THE TOP 10 RBS SLED TRAINING DRILLS-PART #1
I thought it would be helpful to coaches, trainers, athletes, and general gym goers if I disclosed my top go-to sled training drills. The sled can seem a bit bland and limited if you look at the web, and it can be difficult to identify variations that satisfy the purpose outside of just pushing and sprinting a loaded sled. Fortunately for you, there are some applications that you can implement with anyone to immediately develop or sustain several training skills which I will be sure to detail for you soon. The only thing you will need is approximately 20 yards of turf, some open space, and motivation. Please note, The Sled Dawg, sprint bags, tires, and others are great, but for practical purposes, you can't go wrong with The Prowler Sled as shown in the video.
#1- SLED SIDE SHUFFLES
In this first video, I selected "The Sled Side Shuffle." I will admit it's still a bit unorthodox when it comes to the exercise selection market via the internet, but there is definitely value here. Of course, you will be limited because of the lack of arms, which helps feed a stronger leg drive, but the potential slack the harness can create autocorrects proper shuffle stride step length, which is key. Moreover, the placement of the sled resistance encourages level hips and improved lateral movement efficiency tremendously, which many athletes struggle with. You can't stand in this exercise, or you'll lose speed and momentum. For anyone with a solid base of lateral movement awareness, strength, and power, this drill will serve more as a movement-prep or primer that can be used as a progression from X Band-Walks or Superband Walks.
#2-SLED BACKPEDALS
The Sled Backpedal is a progression from the Backwards Sled Push. This exercise does a tremendous job of creating proper balance and hip height for greater power and speed. Another overlooked benefit is that you will learn to create stride length, especially when you return to operating at your bodyweight. As such, transitions into other directions and movements (i.e. hip turn and retreats, sprint attacks) will be much smoother since you'll create some time and distance in between steps to react and make a decision while still covering more ground versus the classic choppy step approach that is still an epidemic in athletes. Choppy steps are detrimental because they affect your balance, and they disallow finding proper planting and acceleration or power angles. Last but certainly not least, this exercise is amazing for conditioning of the quads and building local muscle endurance in this muscle group and in general. I can't count the number of clients we had fall over at the end of their work sets because of the initial fatigue levels.
#3-Backward Sled Push
The Backward Sled Push is another dynamic quadricep movement that modifies the arm position. You'll get substantial overload to the quadriceps in an athletic motion, so you can effectively build local strength and endurance, but where it really can shine is how it teaches proper upper body position with backward movement. Not only do people tend not to load and set their hips correctly with the backpedal, but they also waste movement by leaning backwards. This will make countermovement slower.
#4-HIGH FREQUENCY SLED BACKPEDAL
Now I'm sure it may seem contradictory to post this exercise video when I literally just made a mention that choppy steps are counterproductive to athletic movement. But just like the Backward Sled Push, High Frequency Backpedals demand that the individual sustain the joint stacked athletic position. You simply cannot stand up or get tall with this exercise, or you can't move. I"ve always been a fan of movement blocking strategies for athletes (see here), and I'll be writing about this corrective exercise strategy much more in the future as well. It's not specific to athletic movement in your lower half, but it does still provide a solid stimulus to your quads, and it helps correct essential postures in your upper half.
#5-SLED PUSH
There really isn't much that needs to be said with this exercise because it has been discussed to death. We all know it can improve acceleration very well in the first 5-10 yards, where a true forward lean position and strength-speed are very necessary. It's also wonderful for conditioning purposes, low impact, and fuck to have athletes to compete with.
In part #2, I will discuss the remainder of the sled drills I love for any and all of my athletes, so stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
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