One of my favorite conditioning tools are hill sprints. Besides the fact that you get to be outside in nature, they are extremely good at getting you in serious shape and can have a great impact in transforming your physique. They are also a fun challenge to do with friends to switch it up.
Another reason why we love them is that people are typically put at a lower risk of injury than normal sprints. I know you must be thinking that is quite a crazy statement. I mean you are running up a steep hill versus flat land. The main reason is that it slows you down. Often times people get injured because of the speed they are running at when doing sprints. When you are doing hill sprints it slows you down quite a bit so you don’t “run” into that issue. Get it?!!
There are a couple ways to do hill sprints. I personally like setting a time and challenging yourself to do as many as you can within that time.
Set a time for 15-20 minutes and see how many times you can get up and down that hill. Bring some friends and challenge/push each other. Do it one week and the next try to beat your score.
Another way is to give yourself a number. Maybe that is 5 sprints or 10 sprints. Sprint up the hill and walk down. Once you get down immediately sprint back up. Say you get 5 the one day. Next week try 6. Then the next try 7 etc… It is all about progression.
Do these consistently (and with a good diet) you will start to see the fat melt off. Your quads and glutes will get some awesome development as well!
