In the october 2006 issue of Powerlifting USA there is a Westside article written by Matt Wenning in which he talks about the positives of Sled Dragging. Anyways he said there was a D1 QB from a school in missouri who shaved 3/10ths of a second off of his forty by just pulling the sled. Also he said Josh Fry a graduated senior now playing at Morehead State ran a 4.45 in may and a 4.27 at the end of summer. Anyways i was just wondering how one would go about pulling the sled to get faster? Would you just do walking forward sled drags for time or for distance?
The sleds are good for developing acceleration. I myself improved my 10yd time with using sleds. CF only recommends 10%bodyweight on the sled. Ive seen a lot of people load those things, and all it does is just alter your mechanics and you go nowhere. Joe Defranco uses sleds to backpeddal with.
NO. I recommend a weight on the sled that will provide a resistance only great enough to slow your time by 10% from what you can run without resistance- not the same thing
I think what the article was referring to was “sled dragging” not running with the sled.
It may have helped the mentioned athletes 40 time by making him stronger (if he was weak in the first place) and or raising his general physical prepardness which enabled him to recover from high intensity workouts in the gym and speed workout.
The sled dragging mentioned in the article (having done this myself) was most likely a comination of foward drags, backward drags, lateral drags, pull thrus, rows, presses, the combinations are endless. Zach Even Esh from elitefts has a great video on this stuff.
This type of sled work is pretty much is used to build work capacity and or recover from workouts which probably will not improve speed directly in a trained athlete but may have an indirect effect.
yeah I think Westside uses it to bring up the posterior chain. I imagine they can use it for strengthening and/or work capacity. There is a little on how Louie trained Butch Reynolds(400m guy) on page 3 of the westside thread. I don’t think they actually run with it. They might just drag it.
Yeah i wasn’t talking about running with the sled, just walking with it. So you don’t feel it would directly aid in increasing ones speed?
Not directly unless one is very weak/untrained. I have a 15 year old soccer player I train who never lifted weights before. With him I could see it helping his speed by making him stronger. Basically a general means (same effect as weight training would have). However an already strong athlete with say a 2x bodyweight squat I don’t see sled dragging having any effect beside the indirect effect it may have as I stated in the earlier post.
Thanks for answering my question. Well there goes my plan i had…lol.
Good point… as the athletes neural development progressivly increases, stimulus must become more specific in order to elicit the desired response.
As for the sleds; as far as I know they are using heavy weight - DRAGGING them, not running with them.
At the same time if you feel like your posterior chain is a weak point in your training, sled dragging is a good way to bring it up. Not necessarily the only way but a good option. And, if you are a big guy, it is probably a better conditioning option than just running as it would be a little easier on the knees.
Agreed. I have my throwers use it for conditioning.
Quick, you are a big homeboy. What trap/back work are you doing?
Thank you. Although I am only 5’7 160.
This is my lifting.
Keep in mind this is during track season. I have a solid foundation as I have been lifting for 12 years.
Monday
PC from Hang
Bench
Wide Pulldown Pronated Grip
DB Swing
Xband Walk
Wed
Trap Bar DL
DB Bench
Narrow Grip Pulldown
XBand Walk
Fri
PS from Hang
Weighted Chinup
RDL
Rack Lockouts (Bench)
Reason for the “excessive” bench work is because I also dabble around in powerlifting and may have a chanve to be on the NYS team for BP. Not sure yet. Just incase I like to keep my numbers up. Plus I dont think those 3 lifts per week take anything out of my sprinting.
come on quik thought u weighed225. how the vol for those lifts?
You serious??
I’ma little dude. lol. Compete in the 165 class.
Here was my workout last week.
1A. PC (Hang)-135x5 155x3 165x3 185x3(3)
2A. BP-135x8 185x5 225x3 275x2 295x2 315x(3)
3A.KB Swings w/band-24kgx12(3)
3B. Wide Pulldown-190x8(3)
1A.Trap Bar DL-140x8 230x5 280x3 345x3(3)
2A. Flat DB Bench-80x8 100x6(3)
2B. Close Pulldown-200x8(3)
1A.PS (Hang)95x3 105x3 115x3 125x3(2)
2A. Weighted Chinup 60x8(3)
3A. RDL-135x5 225x5 250x5(2)
4A. Rack Lockouts (15th pin)-225x5 275x5 315x5 350x5 405x5 425x5(2)
Of course Xband walks are added into this, plus various Abs
I sometimes also add some box jumps and such after the oly. and or trap bar working sets.
with the lockouts how many inches do u think u r locking out? why only 2 days of ol’s? when is ur first meet and what u r hoping to run? how does ur track work look?
Lockouts. Feels like a 4 Board press maybe? No idea what the ROM is. I don’t want to lie and make me look like a superhero when I’m not even close.
I feel 2 days of oly. lifts are enought for me. Plus I dont like any other variations (for myself).
First meet is next Sat. This is only week #5 of training for me since I have been injured (knee) since the end of indoor last year.
Here is this past week minus the Hurdle Mobility, Throws, and all that other good stuff.
Mon-4x15 4x20 2x30
Tues-5x200 in 30-31 2:30 rest
Wed-3x3x30 Rest 45"/5’
Thurs-1800m of Ext tempo 100’s & 200’s
Friday-3x3x120 @85% 15 sec range indoors R-75"/5’
First meet only running 60m. Not ready for 200 yet. Hoping to be around 7.15.
i was just curious i played around with lockout during and summer. is ur lifting gonna change since u r inseason?
After about 4 more weeks. (1 more cycle).
Volume will drop a bit.
im looking for some good core stuff that can be done in 10mins or less, got anything?