It’s been awesome to see a growing number of gyms providing a variety of sleds to their patrons. The main issue is that oftentimes, due to a lack of awareness or understanding, they get stored in the corner where they collect dust and may even periodically be used as coat racks or storage stations. Dog sleds, prowler sleds, tow (sprint) sleds… we love them all. Heck, even chains attached to a harness or TRX strap and dragged across the floor can count as a sled in many cases. A friction-based tool that’s becoming more and more commonly found in a variety of weight rooms across the globe, the sled just may be the game-changing piece of equipment that’s been missing from your arsenal when looking to unlock newfound gains in strength, size, and conditioning.
Conditioning:
This is probably the most common use of the sled that most people’s mind defaults to upon its mention, picturing somebody keeled over about to puke after a gruelling sled push or drag. Whether you’re PUSHING or DRAGGING a moderately loaded sled for a specific distance as fast as possible or as far as possible within a certain time frame (either in isolation or as part of a circuit), the Dog sled can be an exceptional tool for improving your overall conditioning.
Possible Options: Start with 30-second bouts for distance or sets of 60m in as little time as possible.
Speed and Explosive Power:
Speed enhancement is likely the next most common use of the sled. Whether we’re attaching a sprint sled or chains to a harness to tow behind us as we tear down the turf or leaning on a lightly loaded prowler to perform BOUNDS or all-out SPRINT efforts, sleds can also be a game changer. You may even choose to do an upper body ballistic such as a sled THROW!
Performing sprints with a variety of loads (depending on the specific individual’s goals and needs) can allow our athletes to develop pattern and plane-specific force production, as well as a variety of speed qualities (strength-speed, power, speed-strength etc.) depending on what they may need most upon assessment. Heavy squats and lunges are exceptional tools that will help plenty of athletes improve their sprint times, but we all know those guys and gals who can squat a house but don’t know how to apply that force in the proper direction; sleds are the perfect solution to this propulsion problem!
Possible Options: Start with light loads and perform distances of 5-15 yards with complete rest between efforts.
Strength:
Sleds are also a great tool for developing strength. While it’s obvious that the barbell is the king of strength development, who’s to say that a HEAVY SLED PUSH can’t be somebody’s main lower body indicator exercise? Of course your 1RM squat is a great expression of leg strength, but for certain populations a heavy sled push (say 5 to 10 yards as heavy as possible) may just be as good or , dare I say, even better! Even with the upper body, we may choose to use a SLED PRESS or SLED ROW as our heavy strength-developing exercise.
Especially as lifters get older and mileage on the body increases, something like a max sled push or drag may be the perfect solution to allow these lifters to continue improving and measuring their strength levels while minimizing wear and tear on the body.
Possible Options: Start with heavy loads and perform distances of 5-15 yards with complete rest between efforts.
Get Jacked:
Again, for our older or more beat up crowd (especially contact athletes), we may periodically shy away from exercises like barbell or dumbbell curls in favour of other tools like cables. When available, sled work can also be another awesome and unique way to build muscle without all the aches and pains! You are truly only limited by your imagination. You can use sleds for a variety of exercises, such as BICEPS CURLS, TRICEPS EXTENSIONS, and FACE PULLS; the possibilities are endless!
Possible Options: Perform the exercises mentioned above to fatigue at distances of 30-60 yards per set.
Recovery:
Due to their concentric-only nature, using lighter loaded sleds over long durations can actually aid in the recovery process. While you may experience a pretty nasty burn during the aforementioned recovery session, you won’t actually feel much (if any) muscle soreness the next day because the nature of the sled is that it’s concentric only. We know that the eccentric contraction is where a lot of that muscle damage (and subsequent DOMS) comes from, and these friction-based sled options are virtually void of any eccentric stress. The benefit here is that we’re getting blood flow to the target muscles which will bring more nutrients to help aid in recovery without digging ourselves into a deeper hole.
Possible Options: Perform a variety of lightly-loaded sled work at a continuous pace (either in isolation or as part of a mobility and total-body flush circuit).
Unique Planes:
It can be awkward and unintuitive to train outside of the sagittal (front-to-back) plane: think squats, deadlifts, bench presses, forward and reverse lunges etc. Whether explosively or slow and controlled, the sled can be a great tool to allow us to get into the frontal (side-to-side) or transverse (rotational) planes. Common exercises may include LATERAL SLED DRAGS or PALLOF SLED DRAGS.
Possible Options: Perform exercises in a variety of planes
In Closing:
While not every training facility has sleds available, they are certainly increasing in popularity and availability. If you’ve been curiously eyeing down the sled in the corner of your local gym and wanted to take it for a spin but were never really sure where to begin, hopefully your creative flame has been sparked and now you can get after it! Sleds are also relatively inexpensive, so if you’re really keen, you could even buy one and be THAT GUY who pushes and pulls it around the neighborhood; just be prepared for plenty of confused stares and curious looks!
