If you've trained at Ironworks these sleds should look familiar & you more than likely know the reason why they are such an important part of our training day in and day out. Whether you've trained at Ironworks or not, the drag sled should be an essential piece of equipment in your training program.
The sled is probably one of the easiest and most simple movements you can add to your program and your training day in and day out; Sled pulls can aid in building strength, restoring muscle imbalances, increasing power, endurance and conditioning.
Before we dive in deeper, the sled will help build the posterior chain, aka your hamstrings, ass, back, calves, upper, back and can even be used to build the anterior chain aka the quads, front side of your shin (Tibialis Anterior), and help increase health in your knees.
Different sled variations can be used to attack the different muscle groups listed above; sled walks work the hamstrings, glutes, & hips.
Backwards drags work the quads, grippers (hands/grip strength) if you are holding on to the straps, and anterior hip muscles.
Lateral moving sled work will help build the abductors & adductors (hips, groin, & glutes) and can help build injury resistance when performing change of direction work.
Upper body movements include curls, rows, triceps, chest presses, back flies, chest flies, among many others..
All of these variations can be geared towards warm up work or working sets, the sled can be used as resistance for sprint work, and overall conditioning work. The programming with sleds can also be geared towards your sports specific conditioning needs or whatever the days program looks like whether it be max effort or dynamic effort work
The sled is great for bringing up weak areas of the body with little to no major stress on the body, it can aid in building endurance for the full body but also localized muscular endurance when focussing on a specific type of sled pull or drag. Depending on the load of the sled, it can help increase aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity or even VO2 max and lastly it can aid in recovery.
Check out this full body warm up using the sled:
This warm up includes sled walks, backwards drags, rows, single arm rows, and back flies; This goal with this warm up was to prime the athletes full body
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