Working out on a track can be crazy intimidating since you it might make think about college track stars or Olympians who are pretty much faster than anything else on two feet.
Whether you have a history of running or you’re completely new to the game, the track can be just as good as any gym in giving you a full body workout and getting you out of your comfort zone. And we all know that the real magic happens outside of comfort zones.
These track workouts can be used to help you build endurance, increase your speed, and burn a ton of calories in the process. You can also use the track to make up your own high-intensity interval training workout by incorporating strength moves along with short bursts of speed
Strength + Speed Workout
For this workout, you should start with a warm-up of 2 laps around the track. Next, do a different exercise for 30 seconds and immediately run a 100-yard sprint. Walk or jog back to thestarting line and repeat with the next move. Complete 4 rounds, and you would have run 1 mile by the end!
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Try not to take any breaks until you’ve completed all four exercises. You can use your brisk walk or jog back to the starting line as your rest, but the longer you can keep your heart rate up, the more calories you can burn.
Speed Booster Workout
A secret to increasing your speed is to incorporate short bursts of high speed running into your regular runs. Whether you’re on a track or not, if you periodically go into an all-out sprint and then recover at your base pace, you will eventually train your legs to move faster and you’ll be able to maintain high speeds for longer periods of time. On the track, you can use the straights and the curves for this kind of workout.
First, warm up with 2 laps around the track building up to your base pace. That’s the pace that’s not too slow, but something you can maintain without tiring out in just a few minutes. You’ll be running at afast pace for the long, straight portions of the track while jogging around the curves to recover.
- Lap 1: Run the straights at 70 percent effort, slow down to your base pace around the curves.
- Lap 2: Speed up your run to 80 percent effort, slow down to base pace around the curves
- Lap 3: Run the straights at a 90 percent effort, slow down to base pace around curves
- Lap 4: Go all out for your last two straights. You should not be able to speak at all, and it should be a struggle to complete each straight.
Once you finish don’t sit down right away. Use another lap to walk or jog to gradually slow your heart rate down. Incorporating this routine into your weekly workout schedule will help your body increase its endurance and help those legs move faster than ever before!
Full Body Track Workout
The track is great for running but you can also use it for any dynamic move to help you get fit from head to toe. For this workout, you’ll mix laps of jogging around the track with dynamic strength moves like lunges and broad jumps to burn calories, shed fat, and improve mobility all over your body.
For this workout, you’ll do a different move through each straight of the track, then jog the curves. One round of every move is plenty, but go for more if you can. Don’t forget to warm up first with jogging one or two laps around the track.
- Straight 1: High knees
- Straight 2: Butt kicks
- Straight 3: Side shuffle (leading with right foot)
- Straight 4: Side shuffle (leading with left foot)
- Straight 5: Lunge walks
- Straight 6: Plank walks (hold a plank across the track lanes, walk hands and feet down the straight
- Straight 7: Broad jumps (Start in a squat, swing arms as you jump feet forward like a long jump, land in a squat and repeat)
- Straight 8: Power skips (skip while driving knee to chest and jumping as high as possible to next foot)
Be sure to take a final lap around the track to cool down and slow the heart rate gradually.
Before You Hit The Track
These track workouts are not for the faint of heart. Try to incorporate one a week into your regularly scheduled workouts add build up as you can. As always, listen to your body and talk to a physician if you have any physical limitations or injuries that might be worsened by these exercises.
Sharita Jennings is a fitness and travel enthusiast and creator of Get Fit Like That, LLC. She is a health policy attorney and ACE certified group fitness instructor and fitness nutrition specialist. She provides online fitness plans and leads group fitness classes in Washington DC. Check out her fitness tips and workouts at GetFitLikeThat.com.
