Sled Push
A loaded sled driven forward from an angled athletic stance, powered by repeated hip and knee extension.
How to do it
- Load the sled with a weight you can keep moving continuously.
- Grip the uprights and set your arms at the height that suits the load.
- Lean into the sled so your body forms roughly a forty five degree line to the ground.
- Brace your trunk and keep your spine neutral from head to hips.
- Drive the sled forward by extending one hip and knee at a time in a running stride.
- Keep the sled moving for the prescribed distance or time, then reset.
Key technique cue
Hold one line from head to hips and push with long strides, not short chops.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Rounding the back instead of holding a neutral spine, which shifts load onto the lumbar spine.
- ✕ Standing too upright, which kills the forward lean the drive depends on.
- ✕ Taking short choppy steps with no knee drive, so the sled stalls between strides.
- ✕ Loading the sled so heavily that it barely moves and the stance collapses.
Benefits
- ✓ Builds leg drive and conditioning at the same time with no eccentric loading.
- ✓ Scales from an empty sled to heavy work, so it suits every training level.
- ✓ Transfers directly to acceleration and any real world pushing task.
About the exercise
The sled push is a locomotor strength effort. You lean into the sled at roughly forty five degrees, brace the trunk, and drive it forward one leg at a time by extending the hip and knee against the load. Quadriceps lead, with glutes, hamstrings, calves, and the whole trunk holding the angle and transmitting force. Arm position changes the feel: bent elbows put more load on the hips, straight arms demand more thoracic extension. There is no lowering phase, so the sled builds conditioning with very little soreness.
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