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Does Sprinting Build Muscle?

This Is the Workout You Should Do to Burn Fat and Build Muscle (Hint: It's Not Weightlifting)

Proper Sprint Technique
Image Source: Getty / RyanJLane

Want to tighten your butt, get more definition in your legs, sculpt your core, and improve your strength and stamina? Sprinting will help you achieve all the above. To learn the basics of sprinting and why it's great for building lean muscle, POPSUGAR spoke to Ato Boldon, four-time Olympian and NBC Sports lead track analyst, and Curtis Taylor, University of Oregon sprints and hurdles associate head coach.

"You will get leaner and your muscles will get bigger," Boldon told POPSUGAR. "It speeds up hypertrophy (muscle growth), so you'll start seeing changes in your muscles if you stick with it," he continued. "Sprinting does have a huge effect on your metabolism, so you're going to burn calories at a huge rate and you're going to burn lots of fat," he said.

"Sprinting does build muscle, particularly in the glute and hamstring area, because these are the prime movers in sprinting," Taylor explained. In addition to your building more muscle in your glutes and hamstrings, he said you'll see muscle development in your quadriceps and calves and that "you may also see some shoulder, biceps, triceps, and pec (chest muscles) toning as well."

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