Topic: Sprints

[twitchkidd]

Hi. For the past few years, when I would 'go running' it would always be a long run. I think sprints might be a better training tool for parkour, for the purposes of anaerobic leg power. I tried to do them yesterday and I realized I had no idea how to make a structured workout with them, and ended up doing 4 sets of sprinting from one end of the gym to the other and back 5 times with 30 second rests in between sprints. Any help? Thanks in advance!

[Gearsighted]

There are so many options. You can go by distance or time, and vary the work/rest interval as you see fit. Something along the line of 20 second sprint with a 10 second rest repeated 8 times (like tabata intervals) will work anaerobic power nicely. You can also do this with 100m sprints with 100m jog repeated x 10. To tweak this a bit, you can switch it around, with longer rests than sprints, which will tend more towards aerobic energy production. Something like 200m run followed by 2:00 rest is a good option. The last option would be to incorporate your sprints into varied strength and conditioning drills like I do in the WOD. This will hit your ability from all sides.

As for your thought that sprints might be better training for Parkour, you're spot-on. What you might not know is that they might quite possibly be better all-around for almost every stamina-based endeavor. Just one quick link for that line of thought:

Power-Running Site

This is a great site for a bunch of research and anecdotal evidence along these lines. You might also check out a few of the discussions at http://www.crossfit.com and http://www.performancemenu.com for more info.