There is simply something special about pushing or dragging a heavy sled - something that cannot be replicated with a barbell or dumbbell or any other traditional weight room exercise. It's difficult to articulate just exactly what that something is, and I think that is because the reality of it is that there are multiple unique aspects converging into this one single modality that make it perhaps one of the most effective exercises we can possibly do. In the end, spending an earnest amount of time and effort pushing or dragging heavy sleds is going to make you stronger, more powerful, more muscular, and overall much fitter than you otherwise would have been able to become simply through traditional weight room and cardio modalities alone. Today I'm going to present the top 5 reasons why you should make this exercise a staple part of your training routine, and hopefully I can convince a few you to get dragging!

Yes, I know, I use the term "functional" these days like I'm studying for my NASM cert, but there is a message to be conveyed here: there's a difference between the sort of "raw" leg strength that is built in the weight room through squat variations and hip hinge exercises, and the sort of leg strength that is involved in developing smooth and efficient movement capacity. The latter is not fully cultivated in the gym. The gym can help you to build the raw material necessary to increase your potential in regard to the latter, but other work must still be eventually be done in order to shape that material and nurture that potential. That's where the sled comes into play. The sled helps you to bridge the gap between that "raw" leg strength built in the gym and the real world, "functional" leg strength displayed in your environment.

The term "work capacity" refers to your body's ability to tolerate, recover from, and adapt to a given amount of stress. It is generally accepted that the more stress we can impose on our systems - while optimally recovering from that stress - the more gains we will ultimately be able to make in the long run. Muscle, strength, power, conditioning, general fitness, or whatever you are seeking - all of these things are a product of repeated applications of stress; repeated bouts through the stress, recovery, adaptation cycle. The more times you can efficiently run through this cycle the more gains you will make because your body has adapted to a greater volume of stressors. The tricky part here is ensuring that the entire cycle takes place - not just the imposition of "stress," but then also recovery from that stress and subsequent adaptation to it.

All of this adds up to create an exercise that you can perform a very large volume of at very high levels of intensity, if you so choose. And remember, the more work you can perform, recover from, and successfully adapt to the more gains you are going to make. And this doesn't just apply to working with the sled. Once your body has become acclimated to handling a large degree of "lower" stress work, such as sled dragging, you can then use that as a segue to introduce larger volumes of high stress work without exceeding your body's capacity to recover from that work or running yourself into the ground because your general "work capacity" has now increased - the threshold is further way, the ceiling is higher, the body can simply tolerate more. It's a bit of an art in many respects, but the potential is certainly there. Massively high levels of work capacity is often what makes the best athletes, and the most profound and stable body composition changes, and the just the most generally capable human beings.

The sled can go a long way towards adding plenty of fresh meat onto your thighs. The thing about the sled is that it's a fantastic muscle and strength builder, but it's disguised as a conditioning tool - it just depends on the lens you choose to view it from. Most people choose to view it purely as a conditioning device, but that's a myopic viewpoint. You simply have to be willing to load up the heavy weights and suddenly this "conditioning" tool transforms into a powerful strength & hypertrophy tool as well. For a pertinent example here one need look no further than Olympic sprint cyclists. On the whole, these athletes possess some pretty damn impressive quadriceps development, some of them rivaling or surpassing the leg development even of many bodybuilders. Part of the reason for this is that squatting strength directly improves sprint cycling performance, so many of these athletes spend a great deal of time under the bar improving their strength on the squat, and some of them post some incredibly impressive numbers as a result of it.

As I just noted, the sled is a muscle and strength building device disguised as a conditioning tool....which means it's also a fantastic conditioning tool! Pretty much no matter how heavy you go with these sled drags you will still be taxing your cardiovascular system to at least some degree. However, you can also greatly amplify the cardiovascular training effect of this modality simply by altering a few of the parameters. My personal favorite method here is what I call a "density block." To perform a density block you simply choose a predesignated length of time, pick a reasonable weight to load the sled with, and pick a set dragging distance. From there you drag the sled the predesignated distance for as many sets as possible during the chosen timeframe. A typical parameter for me would be a 15 to 20 minute density block using a dragging distance of 20 yards. I would select a weight that I think I can do for maybe 12-15 total sets in that first week, and then I will keep the weight static for the next 2-3 weeks and try to beat the total number of sets performed each time I redo the block. So maybe I'll get 14 sets in week 1, 16 sets in week 2, and 17 sets in week 3. At that point I would add 10-15 pounds to the sled and start the process over.

Realistically, the primary risks present with this exercise are going to be Achilles tendonitis and potentially irritation of the metatarsophalangeal joint (the joint at the big toe). There is a lot of force being transferred through the ankle and through the toes on this exercise. If you do too much too soon then you will put yourself at risk of developing these conditions, however, if you adhere to intelligent training protocols and program design and you are sure to BREAK YOURSELF IN PROPERLY, especially if you are unaccustomed to this exercise, then your body will adapt to the additional stress and you will be just fine. Just remember to be smart about things - start off small and work your way up slowly - and you will be able to reap all of the benefit of the sled with a very low risk of injury.