6 Best Sled Exercises for Fat Loss and Muscle Strength

Sled exercises not only burn calories but also train your muscles for other athletic endeavors. It's a great way to get in shape, and it will help you improve your running form and your agility for sports like soccer and football.

Sled exercises train two important muscle groups: your anterior muscles and your posterior muscles. The former includes your pecs, quads, biceps, shoulders, etc., and the latter includes your glute and back muscles. Below is a list of six sled exercises that will help you build speed, strength, and power by working both these types of muscles.

Battle Rope Slams to Pull and 5 Other Best Sled Exercises to Build Strength

Here's a list of sled exercises you can do to strengthen your muscles.

1) Sled Push to Plank

This exercise will develop your quads, core, and all the muscles on the front side of your body. Your core will be worked on harder than ever, which is exactly what you want. This one has to be done with discipline and heart. Lock in, grind, and continue to explode for all 5 rounds.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Put enough weight on a sled.
Keep your chest up, your back flat, and your core tight, and push the sled as fast as you can for 30 seconds.
Drop to the ground right away and hold a Front Plank (don't let your knees touch the ground) for 45 seconds.
This completes 1 round.
Five times, keep going through that order.

2) Sled Push to Sprint

A sled is the best way to learn how to drive your feet hard and straight into the ground. By pushing the weighted sled, you are telling your brain and muscles to put your feet down strongly. By starting the sprint right away, you trick your brain and muscles into thinking that they are still driving the sled. Your anterior muscles will get stronger, and your sprinting style will improve.

Here's how you can do this sled exercise:

Put enough weight on a sled.
Keep your chest up, your back flat, and your core tight as you push the sled as fast as you can for 10 yards.
Slide your body to the right or left and start a 20-yard sprint right away.
Rest for 1 minute.
Repeat this sequence four times.

3) Sled Reverse Drag

This sled exercise targets your posterior muscles, glutes, and back. The sled reverse drag exercise will develop your hamstrings, spinal erectors, calves, and all the muscles you use when you make your breaks, cuts, and, of course, your backpedal.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Put enough weight on a sled.
Grab the sled and backpedal as fast as you can for 30 seconds while staying low.
Stay low and flat on your back the whole time.

4) Battle Rope Slams to Pull

This sled exercise engages all of your pulling muscles as well as your heart and lungs. It helps you learn how to keep your core stable even when you are tired. Every time you pull the sled, you work out your posterior muscles. It's hard to do that on its own, but when you add battle ropes, it's a whole new level of hard.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Put enough weight on a sled to make it move.
Use a battle rope to tie it through the sled.
Staying low and in an athletic stance, go as hard as you can with single arm waves for 20 seconds.
Start pulling the sled towards you with the ropes right away for 20 seconds.
Put it in reverse and go back to the rope handles.
Repeat the entire sequence 3 times.

5) Lateral Sled Drag

When you drag the sled sideways, you teach your leg muscles to push into the ground at the right angle with a lot of force with this exercise. The Lateral Sled Drag can help you build strong hips and glutes, as well as adductor and abductor muscles.

Here's how you can do this sled exercise:

Put enough weight on a sled to move it.
Use a battle rope to tie the sled together.
Face the sled in a straight line and grab the rope handles.
Lean away from the sled a little.
Drive your feet straight into the ground while staying low for 30 seconds.
Taking a 10-second break.
Turn yourself around and face the opposite way.
Do the same thing in the opposite direction.
Repeat this 4–5 times.

6) Sled Row

If you want to get stronger, pull with a lot of force for fewer reps. The Sled Row exercise will improve your overall athletic performance by increasing your strength and power.

Here's how you can do this sled exercise:

Attach to the sled straps that go around your upper body and have handles or loops for your hands.
Face the sled and pull the straps tight while keeping your arms straight.
Keep your back straight and slightly bend your knees as you pull the straps in a row (similar to how you would on a low-cable row machine).
Once you finish a row, take a few steps back until the straps are tight, then do another row.

These six sled exercises when performed regularly will help you develop strength, power and sprinting speed.