Will Sprinting Burn Belly Fat?

Will sprinting burn belly fat? If you are looking for a quick way to burn belly fat through exercising, sprinting may be the best option for you.

In this article, you'll learn how sprinting to lose belly fat is an excellent option for those seeking a fat-loss exercise program.

What This Article Will Cover

• What You Need To Know About Sprinting To Lose Fat
• How Sprinting Can Get You Lean In A Shorter Time
• Sprinting Workout Examples That Cause Major Fat Burn

What You Need To Know About Sprinting

Sprinting is an effective method to build muscle, lower blood pressure, and stimulate protein synthesis.

The beneficial effects of sprinting on fat loss go far beyond burning fat. Sprinting regularly will make you a healthier person.

Sprinting should initially be performed in quick bursts with enough rest.

Sprinting must be performed at high intensities, with enough rest to allow repeated high-intensity efforts. To get the benefits of sprinting, you should rest at least one minute between each sprint.

Over time you can progress to all-out effort as your fitness level increases.

Start by running fast but relaxed, increasing to maximal effort sprinting once you have become accustomed to sprinting.

Burn Fat With Sprints

Sprinting is a great way to lose body fat while working fast twitch muscles.

I know how hard it can be to lose weight. While I have not battled obesity, I had had times when I needed to drop weight, and the process was very challenging.

I was working out harder, dealing with cravings, and struggling to see progress.

 

Fortunately, there is a way to lose weight and burn belly fat without spending hours at the gym, running miles every day, or starving yourself with some crazy diet.

Sprinting is one of the most effective ways to lose fat without surgery.

Sprinting Burns Belly Fat

Exercising regularly and having a healthy diet are key to achieving your goals of burning belly fat.

The problem is that many forms of exercise are time-consuming, arduous, and may not fit conveniently into a busy person's schedule.

With the proper nutrition, sprinting turns the human body into a fat-incinerating machine.

Sprint interval training can offer a time-efficient way to burn belly fat, allowing you to get a great workout in without having to dedicate hours every day to exercising.

Sprinting will tone your stomach better than any other exercise out there when paired with calorie restriction.

Research On Sprinting For Weight Loss

Many studies have shown that high-intensity interval training and sprint training benefits weight loss and burning visceral fat.

Visceral fat, also known as belly fat, is the body fat most associated with poor health outcomes. This type of fat sticks to the spaces around your organs and is significant in why obesity can cause many other health problems.

Fortunately, sprinting provides those seeking to lose weight with a fantastic way to burn belly fat while only having to exercise for short amounts of time.

High-Intensity Interval Training Is Effective For Fat Loss

A 2019 meta-analysis showed that high-intensity sprint interval training caused a 28.5% greater reduction in fat mass compared to moderate-intensity exercise. This systematic review looked at hundreds of different research studies, assessed them for their quality, and looked at the collective results. The conclusion was that sprint interval training helps burn fat to a greater degree than other forms of exercise, suggesting that sprinting will burn belly fat.

A sprint workout is an effective way t burn more calories and stimulate muscle building.

Another study, titled Exercise training-induced visceral fat loss in obese women: The role of training intensity and modality, looked at various forms of sprint interval training, high-intensity interval training, and moderate-intensity continuous training.

This study focused on subjects who were women suffering from obesity, meaning they had a body fat percentage equal or greater than 30%.

In this case, all forms of interval training were found to be effective for burning belly fat, but sprint interval training was the most time-efficient method of burning visceral fat.

Sprinting To Lose Belly Fat

Now that we know that sprinting burns belly fat and burning calories, the question becomes how you can use sprinting to lose belly fat.

To burn visceral fat through sprinting, perform sprinting workouts one to three times per week. Initially, perform these workouts at around 75% effort. Over time, the training intensity can be increased as your body gets used to sprinting.

For individuals who can run, sprinting for beginners can start on grass, turf, a sprinting treadmill, or a running track. 

Beginner Sprint Workout To Burn Fat

For beginners, running 8-12 sprints at 75% effort with up to 2 minutes of rest is a safe and effective way to start sprinting.

After warming up, this sprinting workout would only take 10 to 20 minutes to complete and is an excellent option for people new to sprinting and want to burn fat. 

Once you've done this workout many times, you can change either the distance sprinted, the rest interval between sprints, or the intensity level of the sprints.

