How to Do the Sprint

Sprinting is running at maximum effort for a short distance, then fully recovering. It builds speed, power and conditioning and works the glutes, hamstrings and calves hard. Because it is high intensity, warm up well and ease in, even though it needs no equipment.

Quads Glutes BodyweightBeginner

Log every set of your Sprint in Superlift

Muscles worked

Primary

Quads
Glutes

Secondary

Hamstrings
Calves

How to do the Sprint

1
Warm up with easy jogging and dynamic drills.
2
Start in an athletic stance or crouched position.
3
Push off hard and lean forward as you accelerate.
4
Drive your knees and pump your arms.
5
Rise gradually to an upright posture as you reach top speed.
6
Stay relaxed in your face, shoulders and hands.
7
Slow down gradually and walk to recover fully before the next sprint.

Form cues to remember

Drive hard off the ground
Pump arms, elbows bent 90 degrees
Stay relaxed in your face
Slow down gradually after

Common mistakes

Starting without a warm-up

Do a full warm-up with progressive strides first.

Overstriding

Keep your foot landing under your hips.

Tensing the upper body

Relax your shoulders and hands to run faster.

Not resting enough

Recover fully so each sprint stays fast.

Sets and reps

Conditioning	6–10 sprints of 10–20 seconds, 1–2 min rest
Strength	4–6 sprints of 20–40 m at near-max effort, full recovery

Hamstring strains are the main risk, so warm up thoroughly, build up to full effort gradually and stop if you feel a pull.

Superlift for iPhone

Track your Sprint and watch it go up

Superlift shows what you lifted last time, times your rest, and charts your strength week by week, so you always know what to beat. Every exercise in this library is built in, with the same demos and tutorials.