Q&A for How to Become a Professional Sprinter

If you want to increase your agility, practice doing calf exercises like jump squats, lunge jumps, and burpees. Make sure you stretch whenever you work out so your muscles don't get tight.

You surely can. It indeed is a great timing for a beginner, just practice and find a good coach.

Most elite men sprinters finish in under 10 seconds, women in under 11 seconds.

There is no age limit in India. There are age groups: junior and senior.

There is no set age, but you just need to keep practicing.

Explain to them that this is what you really want, then prove to them how dedicated you are by running every day. Ask your coach to speak with them about your skills, because they may not take your word for it.

Run on the track three times a week, and work out at least twice. That way, you get a good combination of weights and running.

Representing India in the Olympics is a little easier compared to playing on an Indian cricket team, but choosing sprinting as a career and representing India in the Olympics is still pretty challenging. You need to have a strong dedication to the sport and practice constantly to improve your ability.

No. It's up to you. Signing as a pro sprinter often means that you've decided to skip college or at least delay it for a time.

You can go for whatever you want to achieve! Keep improving your time and you will eventually get your time to sub 11. The amount of time will depend on your efforts and your body.

You won't get a muscular body when sprinting. You may lose fat, but the only thing getting muscular are your thighs and legs. Muscular legs are a good thing, so you really don't have to do anything. Just sprint and have fun.

Sign up for online scouting programs, such as 'hudl.com' or 'scoutsfocus'. These are where high school and college coaches look mainly for recruits.

Do short sprints with a running start and a few minutes rest in between reps. For more endurance to finish the race, do longer sprints with less effort and less rest in between.

I find it easier to train for running with a coach, or small group, to help keep me motivated and push myself more. But if you are already pretty good at sprinting, some find it easier to train alone.

Work on building your core and leg strength, and the simple stuff, like running on the treadmill or working on the elliptical. Maybe even work with some medicine balls? Remember, you are still on the young side to be going to the gym, so I wouldn't do the serious, heavy lifting stuff until you are around 16+ years old.

It depends. The coach makes the rules.

You can use sidewalks or roads instead. If you use a road, just be sure to watch out for cars.

Look this up on professional websites and do lots of research. You could also find open races by searching online.

Do lots and lots of cardio. Run laps and sprint to gain speed, and long jumps to stretch out the legs.

You dont have to have a diet. Just run and practice more. Push your legs to do more running and the more you practice, the faster you will get.

Yes, with enough practice you can do anything.

That is very fast, almost Olympic level. I encourage you to keep running and you will get better.

Work out four or five times a week.

At 13 almost everyone has a chance. It depends on how hard you want to work for the next five or six years.

Of course! If anything, weighing less could help you run faster.

Practice it the only thing that will make you faster and always have goals to beat your personal bests (PBs). Remember to stretch before you run so you won't pull anything, as injury can set you back considerably. If you can get a coach, that is going to do wonders for improving your times.

Every participating country has its own rules for qualifying for the Olympics. Level of athletic ability -- not education -- is typically considered most important.

Interval training benefits sprinters and long distance runners. Do this for 5-20 minutes a day. Work hard and someday you will reach your dreams.

Jogging almost every day is good exercise, but it's not especially helpful for sprinters. Their best exercise is sprinting itself, in addition to the training regimen discussed in the above article.

Driveways are not very long, so you wont have that much time to accelerate, but they are good for hill sprints if sloped.