Intermediate Sprinting Session To Burn Fat

If you have some experience sprinting, you can run 6 to 10 sprints between 50 and 150 meters at 80% effort or higher.

Here are a few examples of fat loss sprinting workout variations you can try after completing this initial workout several times:

• 6-10 x 100m at 90% effort, with 1 to 3 minutes between sprints.
• 6 x 200m at 80% effort, with 1 to 3 minutes rest between sprints.
• 8 x 150m at 90% effort, with 1 to 4 minutes between sprints.

Over time it is wise to incorporate some sprint training which includes longer duration runs, as well as some that are shorter and allow you to hit top speed.

The longer runs will help with your cardio, while the shorter sprints will promote muscle growth through anaerobic exercise.

Bike Sprints & Fat Loss

For individuals who cannot run or prefer not to run, bike sprints can be performed on a bicycle, an exercise bike, or high-intensity interval training using bodyweight exercises like squats and push-ups.

Bike sprints between 20 and 40 seconds are a great substitute for sprint running if your goal is to lose fat.

If using some form of a bike, interval training to burn belly fat can be performed for time rather than distance. For example, you can perform a workout such as the following:

• Easy cycling for 5 minutes to warm up.
• Perform 20 to 40-second high-intensity sprints on the bike at moderate resistance.
• Recover in between sprints with easy cycling at a low resistance level for 1 to 3 minutes.
• Repeat this for 5 to 10 sprints, aiming to add a sprint every one or two workouts.

Tips For Sprinting For Fat Loss

Before you start your fitness journey using sprinting to burn belly fat, consider the following tips to ensure your sprinting workouts are effective, safe, and enjoyable.

Warm Up Properly

Because sprinting is an intense activity with high levels of muscle tension, you must warm up thoroughly. Warming up improves performance, prevents injury, and prepares your body for the workout.

A proper warm-up for sprinting can include:

• Jogging a lap or two around the track.
• Performing light dynamic stretches and mobility exercises.
• Sprint drills.
• Short sprints.

For example, at the end of your warm-up, perform 20-meter sprints at 50%, 60%, 70%, and then 80% effort.

Be Relaxed When You Sprint

For people new to sprinting, the best way to determine how fast to go is to start sprinting as fast as you can while staying relaxed. Sprinting should feel like your body is freely flowing through the movement and not feel like you are straining.

If you are sprinting for fat loss and feel that your muscles are getting tight or the movement is hard to perform, reduce the intensity or speed slightly until you can run with ease and a relaxed technique.

Sprinting relaxed will not only make you run faster but will also prevent you from getting injured.

Progress Sprint Training Over Time

To use sprinting to burn belly fat, you must progress your sprinting workouts incrementally over time.

Start with distances and intensities that you know you can handle. The workout should challenge you but should be something that you know you can accomplish. 

For example, if running 100 yards on a turf field is too far, then drop down to 50 or 70 yards to start. Over time you can work up to longer sprints.

Similarly, start with a moderate intensity level, such as 75% effort, before trying to increase the intensity level. Additionally, your rest periods can be shortened if you want to make the workout harder.

Try changing one variable at a time, such as increasing the distance or intensity or reducing the rest period. If you change all these variables at once, it may be too much of a shock to your body and make the workouts too hard.

Over time, you can find the right balance of distance sprinting, sprinting intensity, and rest periods that work for you.

Sprinting Burns Belly Fat

In conclusion, research and experience show that sprinting is an excellent choice for fat loss and burning belly fat. With the right sprinting workouts and a healthy diet, you can use sprinting for fat loss, offering a more time-efficient way to burn belly fat than aerobic exercise alone.

Now, get out there and sprint!

References

1. Viana RB, Naves JPA, Coswig VS, de Lira CAB, Steele J, Fisher JP, Gentil P. Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing moderate-intensity continuous training with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Br J Sports Med. 2019 May;53(10):655-664. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099928. Epub 2019 Feb 14. PMID: 30765340.

2. Zhang H, Tong TK, Kong Z, Shi Q, Liu Y, Nie J. Exercise training-induced visceral fat loss in obese women: The role of training intensity and modality. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2021 Jan;31(1):30-43. doi: 10.1111/sms.13803. Epub 2020 Sep 4. PMID: 32789898.