Sled fitness program

The Prowler sled and its many variations mimic the lower body mechanics of running much more than any other exercise. Unlike running, there is significantly less wear and tear on the body, and it is much less technical. People who are not able to run are often able to use the Prowler sled and thrive.

When it comes to form, while there are some key points that I will outline later on, the Prowler sled is relatively simple to learn and is not as technical as many other exercises, including running. As a result, it is suitable for virtually all fitness levels, and will absolutely help people fast track their way to achieving their goals. It offers the benefits of extremely advanced forms of training, yet is so simple to use.

The Prowler sled is a great tool for losing body fat, adding muscle, and getting shredded. The many variations of the sled will kick your metabolism into overdrive, and will turn your body into a fat burning machine.

The Prowler sled is also great for muscle hypertrophy, and will help you achieve a svelte and athletic appearance. This will have a tremendous carryover effect to sports and movements where you are required to perform explosive and dynamic movements like sprinting, jumping, bounding, planting, changing direction, and so forth. Unlike most other pieces of equipment, the Prowler sled is very specific in nature to running, and has a massive carryover effect.

Unlike running, you cannot cheat with your form. In order to get the sled to move, you need to perform the exercise with impeccable technique, yet it is relatively simple to do.

As a result, you will establish proper motor patterns, and will strengthen the muscles that are critical for running. This includes the muscles in the feet and lower legs, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core.

The Prowler sled will dramatically improve your ability to accelerate in all directions, which will improve your quickness, and your acceleration technique. Many sports are anaerobic in nature. The Prowler sled allows you to improve your anaerobic conditioning by performing sprints that are short in duration and high in intensity, and that last between a few seconds to two minutes.

With the Prowler sled, you can also improve your aerobic conditioning. You can achieve this by performing reps that are longer in duration, or by performing many shorter pushes with very little rest between sets, or by using the sled in conjunction with other exercises as part of a conditioning circuit. This type of training is extremely intense, yet does not thrash your muscles and joints the way regular running does, particularly running that is done on turf, a court, or cement.

The Prowler sled is extremely versatile and allows you to train a variety of movements. You can push the sled, you can pull the sled, you can run forward, backward, or sideways, you can position your hands up high and be in a more upright stance, or you can position your hands lower and be in a more horizontal stance. You can also perform rowing or pushing movements with the sled.

The Prowler sled is a great tool to use as part of your performance enhancement and injury prevention arsenal, and it can even be used to rehabilitate injuries. The Prowler sled is extremely beneficial as it dramatically enhances the strength and stability of the entire body, most notably, the legs, including the lower legs and feet.

While this has obvious benefits in terms of performance and aesthetics, it is also extremely important in preventing joint sprains that result from lack of stability. When you are required to run, jump, stride, plant, and change direction, if you lack stability and strength in your lower legs and feet, you will be extremely vulnerable to injuring yourself. Using the Prowler sled will also help safeguard your body against chronic injuries such as Achilles tendinitis, planter fasciitis, or other injuries that can result from weak feet and lower legs.

Like any exercise, using proper form with the Prowler sled is essential as it will allow you to perform the exercise safely and effectively. Many people assume that you just grab onto the sled and push. It is not quite as cut and dry as that. The toughest part is getting the sled to move, so having the stability and rigidity from the very start will allow you to push a significantly heavier amount of weight, and more explosively.

To perform properly, ensure that you take care of the following:. Grip : Firmly grip the sled. Some prefer to hold higher up, others slightly lower. Foot Stance : Set your feet up so they are the same width as your running stance. When you stride, make sure that your feet remain the same width apart the entire time. Also, it is important that you drive through your forefoot, and make sure that all of your toes remain in contact with the ground.

This will provide you with a much sturdier base, and will provide you with the stability that you need to generate more power. Alignment : Make sure that your body remains in proper alignment from the head to feet. The spine from the lumbar to cervical region should remain in neutral alignment, your joints in your upper body should remain stacked, your torso and pelvis should face ahead, and your knees should remain in line with your feet the entire time.

