Sprinting is the new jogging, according to many experts who suggest that sprinting - running as hard as possible - is better for burning body fat than traditional steay state cardiovascular exercise, which places the exerciser in the fat burning zone.

For years people looking to lose weight or burn body fat have performed cardio exercise for 30 - 60 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. They would cycle, jog, swim or walk in a way that would allow them to do so for prolonged periods of time - meaning they are working their heart and lungs moderate to hard ... but not too hard.

However, the common belief amongst sports and exercise scienceis that perhaps sprinting and high intensity training is the way to combat growing obesity levels and help individuals control their weight.

Unlike cardio exercise sprinting requires all out efforts of exercise in repeated short periods of time. For example a sprint programme might see the exercise perform 30 second sprints followed by an active rest period (low intensity jogging or walking) of between 60 - 90 seconds before the sprint is repeated. This pattern would continue for 5 - 10 sprints.

The reason why this approach to exercise and weight lose is believed to work is that this form of high intensity activity promotes increases in muscle mass, allowing the body to burn more and more calories during both the exercise and even during rest, whereas cardiovascular exercise only really burns calories and body fat during only the period of exercise itself.