Hill Sprints

In my opinion, athletic ability is primarily defined by your ability to get from Point A to Point B, which is locomotion. The simplest form of locomotion is single joint movement. Then we have rolling and transitioning between lying and standing, which leads to walking, jogging, and sprinting.

I use bodyweight exercise to train the single joint functions, rolling, transitions, and everything in-between. In order to get the most out of that training, I believe it makes sense to also practice walking and sprinting. A great way to train both walking and sprinting is up hill. You can do this on a treadmill or an actual hill. It’s a low impact option that strengthens the back of your body like nothing else.

Keep your toes and knees pointing straight ahead, pick up your knees, pump your arms front to back, and lean into the hill. You can of course also do sprints without a hill! Do several sets at 50-80% intensity between your bodyweight workouts or immediately after. Doing sprints after your active recovery workouts is a great option.