Throughout my work with Boxers in Athens and other areas, I have found that a 100 meter sprint repeated for multiple sets is a tremendous supplement to improve their power endurance necessary for the demands of the sport.

This type of workout is also very effective at increasing your metabolism and reducing body fat while maintaining lean muscle mass. The 100 meter sprint workout should be introduced after you have already done some moderate running for a few weeks (i.e. 2-3 mile runs at a steady pace, 2-3 times a week). This will create an aerobic base so that you can get the most out of these workouts and recover adequately from the training. Before starting an intense routine like this, it is best to start off with dynamic stretching (Light jog, High knees, Butt kickers) to prime your muscles for work. Save the static stretching for after your workout, as it will reduce their ability to contract quickly and impair you from gaining the maximum benefit from your workout.

THE WORKOUT

The 100 meter sprint workout consists of simply sprinting the straight of a track and walking the curve. To start off, you should run the first 100 meter sprint at about 70 percent of your max effort, walk the curve and then the next 100 meters, try to hit as hard as you can. A great tool to have is a stopwatch or a phone to time your sprints. If you were not a track athlete, your goal should be to run the first all-out effort 100 meter in about 13-15 seconds. If you can go even faster than that, great! Including your warm up set at 70 percent your max effort, you should perform 5-6 X 100 meter sprints your first workout. Do your absolute best to make every single one as fast as your first max effort sprint, getting them all as close as you can to 13-15 seconds. After you complete the 5-6 sets then cool down with a light jog, a walk and some static stretching.

PROGRESSION & FREQUENCY

Your first week of this routine should consist of 2 workouts, spaced 2-3 days apart.

Week 1: 5-6 100 meter sprints a workout trying to match your first max effort time for each.

Week 2: add 1-2 100 meter sprints to the workouts, again trying your best to match the time of your first max effort. 2 workouts a week.

Week 3: Add 1-2 100 meter sprints to the existing workload 2x a week.

Week 4: Add 1-2 100 meter sprints to the existing workload 2x a week.

Week 5: Try to maintain your current number of 100 meter sprints for 2x that week. You should be doing somewhere in the range of 9-13 100 meter sprints in your workout.

Week 6: After this initial ramp up, depending on how your body is doing (sprints can take a toll on your joints), pull back down to week 2 numbers of 6 to 8 sprints either once or twice that week. If you are feeling extremely fatigued, depending on your initial conditioning level when you started this routine, you can even use this week as a recovery to just do some light running. After you feel recovered, go back to ramping it up again and build up to the volume achieved in week 5. During your workouts, focus on improving your times on your sprints and maintaining your times through the workout. If you are really doing your best max effort, don’t be surprised if your 100 meter times drop off from time to time or falls off towards the end of a hard workout from accumulated fatigue. This is to be expected. What is important is that you do your best.

FINAL BELL

Be sure to listen to your body! Make sure after a couple cycles, no matter how you feel, to back off for a week or 2 from sprinting completely or even cycle into another workout for a little while before getting back to it. Too much of anything at a high intensity can be bad for your body and your mind and make your workouts stale, at the very least, and at the worst lead to injury. If you give this routine a try you will find out it is very time efficient and very beneficial in helping you achieve the performance and body you want!