Sprint workout: short, fast runs with full rest, for speed

There are two workouts called a sprint workout. One is sprint intervals for fitness: all-out efforts on a bike or a rower with short, easy recovery between them, which is a HIIT workout and lives there. This page is the other one: sprinting to get faster. The runs are short, the rest is long, and the session stops before you slow down.

A 2019 review of sprint training science and coaches' practice draws the line in speed terms: runs should be either at least 95% of your top speed, to improve performance, or under 70%, for recovery.¹ The range in between, about 70 to 95%, is assumed to help neither, and the review says to avoid it.

Speed or fitness: two different workouts

The fitness column is a summary of the HIIT page. The review puts the rule for speed plainly: full recovery between each sprint, so every run can be done without a drop-off in performance.¹

What the research says about training for speed

• Sprinting makes you faster at sprinting. A 2016 review of 48 studies, 1,485 people from a range of athletic backgrounds, found that sprint-specific training (free sprints, sprints against a sled, band or hill, and assisted sprints) had a moderate effect on sprint times, about 3% faster on average. It concluded that specific sprint training seemed the most beneficial over every distance it looked at, and that strength and power training could also help.²
• But sprints alone weren't enough for short sprints in one big review. A 2021 meta-analysis of 121 studies, 3,419 athletes from the football codes (soccer, American football, rugby, Australian rules and others), found that groups doing only sprints and running drills didn't significantly improve over 5, 10 or 20 meters, while groups doing resisted or assisted sprints (sleds, bands, hills, a pulley or a partner), strength, power or jump training, or a mix, did. No single method came out on top.³ The authors suggested one reason: most of the studies gave short, incomplete rests between sprints, and future studies should give complete rest.³
• Short rests slow you down. In a 1992 study, 7 men ran 15 sprints of 40 meters with 30, 60 or 120 seconds of rest between them. Speed over the last 10 meters dropped with every rest length: after 3 sprints with 30 seconds, 7 with 60 and 11 with 120. The first 15 meters, the acceleration, only got slower with the 30-second rests.⁴

Taken together: sprint, rest long enough that each run is fast, and lift and jump on other days. The 2019 review notes that the vast majority of sprint studies test young team-sport athletes,¹ so the numbers are a guide for anyone else, not a promise.

A sprint workout to start with

The distances and rests in rows 2 and 3 are what the 2019 review gives as a typical session for a young, relatively untrained athlete.¹ The number of runs and the warm-up are practical.

The whole session is about 40 minutes (practical estimate), and most of it is rest. That is the point. For longer all-out runs, of 7 to 15 seconds, a rule of thumb among coaches, the review says, is one to two minutes of rest for every second of sprinting.¹

For beginners (practical): run the first two or three sessions a notch below all-out, on grass or a track, and keep to the low end of the run counts. Add runs before you add distance.

Where it fits in your week

The review says hard sprint sessions need at least 48 hours of recovery, and that most coaches put strength training the day after a sprint day, so sore legs don't slow the sprints.¹ A week built on that (practical):

Practical: one sprint day a week is a fair start if you already lift three or four days, and keep sprints away from a hard leg day the day before.

Common questions

How long should you rest between sprints?

Long enough to run as fast again: about two minutes after a 20-meter run and about four after a flying sprint, in the review's session for a relatively untrained athlete.¹ In the 1992 study, 30-second rests slowed even the first 15 meters over the 15 sprints.⁴

How many sprints should I do?

No study here fixes a number for everyone. The review says coaches set the volume by speed and by watching technique.¹ Practical: 6 to 10 runs in all, and stop at the first one that's clearly slower.

Can I do a sprint workout on a treadmill?

Practical: a treadmill belt takes a few seconds to speed up and slow down, which doesn't suit 20-meter accelerations, so sprint for speed on a track, grass or a flat path. Treadmill and outdoor running compared: treadmill vs outdoor running. For hard intervals on a machine, a bike is simpler: the stationary bike workout.

What are the benefits of a sprint workout?

The studies on this page measured sprint times, and that is the claim this page makes: sprint training made people faster at sprinting.² Fitness results from sprint intervals are on the HIIT page.

Do hill sprints or a weighted vest help?

Hill and sled sprints are resisted sprinting, which the 2016 review counted as sprint-specific training.² The sled studies are on the sled push page, and a vest trial on the weighted vest page.

What if something hurts?

Stop the session. If you have pain, an injury or a medical condition, stop and ask a doctor or a physical therapist.

If you'd rather have the week planned

A sprint session is simple to run; fitting it around squats, deadlifts and the rest of your week, without one wrecking the other, is the part a page can't settle. Coaching is the version where your workouts live in Trainerize, built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call goes over the week you just had and sets the next one. Coaching to get stronger explains how that works, and apply is where you tell me about your week.