I was just thinking about how effective running has been for me for weight loss in the past. In particular, “wind sprints”, or hiit runs as I originally knew them. With the exception of early 2021 where I was doing strength training twice a day with an hour walk during lunch, I’ve been at my leanest when I’ve included 2-3 mile wind sprints.

How did it work?

• Start with walking about .25 miles as a gentle warmup
• Light jog for the next .75 miles
• This next part will vary depending on your fitness level and how long you’ve been running in this style
  • Beginner:
    • Walk 1 min
    • Sprint at 80-90% of max intensity for 15 seconds
    • Repeat the walk/sprint pattern for 6 sets
    • Jog the rest of the way home
  • Increasing intensity
    • Reduce walking time, keep sprints the same. Down to 30 sec walking time, then shift to next phase
  • MORE INTENSITY
    • Same warmup
    • Start jog for 1 min
    • Hard sprint 15 seconds
    • 6 sets
  • EVEN MORE
    • Same warmup
    • 30 sec jog
    • 15 sec sprints
    • 6 sets
  • Beyond
    • Same warmup
    • Same set design just add more sets. I’ve gone as far as 16 sets. I could probably continue to scale this…the problem becomes time availability.

The bootcamp and strength training I do are helpful. But I think I’m going to supplement more runs again.