Adapting your training methods is one of the most beneficial ways in achieving your fitness goals. You might have seen athletes pushing a large sled along an indoor Astro turf and wondered how does this work? what are the benefits of using this?
This versatile piece of equipment is called a prowler sled and provides athletes with the means to increase their power and strength when using it.
How the sled works is that you add weight on the plate insert at the top and push it around. They’re perfect for push and pull workouts and are a fantastic piece of equipment for training functional movement.
In this article we will be exploring how the prowler sled works, the benefits of using a prowler sled and variations of movement you can do with it.
What is a prowler sled?
A Prowler Sled is made of heavy steel and is covered in our staple black powder coating. It consists of two skis on the bottom allowing a smooth glide along Astroturf surfaces and has a set of handles for use. Eyelets can be found at the front of the sled which is great for sprint training. The plate insert on the top of the sled allows users to adapt their training with whichever weight they desire.
Prowler Sled Benefits
The first benefit is that is aids in the training of the posterior chain. The posterior chain is a set of muscles along the back of the body and consist of the calves, upper back, glutes, and hamstrings. The push nature of exercising allows users to hone their use of these muscles and increase their strength, power, and speed.
With the sled posing some muscular benefits in training, it may come as no surprise that it can aid in protection against injury. With the sled enhancing strength and stability in the body, it can aid in training those areas which can help with injury prevention.
It aids in the improvement of sprinting performance. The way it can help is that it increases the body’s force output and ground reaction forces when training. This can improve stride length and increase stride speed.
Another benefit of this amazing piece of equipment is that it is adaptable to suit all functional fitness levels. The loading pins allow incremental increases in weight which can aid in progression.
Movements which can be done with the Prowler Sled
The Prowler Sled Push
This is the first and most obvious movement which can be done. Placing both hands on the handles, push against the sled to propel it forward. Moving the sled as fast as you can is a great way to train for sprinting.
Rope pull
Attaching a rope to the eyelets at the front, you place yourself facing the sled with feet shoulder width apart. Keeping a straight back, pull the sled towards you.
Seated single arm row pulls
While seated and facing the sled, attach either a rope or straps to the front eyelet. Reaching forward, pull the sled towards you until it’s reached your feet. Repeat on the other arm.