Sprinting and counting calories?

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adiostrasero
adiostrasero Posts: 127 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Okay, so I feel ignorant asking this ... but here goes. I have been training with my brother and we do a lot of sprints. Here is tonight's example: We took turns running sprints up a steep hill. I don't know what the distance is, but we do the same one each time, so we measure our time to look for improvements.

Obviously the point of a sprint is that you shouldn't be able to do it for very long. My sprint takes me about 15 seconds and I think I did it about 6 times. So total, that's only a minute and a half. Even at the highest running speed listed on MFP, 1.5 minutes of exercise is only 34 calories.

First, I just don't buy that.

Second, I set a goal of working out at least 90 minutes a week, and 1.5 minutes a day is not going to cut it. (We were out there for a total of 45 minutes resting, walking back down the hill, etc. - but I don't know how to count that.)

What do you more experienced runners do?

Replies

  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    Buy a heart rate monitor. Sprints will shoot your heart rate way up and then it will come down again as you walk back down the hill, rest in between, etc. When I do sprints I am never "standing still" I walk between sprints for my rest. I can burn a huge amount of calories doing sprint intervals and it's an awesome workout with amazing after burn (similar to weigh lifting). I highly suggest a heart rate monitor as I don't feel that the estimates on MFP are going to give you a number that you can be reasonable close on for sprints.

    If you can't buy a heart rate monitor my suggestion would be to time from beginning to end of your total workout (only the time you're actively moving around) and log as "walking - moderate pace" perhaps? So 45 min at that would probably give you a couple hundred calories which would be approx. on par as long as you move (walk, etc.) between sprints I'd guesstimate. But a heart rate monitor would be way better if you can grab one.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    The sprint itself burns very few calories.

    The training that goes into being able sprint well, now *that* burns tons of calories.

    For comparison, in his recent world record run, Usain Bolt burnt about 20 calories in the 100m. But 90% of that is overcoming air resistance, which falls exponentially with speed. At the speeds "normal" people sprint, we're looking at somewhere around 2-5 calories for a 20 second sprint.
  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    The sprint itself burns very few calories.

    The training that goes into being able sprint well, now *that* burns tons of calories.

    What does this even mean? O.o.

    I burned over 400 calories on my last two sprint interval workouts and each were only about 40 min total, with between 8 - 15 minutes of sprinting max. All the rest was warm up, walking between, and cool down. That's certainly a lot of calories for me.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    ... burned over 400 calories on my last two sprint interval workouts...

    Did you actually measure that, or is that from an MFP (or other) calculator?
  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    Measured with a very expensive and proven to be very accurate heart rate monitor. The same heart rate monitor that logged all the burns for the last 60+ pounds I have lost and that has kept me in perfect maintenance eating back every exercise calorie burned above and beyond maintenance (2100 calories a day),
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Measured with a very expensive and proven to be very accurate heart rate monitor.

    Cool! So you can pull up the data and isolate precisely how much a single sprint itself burns. I do that with my cycling training, too.

    Anyway, we're saying the same thing - training to sprint well is hard work and burns lots of calories.
  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    We're not saying the same thing at all. You're saying sprinting burns very few calories and linking facts about Usain Bolt which have nothing to do with the question and don't answer it at all.

    A 45 minutes sprint interval session incorporating 15 second sprints with walking between will burn a decent amount of calories. Not a few. Probably 200 or so depending on the height and weight of the individual sprinting.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    A 45 minutes sprint interval session incorporating 15 second sprints with walking between will burn a decent amount of calories.
    '

    Yes, it will.

    For the third time, I say again, sprint training burns a lot of calories.

    We continue to be in violent agreement.
  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    Your back tracking is pretty hilarious.

    Anywho, hopefully OP you got some good info. ;)
  • adiostrasero
    adiostrasero Posts: 127 Member
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    Your back tracking is pretty hilarious.

    Anywho, hopefully OP you got some good info. ;)

    Baha ... I enjoyed that exchange immensely. And yes, I did ... thanks!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Buy a heart rate monitor.

