Power Sled Training

Looking for help with sets, distance/duration, frequency, intensity, rest periods, etc. for incorporating power sled as main lower body training. 48 yo female, menopausal, former D1 athlete, have never stopped training, but Celtic hips, 6 knee surgeries, fractured hip, lacking anatomical mobility, and squats just don’t do anything for me, except for the safety squat bar, but I don’t own one myself.

Not looking for body building, I want speed, athleticism and strength. I train 6 days a week, lower/upper split, and still a work in progress to keep the volume right to maintain that schedule. Been doing sled work for a month or so now and legs are heavy, tried doing some plyo’s as part of my work before sled recently, and couldn’t get off the ground, was pathetic!

Typical session:
Lateral pull 40 yards, 2x per lead leg, 4 plates (if I don’t do SAQ/Plyo’ & Sprints first- if done then take a plate off)
Forward pulls 40 yards 2x, 6 plates maybe an additional 25 lbs depending on the day (If I don’t do the SAQ/Plyo’s & Sprints first- if done then minus a plate)
Back walk/pedal 40 yards, 2x, 6 plates maybe an additional 25 lbs depending on the day (If I don’t do the SAQ/Plyo’s & Sprints first- if done then minus a plate)

Might do a combination of the forward/back but always start with lateral and do anywhere between 5-10 total sets of 40 yards.

Volume too high? I will throw in some nordic raises before starting these workouts and some additional ham curls and calf raises after the sled work.

Guess I should tell you typical SAQ/Plyo/Sprints too:
SAQ - 4-6 different movements, 10-20 sec duration
Box jumps 3 sets of 5 box jumps
1 leg bounding jumps 3 sets 5 each leg
3-5 hill sprints, 50-60 yards build up, 80-85%

A little input/help would be supper appreciated, and I don’t have any supplements except protein, and if I remember my creatine.

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The one rule I use for loaded carries is 10 meters = 1 repetition

So if strength is the goal then we are talking about 10-50m using the heaviest load possible using a walking speed with good form

If muscular development is the goal we are talking 6-10 reps, so 60-100m, againt at walking speed with a challenging weight and good form.

If power is the goal we are talking about 10-50m but at a sprinting speed with around 50-60% of what you would use for strength development.

In all of these cases I rest period of 2-3 minutes is recommended.

If you are using those carries for conditioning/fat loss I recommend a 1:1 work to rest ratio. So it could be 30 sec on/30 sec off… or 1 min on/1 min off, or 90 sec on/90 sec off

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