Issue 036
April 2008
BY BARRY GIBSON
Much is written on the topic of conditioning and strength for mixed martial arts (MMA), however, not many take notice of sledge pulling. This great piece of kit can single-handedly boost your conditioning through the roof. If you were to use it on its own (which you shouldn’t do with any modality) you would see massive increases in strength, size and above all for our sport, endurance. Your work capacity will skyrocket.
There is much debate about what to do when pulling a sledge. Should you run, sprint or simply walk a set distance? Some years back a study came out stating that sprinting with a sledge interfered with running mechanics and was therefore bad.
I recently read a counter to this by a top American strength coach who stated: “if a 275lb [125kg] linebacker was chasing you when you had the ball, the chances are that your running mechanics would be interfered with anyway!” Only worry about running mechanics if you’re a runner. The benefits you get in terms of conditioning and strength would far outweigh any negatives on your proper running form. My set up is quite basic – I went out and bought a cheap plastic children’s sledge, added my sand bag for some padding and some weight, then dumped my kettlebells on top. The weight in the pictures is about 90kg. As far as surfaces go, grass is great as there’s just enough resistance to tax your legs. Get yourself down to your local park and get dragging – you’ll get some fresh air in your lungs and the best bit is you won’t be sore the next day!
The reason for the lack of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is because there is no eccentric muscle movement. It is the eccentric portion of any exercise where the damage is done to the muscles in terms of breakdown, and due to the fact that you’re just walking with the sledge there is no breaking down of muscle fi bres. It is therefore a great tool to rehab any injuries or if you’re sore from a previous workout, as you can get
some conditioning in without having to go through endless days of ice baths. “So what do I do?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s pretty hard to balls this element of training up! Get a sledge, add some weight to it, get a long enough rope and make some handles, and off you go!
You can drag the sledge forwards, backwards, sideways, forwards with the arms extended, forwards with arms behind, row backwards, chest press forwards, sprint, lie down and pull hand over hand, sit down and pull hand over hand; the options are endless. If you’re just starting out, drag it while facing forward with your arms behind you for a set distance or time, then turn around and drag it facing backwards. From this
position you could start to row explosively, then you could turn around and chest press it while facing forward so you’re hitting all the different angles.
Concentrate on hitting the time-under-tension format of training so that it’s specifi c to the sport, e.g. perform three rounds of fi ve minutes. You could intersperse some bodyweight drills or kettlebells or anything else that takes your fancy. For example,drag forward 30 metres then perform ten sandbag clean and presses. Then drag backwards and perform ten burpees. This could be repeated over a fi ve or six minute round resting only as needed for short periods of time. To recap, keep it simple, get out there and drag that sledge!
