Q&A for How to Get Into Sprinting (Beginners)

Alternating between jogging and sprinting can build up your endurance and speed.

Yes, certainly. Remember to maintain a correct forward lean. This is a great way to build strength and stability.

Your rest intervals will shorten as your heart, lungs and legs adapt, but use your heart rate to gauge how long to rest. Let your heart rate get down to 100 bpm (+/-10 bpm) to get a good rest.

Sprinting will get the heart rate higher and will burn more calories for the same amount of time. However, sprinting is harder on the body so it's best to do some of both.

Building explosive muscles, practicing 2-4 times a week and getting a good coach who can analyze your form and point out ways you can improve will help you get faster.

Yes, if your body is up to the challenge, sprinting is an excellent calorie burner. Remember you have to control your diet as well.

100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, any short distance will help with your speed.

Keep practicing and focus on the finish line. When other sprinters overtake you, just keep running your fastest and then focus on beating your own score.

Yes, you should follow the steps above and should devote yourself to training.

Follow the steps all the way through. If you want you can also train for 1 hour on Saturday and Sunday, but don't overdo it as you need to rest.

You need to pace yourself. Divide 5 minutes by 4 laps. You will have to get that time or better to reach the time you want. Practice hard everyday and you will get there.

If you are near any facilities or just simply a park, do some strides, efforts and really push yourself to the limits! I personally am not a sprinter and more of a middle distance runner, but watching inspiring athletes always seems to encourage me.

Yes. The best thing to do to improve stamina is to lengthen how far you run outside of competition. This will condition both your body and mental strength.

The faster you pump your arms the faster you will go, and if you don't already have spikes you should probably get some.

You could, but you should quit smoking, because you need your lungs and heart to be in top condition.

Start off slow, then gradually push yourself more towards the end, because you will have that burst of speed.

There is no time period. It would be helpful to start out sprinting on a running track, as the distance is measured in meters. You can sprint different distances, such as a 200 meter, 300 meter, etc.

Not necessarily. Brooks provides sneakers with a lot of cushioning to absorb the shock. Nike is a brand with sneakers for style or training. If you want to purchase Nike, make sure that they are specifically for RUNNING, not other things.

Yes. For sprints you should use spikes for a good, fast workout. It will help you train for race day and be more prepared.

Practicing by running uphill can definitely increase your endurance and lung capacity, helping you to become a better runner overall.

The world record for 50 years old for men is: 10.88 seconds. The world record for 50 years old for women is: 11.67 seconds. But it depends on what shape you're in and if you have been training. You need to be fit and well practiced.

See Run a Marathon (especially Method 1).

Usain Bolt's 100m record is 9.58 secs. You are about three seconds away which is actually a big difference, but since you are young, you may get a bit faster in your twenties. Be proud, that time is very good for a beginner! With training, you just might.

Get down like you would with starting blocks, but hold your heels in the air and the balls of your feet on the ground. Push off of the ground and start running with your best form.