2 sources recently inspired me to start doing sprints at least once a week: "Sunday Sprints" is what I'm calling it. The first source was this commercial with Adrian Peterson:



No additional words are needed to describe why this inspired me. ha

The second was from a blog that I ran across by accident called "Mark's Daily Apple.". He has written a book that I'm planning on picking up called "The Primal Blueprint". One of his 10 principles for living a primal lifestyle that promotes health, fitness, and wellness is what he calls "run really fast every once in awhile."



"In a world where danger lurked around every corner, your ability to run was a strong indicator of whether you would live long enough to pass your genes down to the next generation. (Note to Nietzsche: That which didn’t kill Grok made him stronger). Avoiding a charging beast to save your life, or surging forward to catch a different beast for dinner, the net effect was still survival. A combination of the hormonal events that occurred simultaneously and the resultant gene expression within fast twitch muscle made sure that the next time this happened Grok could sprint a little faster."



I will be reviewing this book once I read it, so stay tuned.

So WHY should you give sprints a try? Well sprinting has been found to release human growth hormone, which is one of the KEY's to achieving a better body. here's some research on the matter:

"In a new study, researchers compared HGH growth hormone levels in several ways — resting (for a baseline measurement), after a 6 second cycle sprint, and after 30 second cycle sprint. Researchers also measured growth hormone for hours afterwards to see how long HGH stayed in participant’s bodies after exercise, (The time course of the human growth hormone response to a 6 second and a 30 second cycle ergometer [an indoor rowing machine that measures the amount of energy or work performed] sprint, 2002, Stokes).

The 6 second sprint method did move HGH some, but didn’t come close to the body’s potential to release this powerful hormone. The 30 second all-out effort sprint experiment increased HGH by 530% over resting baseline and 450% over the lesser intensity sprint.

Like earlier research studies, HGH stayed elevated for 1.5 to 2 hours after the sprinting program. And according to the researchers at the University of VA, the HGH released during exercise targets body fat for up to two hours after training. (Impact of acute exercise intensity on pulsatile growth hormone release in men, 2000, Pritzlaff).

HGH may be the most powerful fitness improving, anti-aging (and anti-middle-aging), body fat reducing, muscle toning, hormone in your body. And the fitness hormone can be increased by 530% with specific types of anaerobic fitness training. Natural is almost always better. And increasing the fitness hormone naturally through exercise is the natural choice!"



Go give it a try. Whether you're a girl or a guy, HGH is a highly desired substance. In addition, there's something great about letting loose and just going balls to the walls: sprinting as hard as you can. It's therapeutic, freeing, it makes you feel more alive. We seem to have forgotten the importance of this.

Design your life.

Sam