability (at least used to) have an interval timer that can easily set that up.

I will mention that muscle gain from a cardio program while in a diet is going to be very slow if even noticable.

You can lose fat much faster than you can build muscle, and you'll gain water weight from store more glucose with attached water in your muscle, long before it feels the need to grow more. What you got has to get stronger until it's tapped out.

Since the above program is based on you going as fast as you can, it should happen faster than later, so that's good.

[Milkbutnosugar]

I am glad it's working for you. I ran my first 5k yesterday since October. I am recovering from major surgery. Just over 31 mins that's slow for me. But at least I am back. I am not aiming on increasing the distance just the speed so will be doing intervals.

[RAPLEN2015]

High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) is one way to go.  Someone in this discussion referred to it.  A lot of research has been done on this.  You can use body weight or light weights.  Or a combination of both.  There are tons of combinations of exercises you can choose to use.  It's not Crossfit.  Stay away from that, at least for now.  It looks like your goals are weight loss, toning, greater cardio stamina and increased lung capacity...  A H.I.I.T. style workout will accomplish all of that.

A H.I.I.T. workout of only sprinting/jogging rest however will accomplish most of your goals, but not upper body toning.

Try a form of H.I.I.T. called Tabata, named after a Japanese researcher named Izumi Tabata.  There are a lot of articles written on this subject.  Essentially, pick an exercise, a pushup for example, and perform it for 20 seconds as hard and as fast as you can do it without messing up your form.  Rest for 10 seconds, then repeat that cycle seven more times.  Your total time should be four minutes.  There are a lot of Tabata timers you can download for your use on your smartphones and tablets.  Trying to count in your head while you are working, especially in the latter stages will not work.

Combine that pushup with two or three other exercises, like pull ups, squats and jump ropes, all done Tabata style, you would have spent under 20 minutes at home all for free versus almost an hour at a gym, spending maybe $60 a month, and getting the same if not better results.  Your workouts are limited by your imagination, but luckily there are many, many sources you can draw from to keep your workouts fresh.

Good luck.  Hope this helps.