I did my first ever sprints the other day page 3

[counterpuncher]

Try hill sprints if you're worried about your hamstrings.

[PaleoMum]

Michael Johnson, when he's commentating on Sanya Richards doing the 400m in around 49s, always says that you can't sprint flat-out for 400m and you have to relax and maintain along the back straight. And he's got to be the guru, right?

[PaleoMum]

See, I know how good sprinting is for you, but it makes me feel so terrible I'm reluctant to do it. Did it a couple of weeks ago with my 9-year-old as a rabbit (I never caught her!) doing 4x30s with 4mins recovery in between, and afterwards I felt so sick I had to miss having my tea!

[Cayenne]

I have started doing Sprint 8 on a recumbent bike recently and have to say I like it a lot. Much easier on the skeleton and less of a chance of pulling a hamstring. The older I get the more I am aware of the risk of injury. Also as I get older fitness gains come a lot harder and an injury can destroy months of training in an instant. I love sprinting in the park but am not sure how much I will do it from now on.

A couple years ago, after being what I thought was very thoroughly warmed up, (I had hiked extensively a bit earlier in the day,) I took a Karate class and while executing front kicks, to my disappointment and surpirse, badly injured a hamstring.) Although I want to preserve the ability to sprint if ever necessary, (thinking more life and death than catching a train, for example,) for training situations I have now leaned in the same direction as you ecole66. I've done "sprints" with: Heavybag, rebounder, squat/row movements with resistance bands and, IME, the most brutal, the Scwinn Airdyne.

[Gorbag]

See, I know how good sprinting is for you, but it makes me feel so terrible I'm reluctant to do it. Did it a couple of weeks ago with my 9-year-old as a rabbit (I never caught her!) doing 4x30s with 4mins recovery in between, and afterwards I felt so sick I had to miss having my tea!

The best thing is to start out gradually and build up intensity. Sprints are not supposed to be a nice walk in the park, so if you want great results, continue to sprint, just remember that things must proceed gradually! Right now I have injured a tendon in one of my calves, so my stair sprints cannot be an all-out effort these days, but I still jog up the stairs…