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September 4, 2020 6 mins

"Car Sprints" are something that Tom came up with years ago as a way to mix up his runs and rides. Listen and discover what "car sprints" are and how you can use your surroundings to motivate you on your next workout.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. Fit
tip car sprints? What are car sprints? Something I came
up with years ago, and if memory serves, it was

(00:25):
back when I was contributing to magazines, back when there
were all those great fitness magazines, very sad. One of
the first I ever started working with was Self magazine.
Just a great one, lots of great fitness tips and
workouts and things like that, and I would often be
asked for just tips, ways to make your work out
more fun, things like that. So this was one I

(00:47):
came up with, and many of you are going to
think it's maybe a little ridiculous, maybe a little ego centric.
Hey it works, that's all I know. So super simple,
all right, So it goes into your outdoor workouts. If
you're a walker, runner, or a biker, but especially a runner,
this one is for you. But again it works for

(01:08):
walking and biking as well. So a lot of people
here about interval training. I've done a bunch of shows
on them. You know, they're super effective types of workouts.
You want your steady state workout, you want your interval training.
So here's a really simple, effective and fun way to
get in some intervals. All right, So it goes like this,

(01:30):
so maybe once a week. If you're someone who runs
to three times a week, generally speaking, you want to
do intervals once a week, you know, hard intervals, and
this could be your interval workout. So this is for
outdoor workouts, hence the car sprint title. So let's say
you are going for a three mile run, your first
mile or a mile and a half, nice easy pace,

(01:52):
your regular pace. Right. Then here's where the fund starts.
Whenever you see a car off in the distance, you
pick up the pace. As the car gets closer, you sprint,
all right, You go full out sprint until that car
passes you, and then when it's out of sight, you

(02:12):
slow it way down, and slowing down could be back
to your original pace. Generally speaking, it's gonna be hard
because you ideally are truly sprinting all outsprint past that car,
and then when it's gone, you slow down and you
can walk to recover. And you're gonna do that four,

(02:33):
five minutes, ten minutes. You're gonna choose how long you
can go by reps, you can say five cars ten cars,
doesn't have to be a lot, doesn't have to be
a huge number, all right, And so you're gonna continue
like that. So car comes, you, take off, you sprint,
it passes you, you walk, then you pick it up again.

(02:54):
Next car in the distance, nice and easy. As it
gets closer, pick up that pace, hammer past it all out, sprint,
car has gone around the turn or wherever, back to
walking or jogging. And then you take the last five
ten minutes or so, nice easy pace. Alright, So you

(03:15):
pick a number, pick an amount of time, and that's
gonna be the number of intervals you do. So what
does this do well? Solves three problems, actually does three things.
Provides really much needed variation for so many people, right
that same steady state run not only physically but mentally,
you know, taxing after a certain amount of time. So

(03:36):
it's a great way to vary your routine. And secondly,
it is a really great way to do intervals because
generally speaking, unless you live in like you know, somewhere
in the Midwest where you can see a car coming
from miles away, your sprint is gonna be ten seconds,
five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen. It's gonna be short. But
it's gonna be hard and fast, right, so it's the

(03:58):
perfect amount of time to do a hard interval. And
then yes, you probably see where I'm going with this, hopefully.
The third benefits of doing car sprints Inevitably you're gonna
have people that you know drive by you and they're
gonna go, oh my gosh, you are really really fast.

(04:19):
So it works on so many levels. You're gonna get fitter,
you're gonna get faster. It's fun and your friends there
you go, didn't even realize all four fs. Your friends
are gonna say, I didn't realize how fit you are,
all right, So there you have it. I joke. But
it's actually a great workout, all right, so use it.

(04:40):
Walking you can do the same thing. Pick up the
pace when you see cars coming, bring it back down
when the car's gone. You're walking. Friends will be like, wow,
you're you're a fast power walker. And you can even
do it on bikes. As cars approaching, pick up that pace,
slow down when it passes. All right. Yes, it's fun.
Yes it's kind of goofy, but it works. Thank you

(05:01):
for listening. I enjoy doing these short fit tips. And
guess what you take all these fit tips you put
them together. Success success, all right. Please rate the show
if you have not already. If you have, thank you
so much. Subscribe to the show. I have goals people.
I need more subscribers. Thank you if you already have.
And again, my goal is to get you in the

(05:24):
best shape of your life, to enjoy your life to
the fullest, to be the best you. It's cliche, I know,
but that's what I've been doing for the vast majority
of my life and what I will continue to do.
I want you to have the best information to live
your best life, all right. Please, if you want to
reach out to me, as so many people do, I

(05:45):
enjoy getting your feedback and topic ideas and questions, so
many questions, and I answer them all. Tom h Fit
is Twitter and Instagram, Tom h Fit Fitness disrupted dot com.
You can reach out to me there as well. Thank
you so much for listen ning. I am Tom Holland
this is Fitness Disrupted, Believe in Yourself. Fitness Disrupted is

(06:11):
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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