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Sprinting to better health ... by Karli Taylor

In the past I've written about how to increase your running speed. I haven't, however, given you any reasons for doing so other than the obvious.  So if you are not training for a race or trying to hit a PR , why would you want to run fast?

First of all, sprinting is one of the best ways to burn fat FAST. The high amount of stress that's placed on your muscles from sprinting, combined with the increased muscle mass, will speed up your metabolic rate like never before. The rate that you burn calories during sprinting is about three times greater than jogging.

Not only will bursts of high intensity exercise help you burn more fat, but new studies suggest that speed workouts actually help lower the risk of type 2 Diabetes! After 2 weeks of doing sprint workouts 3 times a week, doctors measured insulin sensitivity in both the test and control groups to find that it had increased in the test group by over 20%. This means that these subjects had a more efficient rate of transporting glucose through the bloodstream into muscles. The less time the glucose spends in the bloodstream, the lower the individuals risk of diabetes.

So no matter what your cardio exercise of choice happens to be, let’s all try to cut the duration and up the intensity for the next 2 weeks-  Let me know how it goes!