Conditioning Hill Sprints.

[KnightTemplar]

I use a Stair Climber during the winter months. Now that the weather has improved(by Scottish standards at least)I'm considering switching to Hill Sprints. There's a nice, steep hill literally two minutes from my front door. It's about 140 Meters. I'm not sure of the Gradient, but it's steep enough to make me work hard.

Anyone else here do Hill Sprints?

 

[maximus__]

I use a Stair Climber during the winter months. Now that the weather has improved(by Scottish standards at least)I'm considering switching to Hill Sprints. There's a nice, steep hill literally two minutes from my front door. It's about 140 Meters. I'm not sure of the Gradient, but it's steep enough to make me work hard.

Anyone else here do Hill Sprints?

It's one of my favourite variations of sprinting. I prefer it over flat terrain for shorter distances.

I like Apex Hills from Tactical barbell personally.

Pick an explosive exercise like KB swings and do a set of 10 or so at the top or bottom depending on what you want to do.

Ross Enameit used to have a similar training session involving pushups or burpees.

 

[Stoic1]

Some of my best pre-competition training was hill sprints with a partner.

My memory was doing sets of three. Walking back down the hill but no rest between reps. Only rest between sets. Get heart rate back down to under 120 and then 3 more.

 

[Municipal Waste]

Great exercise. Less risk of hurting your hamstrings than regular sprints. Prepare for sore hips though.

You could start with any amount of sets you are comfortable with and increase it by 1 each week for a few weeks.

When I did them I used the walk back to my starting point as rest. Just beware not to pick too long of a distance.

 

[vision1]

I do them for speed work. Great exercise.
For conditioning they may me nauseous, same as pushing a sled ... just not worth it for me.

 

[usernamee]

Yes. They're awesome.

Warmup real well and ease into it. Don't go overboard with volume, intensitity or frequency at the beginning or your achilles heels/tendons will start to complain and when those start to complain they take forever to stop complaining.

 

[Trabaho]

I rarely climbed the small mountain in my balkan hometown. Basically walk uphill for an hour, or two hours mixed uphill with the straight road inbetween. Not sprint but it's uphill. Enjoy the view and walk back down. Bonis, see nature, plug off and breath fresh air. Green is healthy, and stones. Hill sprints sound very good. High intesity. So you can save time. Do half and hour or an hour. And you got a real blast of cardio. Drink clear water from some fountain half way.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Great exercise. Less risk of hurting your hamstrings than regular sprints. Prepare for sore hips though.

You could start with any amount of sets you are comfortable with and increase it by 1 each week for a few weeks.

When I did them I used the walk back to my starting point as rest. Just beware not to pick too long of a distance.

Yeah, that's what I plan on doing as well.

 

[period]

Back when I was competing, Saturday was hill day. My Dagestani wrestling coach had us jog up and down that hill for up to an hour, then briefly rest, then do up to 10x50 m hill sprints, then we did resistance band work (typically 3x3 min). He said that's standard practice over there.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Back when I was competing, Saturday was hill day. My Dagestani wrestling coach had us jog up and down that hill for up to an hour, then briefly rest, then do up to 10x50 m hill sprints, then we did resistance band work (typically 3x3 min). He said that's standard practice over there.

It's popular among Japanese Judoka as well.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

They are good for hiit I like them EMOM for like 10 minutes a couple of rounds

 

[period]

It's popular among Japanese Judoka as well.

Yes, they like their stairs. Stairs are great as well, and possibly better for some variations - for example, one Swiss wrestling (Schwingen) team I used to train with did a lot of repeated jumps up the stairs (up to five steps on two legs and leg-to-leg, up to 3 steps on one leg... plus crawling up the stairs backwards and crawling them down forward etc.).
The one potential disadvantage of stairs compared to hills of equal steepness is that they dictate stride length when sprinting - you can go 1, 2 or 3 steps per stride, but trying anything in between would be highly uncomfortable

 

[KnightTemplar]

Yes, they like their stairs. Stairs are great as well, and possibly better for some variations - for example, one Swiss wrestling (Schwingen) team I used to train with did a lot of repeated jumps up the stairs (up to five steps on two legs and leg-to-leg, up to 3 steps on one leg... plus crawling up the stairs backwards and crawling them down forward etc.).
The one potential disadvantage of stairs compared to hills of equal steepness is that they dictate stride length when sprinting - you can go 1, 2 or 3 steps per stride, but trying anything in between would be highly uncomfortable

I'd guess that Stairs are more high-risk than Hills too. Especially when you're tired and your form is starting to break down. It's much easier to trip on stairs than on flat ground.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I use a Stair Climber during the winter months. Now that the weather has improved(by Scottish standards at least)I'm considering switching to Hill Sprints. There's a nice, steep hill literally two minutes from my front door. It's about 140 Meters. I'm not sure of the Gradient, but it's steep enough to make me work hard.

