Once of the fastest ways to lose body fat and keep muscle is by training with hill-sprints. Doing hill sprints not only burns the maximum amount calories, it also saves a lot of time when compared to traditional methods of cardio.

In half the time it takes to do a standard gym cardio session, you could receive many more benefits from hill-sprints. Think in terms of the body types between an Olympic sprinter and a marathon runner. Sure a marathon works out much longer, but would you like to look like that?

Hill sprints can be put on the top shelf of exercises for me along side kettlebells and as always, I'm not without my reasons. First and foremost is safety. Here is an excerpt from top strength coach, Charles Staley:

Due to the inclined surface, maximum limb speed cannot be attained and thus serves as a safety barrier for your precious hamstrings! However, in the process, your posterior-chain muscles (low-back, glutes, hamstrings and calves) get an incredible strengthening effect! This means that you can avoid pulling and injuring your muscles on inclined surfaces and hit the muscles in your backside at the same time!

You can benefit for an entire day from doing hill-sprints, which will save you time in the first place. Hill-sprinting increases your metabolism allowing you to burn more calories.

Now, hill sprints are not without costs. Because you are working at an all out speed, you have to make sure that you are warmed up and can handle the stress. A heart rate monitor is a great addition to hill sprints. You always want to make sure that you cool down as well because of the intensity of the workout. Here is a sample, get-started plan:

5 minutes of warm-up doing full-body movements like squats, pushups, and lunges

25-yard jog up a hill 2x

25 yard hill-sprint up, walk down-repeat 3x-rest 15 seconds between sprints

35 yard hill-sprint up, walk down-repeat 3x-rest 15 seconds between sprints

45-yard sprint up and walk down, 3x

50 yard hill-sprint up, walk down-repeat 2x-rest 30 seconds

Cool down by walking around and stretching until your heart-rate drops

This is just a sample so if it is too hard or too easy, vary the distances, rest periods, and number of sprints.

If you do hill-sprints two or three times a week for a month, you're sure to see major increases in strength, fat loss, and time spent doing things other than working out! The workout is tough, but the benefits are numerous.