Having put a lot of thought into this video, I wanted to focus on quality over quantity and so here are my personal favorites and Top 5 Sled Exercises I believe everyone should do if they can. These 5 movements performed alone (for say 5-10 minutes each) would provide a pretty comprehensive full body workout. I hope this video highlights the benefits you can reap from performing these movements if you put the time and effort into it.
1. Backwards Walk (0:25)
2. Lateral Drag (1:45)
3. Sumo Stance Pull (2:38)
4. Rotational Pull Back (3:13)
5. Rope Pull into Low Sled Push (4:07)
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Starting off at the top of the list, number one movement right now has to be the Backwards Walk. Inspired by Ben Patrick aka The kneesovertoesguy, absolutely loving his work by the way, he’s the reason I decided to make a sled in the first place. To quote him “the better you are going backwards, the more protected you are going forwards”. Walking backwards is the lowest form of knees over toes training and for those with knee issues he suggests starting off with 15 minutes 3 times a week with just your own bodyweight. In order to speed up the process you can of course add resistance and this exercise with the tire sled is just one of the ways you can add weight effectively to walking backwards. To really target the VMO you can externally rotate your feet outwards slightly, drop your hips and focus on pushing the floor away till your legs are straight. (FYI your Vastus Medialis Oblique is that teardrop looking muscle which sits just on the inside of your thigh and primary function is to extend the knee. Not many people know this but it’s secondary function is to attract the opposite sex as it’s rated one of the sexiest muscles in the body, so make sure to work on your VMO’s people!). Also, don’t quote me on that - I make joke.
Coming in hot at number two, I’ve chosen the Lateral Drag performed Carioca style. Simply meaning the back foot alternates between stepping in front and then stepping behind the lead foot. Sideways movements and working laterally in general can often be neglected in a way and so this is a nice one to change up the pattern. Do your best to keep your toes facing more or less perpendicular to the direction you are moving in. A common mistake to not doing this properly is facing your toes to the front and basically walking forward while having your arm at a weird angle twisted behind you to drag the sled. Also notice the rotation in the hips as you transition from back foot in front to back foot behind the lead foot. This is an all round great exercise working the adductors, the glutes, the obliques and even has a nice feeling of traction in the arm and shoulder.
Number three, we have the Sumo Stance Pull (you can thank Phil Daru for this one - an absolute legend in the game). Here we want to maintain a neutral spine as we lean forward slightly and have that wide stance. This movement as you can imagine is quite sport specific to MMA, mimicking that low wide wrestling stance. I would say this is a movement to really load up and go as heavy as you can without compromising form. Again so many muscles are being worked just doing this one exercise from the upper back to the lower back, the glutes, the hamstrings and even calves.
Depending on your goal and what you are trying to achieve you can obviously alter the weight and speed of all these movements, but I would suggest doing each movement for between 5-10 minutes at least 1-2 times a week. Start by doing what you can and gradually build your resilience up increasing the duration of time as you progress. If you did all five of these movements alone that would give you a pretty comprehensive full body workout.
So here’s the deal, everyone wants to be pain free, to be strong and powerful, have bulletproof knees, a bulletproof spine, bulletproof shoulders and so forth but not everyone is willing to put in the time and effort it takes to achieve this. Sitting on the couch watching Netflix is a much more appealing option after a long day of work, I get it. That being said, everyday I work with people who are not so fortunate in terms of what they can do physically and would do anything to be able to move like how the average person moves. This is a constant reminder to fully appreciate my physical abilities because if I don’t that’s just a slap in the face of those who can’t. To conclude, I encourage all of you watching this to move now while you still can so you can move later on in life too.