A FREE 8 week sprint training programme

8 WEEK SPRINT PROGRAMME  

It won’t be long before lockdown 2021 is lifted. If you can find a stretch of grass, you can get in great shape in time to surprise your training buddies, return to sport and take advantage of all that human interaction. 

Sprinting is one of the most effective ways to burn fat, build muscle and turbo charge your fitness. This programme is perfect for  

·         Team sports like rugby 

·         Fighters of all styles looking to become more explosive and fit  

·         Anyone who wants to shred fat and look great naked 

I have designed this FREE 8-week programme to target your explosive power AND your fitness. 

The benefits of this programme are:

• It develops aerobic fitness rapidly
• It has built in accumulation and intensification
• It promotes a better testosterone response than traditional running
• It will increase power
• It is very time efficient
• The first block prepares you for the second- the hardest session of the week in week 1 will be your recovery workout by week 8.

A word of advice: This works best if you have some experience with sprinting/running fast. If you haven’t run for months, I suggest going out 2-3 times per week for 3-4 weeks, alternating between fast running and slow jogging for 20-40 minutes. This will help you get more from the programme.  

I show how long each workout lasts – this excludes a warm-up which I highly recommend you perform. Some running, leg swings, dynamic stretches and short accelerations are a good idea prior to sprinting.  

The programme is designed to build up both the amount of times you train and the intensity of the training.  

Give it a go – it is not for the feint of heart but the results will be pleasing.  

 

Week 1: 

Day 1, Tempo Sprints (total time 12 mins) 

·         Run at 80% of your max speed for 15 seconds. Passive rest for 45 seconds. Do 12 reps. When running, think “cruise in top gear” not “bust a gut”. Done.  

Day 2, 60:120 Intervals (total time 16 mins)  

·         Mark out roughly 50 long paces. Run between the markers, fast, for 60 seconds. Rest 2 mins. Do it 6 times. At the end of today you should feel you could have done more, don’t.  

Week 2: 

Day 1, Tempo Sprints (total time 15 mins)  

·         Run at 80% of your max speed for 15 seconds. Passive rest for 45 seconds. Do 15 reps. 

Day 2, 60:120 Intervals (total time 20 mins)  

·         Mark out roughly 50 long paces. Run between the markers, fast, for 60 seconds. Rest 2 mins. Do it 8 times. Aim to maintain the fastest consistent speed you can across all 8 reps.  

Week 3: 

Day 1, Tempo Sprints (total time 20 mins)  

·         Run at 80% of your max speed for 15 seconds. Passive rest for 45 seconds. Do 10 reps. Rest 5 minutes. Do another 5 reps.  

Day 2, Aerobic Recovery/Development (total time 30-40 mins) 

·         Jog around your field for 30-40 minutes. Stay at a pace you could talk at, if you had to. If you want to mix it up with backpedalling, side shuffles, skipping etc, even better. Stay loose and stay moving for the whole time. 

Day 3, 60:120 Intervals (total time 24 mins)  

·         Mark out roughly 50 long paces. Run between the markers, fast, for 60 seconds. Rest 2 mins. Do it 10 times. Keep the pace up throughout. 

 

Week 4: 

Day 1, Tempo Sprints (total time 25 mins)  

·         Run at 80% of your max speed for 15 seconds. Passive rest for 45 seconds. Do 10 reps. Rest 5 minutes then do a second set of 10 reps. Second set will be tough but you’ll feel good after.  

Day 2, 10:30 Intervals (total time approx 20 mins)  

·         Run hard for 10 seconds, max effort. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 8 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Do another set of 8 reps. This should blast the lungs, legs, everything.  

Week 5: 

Day 1, High resistance interval (total time approx 20 mins)  

·         Sprint about 60 metres flat out, max effort. Walk very slowly back, should take about 1 minute. Do 12 reps.  

Day 2, Aerobic Recovery/Development (total time 30-40 mins) 

·         Jog around your field for 30-40 minutes. Stay at a pace you could talk at, if you had to. If you want to mix it up with backpedalling, side shuffles, skipping etc, even better. Stay loose and stay moving for the whole time. Keep this light.  

Day 3, 10:30 Intervals (total time approx 24 mins)  

·         Run hard for 10 seconds, max effort. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 10 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Do another set of 10 reps.  

 

Week 6: 

Day 1, High resistance interval (total time approx 25 mins)  

·         Increase distance to about 80 metres flat out, max effort. Walk back, keep it to 50 seconds now. Do 12 reps. Rest 5 minutes. Do another 6 reps.  

Day 2, Tempo Sprints (total time 32 mins)  

·         Set 1: 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off x6 

·         Set 2: 15 seconds on, 45 seconds off x8 

·         Set 3: 10 seconds on, 50 seconds off x10  

·         Resting 4 mins between sets. Keep these quite light – this is your recovery session.  

Day 3, 10:30 Intervals (total time approx 24 mins)  

·         Run hard for 10 seconds, max effort. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 12 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Do another set of 12 reps. 

Week 7: 

Day 1, High resistance interval (total time approx 25 mins)  

·         Increase distance to about 90 metres flat out, max effort. Take 40 seconds rest. You may not be able to walk back in that time, so use passive rest. Do 8 reps. Rest 5 minutes. Do another 8 reps. 

Day 2, Aerobic Recovery/Development (total time 30-40 mins) 

·         Jog around your field for 30-40 minutes. Stay at a pace you could talk at, if you had to. If you want to mix it up with backpedalling, side shuffles, skipping etc, even better. Stay loose and stay moving for the whole time. Keep this light. 

Day 3, 10:30 Intervals (total time approx 24 mins)  

·         Run hard for 10 seconds, max effort. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 14 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Do another set of 14 reps. 

  

Week 8: 

Day 1, High resistance interval (total time approx 25 mins)  

·         Increase distance to about 100 metres flat out, max effort. Take 30 seconds rest. Use passive rest. Do 6reps. Rest 5 minutes. Do another 6 reps. This should be tough.  

Day 2, Tempo Sprints (total time 22 mins)  

·         Set 1: 10 seconds on, 50 seconds off x12 

·         Set 2: 10 seconds on, 50 seconds off x6 

·         Resting 4 mins between sets. Keep it light and cruise.  

Day 3, 10:30 Intervals (total time approx 35 mins)  

·         Run hard for 10 seconds, max effort. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 8 reps total. Rest 5 minutes. Now perform 2 more sets of 8 reps resting 30 seconds between reps and 5 minutes between sets. You should find you can keep a higher intensity across the reps than last week.