Anyone else here do Hill Sprints?

Yes i do, it s part of my regular routine. I have a hill with 100m difference too but the trail zigzags a lot so that it way too long to sprint it. I run it slowly and need like 6 ‘ to reach the top. I feel on the verge of dying when I am done.

 

[period]

That reminds me, back in 2017 I had to go on a job in the mountains (I live in the Alps, we were working at 2.400 m of altitude) during preparation for wrestling season. We had to walk on site every day from 2250 m, and me being the head of the equipe and wanting to spare my co-workers, I was carrying always 20 kg of gear on me, somtimes up to 50. The last part of the trip was about 800-1000 m long, climbing all of those 150 m of height difference. I was walking between basecamp and site up to five times per day, and was pushing the pace a little bit more. On the last day, I decided to run it. So I handed my pack to our native American carrier (an exchange student from Arizona, huge guy, around 120 kg - him and me were both very amused of the notion of the "native American sherpa", so it stuck) and ran that bit. It took me 4.53 min, but it took significantly longer to stup the urge to throw up Looking back, I probably was in the shape of my life that summer.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Yes i do, it s part of my regular routine. I have a hill with 100m difference too but the trail zigzags a lot so that it way too long to sprint it. I run it slowly and need like 6 ‘ to reach the top. I feel on the verge of dying when I am done.

Yes, I've done some research, and there's a significant difference between Hill Sprints and Hill Repeats. Sprints are usually short distance of under 100 meters, which are done as fast as possible. Repeats are longer, and therefor have to be done at a slower pace(although still faster than LISS jogging).

Some people run Hill Repeats of 400 Meters or even longer.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

That reminds me, back in 2017 I had to go on a job in the mountains (I live in the Alps, we were working at 2.400 m of altitude) during preparation for wrestling season. We had to walk on site every day from 2250 m, and me being the head of the equipe and wanting to spare my co-workers, I was carrying always 20 kg of gear on me, somtimes up to 50. The last part of the trip was about 800-1000 m long, climbing all of those 150 m of height difference. I was walking between basecamp and site up to five times per day, and was pushing the pace a little bit more. On the last day, I decided to run it. So I handed my pack to our native American carrier (an exchange student from Arizona, huge guy, around 120 kg - him and me were both very amused of the notion of the "native American sherpa", so it stuck) and ran that bit. It took me 4.53 min, but it took significantly longer to stup the urge to throw up Looking back, I probably was in the shape of my life that summer.

I am thinking that my 100m difference has to be around 500m long. My best time is 5’45 and as i said i feel like i am going to die/collaps. Your 4’53 for 150m at say 800m sounds impressive.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Oh i just wanted to add that hill sprints/runs could be the most valuable conditioning tool in the world in my view. I.e. I think that if I could only do one exercise it would be that one.

 

[maximus__]

Yes, I've done some research, and there's a significant difference between Hill Sprints and Hill Repeats. Sprints are usually short distance of under 100 meters, which are done as fast as possible. Repeats are longer, and therefor have to be done at a slower pace(although still faster than LISS jogging).

Some people run Hill Repeats of 400 Meters or even longer.

I like time better for both.

For Hill sprints I use a distance of approx 100m and it takes me 30+ secs to do by the time I slow down.

Hill repeats I just do time. As many rounds in 20-30 mins of my desired distance.
Your 140m distance would be great for this. Each repeat would take 30-60 secs, walk back down for recovery.
Repeat for 10 -15 rounds.

I have a 600m hill I have used in the past and just done repeats on that. I have a 1km one I have looped into my longer runs.
All my run lopps have repeatable hill climbs.

 

[KnightTemplar]

I like time better for both.

For Hill sprints I use a distance of approx 100m and it takes me 30+ secs to do by the time I slow down.

Hill repeats I just do time. As many rounds in 20-30 mins of my desired distance.
Your 140m distance would be great for this. Each repeat would take 30-60 secs, walk back down for recovery.
Repeat for 10 -15 rounds.

I have a 600m hill I have used in the past and just done repeats on that. I have a 1km one I have looped into my longer runs.
All my run lopps have repeatable hill climbs.

I think Repeats will be better for me to start off with, as by definition they won't be as full-out as Sprints. So less chance of injury and slightly easier to recover from. While still being tough enough to be a good workout.