7 Reasons Why You Should Conquer Hills

I first discovered running hills on a sunny summer day several years ago, prompted by the sight of a huge hill right next to the house I was living in at the moment. Gazing up at the top looming somewhere awfully far away from the foot of the precipitous incline where I was standing, sprinting up the hill seemed like the most badass thing to do.

I guess I truly got lucky in that department since a track & field stadium was located in the ‘hood as well… which meant running steep, long-ass stairs up in the rafters while Eye of the Tiger was turned on repeat on my Creative MuVo mp3 player (ah, the memories!).

Ever since that summer hills and stairs have become a staple in my training, save for the time I spent in Berlin where the Allied Forces had apparently bombed currywurst-munching krauts and their entire infrastructure to the ground in World War II, thus leaving the whole place as flat as Heidi Montag prior to a gazillion boob jobs.

This past week I realized I’ve been too much of a pussy considering I’ve been comfortably avoiding hard conditioning outside ever since winter took over like Osama eluded the Yanks after 9/11 in a million dollar mansion in Pakistan, and headed over to a hill to rectify the situation.

Snow and coldness are a rather pathetic excuse for postponing an activity you know is good for you. Check out this article and this article for some hill sprints 101.

Below are 7 more reasons why it’s time to get back on track, find your sprinting mojo again and become a tad more awesome by the day.

1. Simplicity. Find a hill/set of stairs. Run up, walk down. Repeat until you no longer perform well.

2. They give you a helluva workout. Calves, quads, glutes, hams, abs. All get smoked.

3. Minimal time commitment. 10-20 minutes is all you really need for an effective session.

4. They make you a better athlete. Sprinting builds explosiveness and lung power.

5. No equipment needed.

6. Rocky ran stairs in Rocky II before beating Apollo Creed. ‘Nuff said.

7. They help you get lean. 2-3 short, intense sprinting sessions per week will beat the shit out of the adipose, much like Chris Brown did out of Rihanna.

I’ll be seeing you at the hill this week, buddy.

(Look at Stallone exploding up at 1:55! Marvelous.)