A CEO and busy mom of 7 said sprint workouts helped her get fitter than ever with less time in the gym

• A 49-year-old CEO and busy mom said shorter workouts helped her improve her fitness and longevity.
• After winning at Hyrox, a popular fitness race, she started overtraining and felt burned out.
• She broke through the fitness plateau by focusing on shorter, intense sprint sessions.

Maria Colacurcio is used to people asking how she does it all: leading a tech company, parenting seven children, and working out hard enough to compete in elite races.

Colacurcio, 49, is the CEO of Syndio, a software company helping to leverage AI for pay equity. Since 2022, she's been competing in Hyrox, a fitness race that combines running with tests of strength and endurance like rowing, lunges, burpees, and sled pushes.

Colacurcio told Business Insider that "doing it all" is a bit of a myth, particularly for women: you can't effortlessly juggle career, family, and health without making some sacrifices.

"We all have priorities, and we set those priorities with intention," she said.

Each day is a delicate balance of early-morning workouts in the garage gym, finding quality time with her kids, her husband (and Hyrox doubles partner), Brandon, and making sure the family gets fed, on top of her demanding job.

About a year ago, Colacurcio said she was hit hard by burnout and stopped seeing progress with her fitness despite long hours of working out.

With the help of an elite coach, she switched to shorter workouts and added sprints to her routine. Quick bursts of high-intensity effort are an evidence-backed way to get fit fast — and boost longevity at the same time.

Fighting a fitness plateau

Colacurcio knew she was burned out when she stopped looking forward to racing and began fixating on her finish times instead.

"The number one indicator that I was burned out and overtraining was my mind," she said. "Mentally, I'd gotten to a place where I no longer loved the process. I was so focused on the outcome."

Colacurcio said she thinks of participating in Hyrox as a privilege. The races, which take place all over the world, have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years thanks to a vibe that feels as much like a festival as a fitness event.

"It's almost like a Taylor Swift concert. You have to get online and get your registration in the queue, or else you can't make it into these races," Colacurcio said.

The format of Hyrox, combining multiple rounds of running with other exercises, makes it accessible for even beginner athletes to try an event. For serious competitors, the challenge is training stamina as well as strength.

That was the struggle for Colacurcio, who said she burned out trying to train like a pro athlete on top of her full-time job and busy life.

"I just wasn't improving. I was fully plateauing because I was overtraining," she said. "I was doing the classic mistake of burying myself, just doing more, more, more."

Working out smarter, not harder

Counterintuitively, Colacurcio said doing less improved her gains.

She worked with a coach who specializes in training elite athletes, like NFL players, UFC fighters, and US Special Forces members.

He cut her training time by about a third, but increased the intensity. Rather than longer runs, she focused on short intervals: 30 seconds of sprinting, followed by 30 seconds of rest, repeated over and over (for up to an hour total).

She also focused on doing more reps to build endurance, while easing up on max-effort lifts so she had more energy.

Her workout schedule is still intense — Colacurcio starts her day at 4:45 a.m. — but she got faster, was less fatigued, and felt more powerful after every session.

"I have a really, really good mix of strength training, conditioning, easy run days mixed with hard days," she said.

Why sprinting can help boost longevity

Even if you never aim to get a Hyrox win or sign up for a race, the training style is a great template to boost overall health and longevity, according to Colacurcio (and science backs this up).

The events tap into fitness metrics that are linked to a longer life, and teach you not to focus too much on one aspect of fitness and ignore the rest, she said. You can't just run fast or lift heavy, but you need balance, core stability, a good VO2 max, and explosive power to compete in Hyrox exercises like burpee broad jumps and the farmer carry.

As strength training gets more popular, it's important not to forget cardio for heart health. If you're working up to all-out sprints, everyday efforts like taking the stairs can help too, studies suggest.

"It just balances the things you need to move into longevity," Colacurcio said. "Don't give up occasional sprinting and working your heart just because you're on the lifting train."