Early in my career I had the pleasure of training a professional hockey player. That summer, trade talks loomed as my client approached the final year of his contract. His goal was to make himself more marketable by earning assistant captain. To do that, he needed to excel in the team’s preseason physical fitness tests.
One of the tests was running a mile in under 7 minutes. The players’ sluggishness was often blamed on offseason debauchery. But running a mile was completely contrary to what players did on the ice, and every coach knows that keeping players on the field or ice longer than their endurance dictates creates scoring chances for the opposing team. This adds credence to the edict: Train slow, be slow.
Halfway through his summer training regimen (consisting of circuits that would cause most a massive stroke), the team hired a new coach that changed the preseason physical fitness tests, especially the run. To build their endurance and power, he proposed the following cardiovascular test for the team:
Sixteen 100-yard sprints each done in under 16 seconds.
With each 16 second sprint, the player had the rest of a minute to recover.
Any sprint done in over 16 seconds was considered a failed test.
Clues on how we ‘should’ train the cardio vascular system are apparent in how kids and dogs play. They never hold back. They push to the brink until forced to recover. This tenacity is missing from steady-state cardio and distance-running.
Evolution designed the cardiovascular system for short-duration, powerful bursts of speed to escape imminent threats. The fight or flight response is adept at avoiding danger because it calculates and initiates escape often before the brain can even weigh-in, and training needs to mimic this or the brain won’t allow faster speed and/or coordination.
A sprint is defined as an all-out-effort, meaning every joint contributes to the burst of energy that although brief in duration, pays bigger dividends than distance cardio. The major difference between sprinting and distance-running is the form one assumes to complete both actions. Sprinting naturally places bodyweight and foot-strike in the balls of the feet and requires full flexion and extension from both the hips and shoulders. Distance-running creates heel-strike, where the ankle is the first contact with the ground. This is believed to cause faulty force absorption, which may lead to greater risk of injury.
To absorb the shock of foot-strike and to react properly to ground force the ideal placement for foot-strike is in the forefoot. But to change from a distance heel-striker to a distance forefoot-striker takes time and forethought. Short distance, all-out-effort, sprints have proven to be an effective change for distance runners in the offseason and is ideal for those seeking to lose fat and not muscle.
To determine which style of cardio is right for you, choose the body you want to emulate; the sprinter on the left, or the marathoner on the right:
To begin a sprint program, each all-out-effort needs adequate recovery time. These are usually presented as ratios and coaches vary in what they consider to be adequate recovery time. Most agree that a 1:1 ratio (10 second sprint with 10 second recovery) isn’t enough. The sprint test for hockey players above is a 3:1 ratio with recovery being 3x higher than the all-out-effort (16 work to 44 recovery). Although not as ideal as an 8:1 ratio, where the athlete has 8x the recovery time to work; 3:1 seems adequate rest for ideal performance.
The StairMill Workout:
Warm-up at recovery speed (level 3 to 5 depending on the machine). Remember, the recovery level should be low enough to give you a chance to be 100% for the next sprint.
At the 5th minute increase the level to 10 for 45 seconds
Recover- at the 7th min increase to 12 for 45 sec
Recover- at the 9th min increase to 14 for 45 sec
Recover- at the 11th min increase to 16 for 30 sec
Recover- at the 13th min increase to 18 for 30 sec
Recover- at the 15th min increase to 20 for 30 sec
Recover- at the 17th min increase to 22 for 20-30 sec
Recover- at the 19th min increase to 24 for 20-30 sec
StepMills vary from brand to brand so adjust levels accordingly.
Progressions: The ratios will be different depending on the sprint. Adding the sled or bungee will add load and strengthen non-loaded speed and efficiency. Try the 10 sec to 30 recovery for 10 sprints to start.
Sled Push
Sled Pull
Transverse Slam
Bungee Sprints
