I was sprinting up a sand dune and getting sand kicked in my face. I reached out, caught my friend’s leg, pulled it out from under him and continued my uphill battle. I don’t remember who made it to the top first. It didn't matter, no one lasted at the top for too long.

King of the hill was one of my favorite games to play at the beach or while sledding at the local golf course.

Hill sprints are the modern day, adult version of king of the hill.

Hill sprints have been my staple conditioning exercise for the past several years. They are the best short burst, high intensity, conditioning exercise.

Some benefits that hill sprints offer are:

Lower chance of injury compared to traditional sprints. The slower speed and shortened strides help reduce risk of pulling a muscle.
No equipment necessary. Unless there are no hills around. In that case, use a pull sled such as the Rogue E sled to get a similar training experience. http://www.roguefitness.com/s-35e-rogue-e-sled
Large gross motor and muscle engagement.
Build speed and strength.
Build stamina and overall conditioning.

To get the most of my hill sprinting efforts there are a few simple techniques I try and employ on each sprint. They are:

Lean forward. This should be intuitive. If I do not consciously make an effort to lean aggressively forward, I end up sprinting too upright.
Keep the knees high. I am not going for a jog in the park. I concentrate on bringing my knees up and then generating as much power as possible on the downstroke.
Stay on the balls of your feet. This goes well with the first two points and helps your feet spend less time on the ground, making you faster.
Aggressively swing your arms. Doing this makes a tremendous difference on your uphill progress. It also carries over well to building speed on flat ground sprints. If I am not driving forward with my arms, I am just mailing it in.

Not many adults are doing hill sprints and I’m guessing even less are playing king of the hill. Take action, set yourself apart from the pack, don’t get sand kicked in your face, run your hill sprints!