Sled Pull
A rope-driven sled drag where the hips extend hard to start the pull and the arms finish it.
How to do it
- Attach a rope to the sled and load the sled with the weight you can move smoothly.
- Stand facing the sled with the rope taut and your feet in a wide, stable stance.
- Sit back into a partial squat and hold the rope with straight arms and a braced trunk.
- Extend your hips and knees sharply to start the sled moving.
- Pull the rope in hand over hand as the hip drive carries the load toward you.
- Reset your stance and repeat for the prescribed distance, time, or rounds.
Key technique cue
Drive with the hips first, then hand over hand; don't just drag with the arms.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Pulling with the arms only, which stalls the sled and turns a leg drill into a grip test.
- ✕ Rounding the lower back to reach the rope, which loads the spine at the worst angle.
- ✕ Standing too upright, so there is no hip drive left to start the sled moving.
- ✕ Loading the sled so heavily that it moves in jerks and the stance breaks down.
Benefits
- ✓ Trains hip and knee extension with no lowering phase, so soreness stays low.
- ✓ Reintroduces controlled load after injury at a speed and range you choose.
- ✓ Combines lower body drive with an upper body pull in one conditioning piece.
About the exercise
The sled pull loads the body concentrically only. In the hip drive version you sit into a partial squat holding the rope, extend the hips sharply, and let that drive carry the arm pull that brings the sled toward you. Quadriceps and gluteus maximus supply the drive, the spinal erectors hold the torso angle, and the lats, rhomboids, and biceps finish the pull. Because there is no lowering phase, sled work produces very little muscle damage, which is why it is used to reintroduce load after injury and to add conditioning volume between heavy sessions.
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