Breathing and Core : Before you go, take a deep breath into your belly and surround your spine with air degrees of air , brace your core, and drive with your legs.

Keep your core braced the entire time. This will provide you with the pelvic and spinal stability that you need, and will allow you to generate a lot of force with your lower body. The most ubiquitous of these, the Prowler, was initially designed to enhance the sport-specific conditioning of American football linemen.

Soon after, the Prowler and its variations began appearing in gyms around the world. These days, you will find sleds being utilized for interval training, speed training, strongman training, fat-loss conditioning, and general cardiovascular conditioning.

There are a variety of different sled models, but they all have the same general commonality: they can be dragged, pushed, or pulled and have the ability to add weights to provide extra resistance. Some models e. The versatility of the sled allows you to program a number of different workouts to target specific muscular benefits, energy system development, or general conditioning.

Without a doubt, the key benefit of using a sled is the lack of eccentric loading. As you probably know, eccentric loading the negative part of a movement generates large amounts of muscular tension, causing muscular damage and soreness.

Be warned, though, even without the eccentric element, sled training still provides a brutally difficult workout.

Acceleration is crucial to many sports. Sled training allows you to load traditional sprint-style work without interfering too much with the sprint mechanics. Loaded sprinting forces the body to work harder and recruit more musculature, leading to notable power and speed improvements. There is some good research demonstrating the benefit of sled training on sprinting times compared to just sprinting alone.

Six weeks from now, you can expect your work capacity to have jumped up a notch or two while gaining serious unilateral leg strength. You could start over and repeat the entire plan several times in a row with heavier loads. So that pound plate you used over 60 meters would turn into pounds in your second go-round, all the way up to pounds in your third.

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Fitness Workouts Healthy Eating Reviews. Yunus Barisik Last updated on June 15th, Why sled training? The learning curve is minimal, making sled training suitable for anyone from stud college athlete to Medicare recipient.

Besides, you only need a few minutes to launch your heart rate through the roof and feel those nasty leg pumps kick in. Talk about an effective and time-efficient training tool. You can either bring your hands together or push them straight ahead. Make sure you keep your shoulder blades retracted and do not exaggerate the motion of shoulder protraction.

Modifications: You do not have to perform this exercise explosively. You can grind it out and perform a sustained contraction through the range of motion of the chest press. Shoulder exercises are also great for the Power Sled workout.

You can use any angle you like to strengthen your anterior, medial, and rear deltoids for sports-specific or muscle-building exercises. If your sport requires an explosive overhead motion or you are just looking to build your delts, this is a good way to perform shoulder press.

Lean forward so your torso is parallel to the ground and hold the handles at around your shoulders. Your feet can be together in an athletic stance or staggered with one foot in front of the other. Begin the motion: Keeping your core drawn in and your spine in neutral alignment, explosively push your arms forward while trying to keep your elbows and forearms inline with your torso. Modifications: You can vary the angle of your shoulder press to accommodate a variety of sports-specific sled pull workouts.

Many people become infatuated with working the muscles on the front side of the body and forget to work the important muscles in the upper middle back and shoulders. This combination of a rear deltoid raise and lateral raise will strengthen the chronically weak muscles.

Start: Collect the slack of the cables facing towards from the power sled. Walk away from the power sled until the cable becomes taut and you are holding it at waist level. Your arms should be fully extended in front of you with your legs slightly bent. Begin the motion: Keeping your core tight and arms and legs slightly bent, bring your hands back and up at the same time, pulling the sled towards you. Walk backwards as you collect the slack and repeat.

Modifications: You can change the angle to vary the emphasis on the different portions of the deltoids. Arm exercises on the power sled are completely optional.

If you are looking for athletic performance enhancement, isolation exercises for the arms are probably not worth your time. If you are doing your sled workout as an bodybuilding or strength training alternative, the following arm exercises are great for working the biceps, triceps, and forearms.

Perhaps the best way to isolate the triceps is to perform kickbacks, which allow a full range of motion. Bend over at your waist with your knees slightly bent. Try to get your torso parallel with the ground.