    Heart rate monitors are notoriously unreliable for estimating caloric burn for anything other than steady state cardio.

    To the OP: if running is your goal I'm not sure that hills are the best way to start. Normally the initial focus is on building an
    aerobic base which is done with longer, slower runs and hills are incorporated as speed work.

    If you're new to running check out something like the C25K programs.

    Good luck & have fun!
  • PrimalGirl
    PrimalGirl Posts: 148 Member
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    You could try changing it into Tabata Training - a 10 second sprint followed by 20 second recovery and repeat 6-8 times.

    Tabata has been shown to increase CV health and anaerobic training and, as long as you go all out for every sprint, it will have huge benefits. Of course, it doesn't help your goal of 90 minutes' exercise per week, but a long walk to and from the hill where you sprint will help with that. And variety will help you keep motivated, so changing it up by doing different exercises will also help.

    And hill sprinting is better for your knees than flat sprinting, apparently - you automatically land on your toes, therefore effective shock absorption, and your foot has less distance to fall as the ground is moving up towards it.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    Your back tracking is pretty hilarious.

    Anywho, hopefully OP you got some good info. ;)

    They're not backtracking anything, I understood exactly what they meant, they are actually saying what you were on about just in a different way!

    This comes from a former sprinter, just so there is no discrepancy there.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    To the OP, don't worry about the calorie burn, just continue doing your sprint training, it is an excellent form of exercise and one that will get you very fit.

    I remember, sprinting 8 x 200m, walk back recovery, sometimes slow jog back recovery. My stomach ended up as flat as a board and I maintained weight without any effort, sprinting is absolutely excellent!! The whole training session would be no longer than 45 minutes, it was ample.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Well done on choosing sprinting. I think it's a great form of fat burning.
    You could try changing it into Tabata Training - a 10 second sprint followed by 20 second recovery and repeat 6-8 times.

    Tabata has been shown to increase CV health and anaerobic training and, as long as you go all out for every sprint, it will have huge benefits. Of course, it doesn't help your goal of 90 minutes' exercise per week, but a long walk to and from the hill where you sprint will help with that. And variety will help you keep motivated, so changing it up by doing different exercises will also help.

    And hill sprinting is better for your knees than flat sprinting, apparently - you automatically land on your toes, therefore effective shock absorption, and your foot has less distance to fall as the ground is moving up towards it.

    I'm no expert but I agree from my reading around the subject of sprint training and HIIT.

    It's hard to measure the cals burnt because with HIIT and sprint training, you get the afterburn effect, apparently, which can last for hours.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sprint_training_sculpts_body.htm
  • adiostrasero
    adiostrasero Posts: 127 Member
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    Thanks to all who replied. I think I should not focus so much on the calorie burn, since there's really no foolproof way to know it for sure, and focus on getting stronger/faster.

    I do slower (really slow, trust me) runs as well, but am training with sprints to increase my overall "power". And I do have a lot of minor but annoying knee problems, so running uphill is much easier on them. (I have no scientific basis for this - all I know is my knees and shins don't hurt when I run up a hill!)

    I will look into Tabata as well ... haven't heard of that before but it sounds interesting.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    If you have bad knees and want leg power try power cleans.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    I do slower (really slow, trust me) runs as well, but am training with sprints to increase my overall "power". And I do have a lot of minor but annoying knee problems, so running uphill is much easier on them. (I have no scientific basis for this - all I know is my knees and shins don't hurt when I run up a hill!)

    You may want to investigate barefoot or minimalist running. The technique is less harsh on the knees and incorporates a more sprinting style of running.
  • elvensnow
    elvensnow Posts: 154 Member
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    Doing a bunch of sprint/rest cycles actually counts as interval training. There is an exercise in MFP called "Interval Training" which is what I would probably log it under. For me it says 20 minutes of intervals (which is around the average to high end amount of time I would do) burns about 150 calories. No idea how accurate that is, but I'm sure it's roughly close (it might be as low as 100, but then I try not to eat back *all* exercise calories if I'm doing it that way).

    You might also be able to google some more accurate estimations on other sites for interval training.

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