As you may have gathered from the JillFit blogs over the years, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with cardio. I spent many years being a cardio queen, literally spinning my wheels doing hours a day only to be left with the same body, through-the-roof cravings and an unresponsive metabolism to show for it. Yikes.

 

But do I think some cardio has value? Absolutely. It's not the best tool we have for fat loss, so using it for that purpose is futile (that's nutrition's job), but for many reasons, cardio offers tons of benefit, especially the shorter-duration, high-intensity variety. In case you missed it, I recently blogged 11 great reasons to cardio right here.

 

And though I don't do hours of mindless cardio anymore, I find that sprinting offers more benefit, for less time invested, and it even helps develop my midsection more than any amount of crunches could. The great thing about sprinting is that anyone can do it because you get to go at your own pace (instead of having to "keep up" with the levels on a machine). If you're a beginner, go out there and try a few. For the more advanced, you'll kill 10-12 100m sprints. It's completely individual. And the benefits of sprinting are many.

So for you, I have enclosed the sprint workout that Tara and I do every week. Remember to listen to your body and simply do your best. Don't kill yourself :) Know that you have plenty of time to work up your speed and intensity, so you don't have to go all-out on Day 1. 

 

Try it. Have fun. Report back. Good luck!

 

Ox,

Jill

 

P.S. For a tutorial on how to warm-up for sprints (a suuuuper important component so you don't injure yourself), view this quick video I did.