Can Sled Training Improve Running Speed?

Increasing overall running speed is a desirable goal for many individuals. Speed is an important aspect of multiple movements, making it a crucial attribute for multiple sports. However, improving running speed requires much more than simply speed training. As with most training goals, we need to break the movement down to understand what aspects we can target. Sled training is a form of resistance training where you push or pull the sled, placing external resistance on the upper and lower limbs. This training method has become increasingly popular within athletic and general training communities. Specifically, sled training targets muscles involved in sprinting, which introduces the question: can sled training improve running speed? Well, this blog will cover why and how sled training can be utilised to help improve your running performance.

 

What Is Sled Training and How Does It Work?

What Is a Weighted Sled?

A weighted sled is a heavy-duty piece of equipment, designed to be pushed or pulled across the ground. It should provide space for additional weight, allowing you to match the external resistance to your fitness ability. Some more premium designs include the option for different grip positions, such as our Exersci® Premium Gym Sled, with the option for a low-position horizontal grip. Furthermore, we also offer the Exersci® Resisted Sled on Wheels to allow you to complete sled training on multiple terrains.

These pieces of equipment will allow you to perform: 

• Sled pushes
• Sled pulls
• Forward drags
• Backward drags
• Resisted sprints

What Muscles Does Sled Training Work?

Well, the muscles targeted during sled work are dependent on the exercise you complete. This allows you to tailor your training to target specific adaptations to meet your training goals. 

Pushes:

• Quadriceps
• Glutes
• Hamtrings
• Gastrocnemius (calves)
• Core musculature (e.g., abdominals)
• Shoulders
• Triceps

Pulls (posterior chain)

• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• quadriceps
• Latissimus dorsi
• Trapezius
• Rear delts

Pulls with battle rope:

• Latissimus dorsi
• Traps
• Biceps

When including specificity to running, the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves all play a major role in running performance. The quadriceps are primarily responsible for producing force through knee extension, making them crucial during acceleration and force production at top speeds. The hamstrings also aid force production during running as well as increasing the speed of the swing phase, improving running mechanics. Glutes are responsible for hip extension, whereas the calves are responsible for ankle extension. Collectively, these all contribute to a forceful triple extension (extension at the ankle, knee and hip), an important component that makes up running ability.

Why Might Sled Training Help Runners?

Improving force production in triple extension will improve acceleration and top-speed performance. Essentially, you need to improve your rate of force development (i.e., power), so you can produce high levels of force in the shortest time possible. Rate of force development is a product of force and time, meaning your force production (strength) is a major factor in your running performance. This means improving your lower limb strength, especially through triple extension, is crucial. Additionally, specificity is an essential component of training, with sled pushes focusing on triple extension and producing force horizontally, which is important during sprinting and acceleration. 

Sled pulls, on the other hand, will shift the focus onto the hamstrings, while still strengthening the quadriceps, glutes and calves. Increasing strength in these muscles will help improve force production and power through hip extension (hamstrings), knee extension (quadriceps) and ankle extension (calves). 

Can Sled Training Make You Run Faster?

Absolutely, sled training can make you run faster. Most commonly, sled training is shown to improve acceleration (Source & Source), which is integral for sprint performance.

Indeed, strengthening the lower limb muscles with sled training will not negatively impact your top-speed running; however, the literature currently shows negligible effects on top-speed running (Source). Maximum sprint speed requires tremendous amounts of force absorption followed by production. Although the goal in sledge training can be to produce high force quickly, sprinting involves contact times of < 200 ms. Being able to produce forces within this time frame with a sled is almost unattainable. Therefore, it is important that sled training is used to complement and not replace other training modalities, such as plyometrics and technique work.

Accelerations, on the other hand, have much longer contact times, with a large focus on producing concentric force to reach your max running speed as fast as possible. This is easier to mimic during sled training, allowing for specificity and targeting similar muscles and muscle actions involved in accelerations. You are able to overload the movement to increase horizontal pushing force/strength, thus increasing an important component of power used within accelerations. 

Strength and Muscle Adaptations

An added bonus to including sled training in your programme is that the benefits in force production will come from a combination of neurophysiological and muscular benefits. 

Your body will become more efficient at recruiting type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibres, responsible for fast and forceful contractions, crucial within sprinting. More visibly, you will also experience muscular hypertrophy, due to growth of these fast-twitch muscles.  Collectively, they contribute to increased strength and subsequently improved accelerations and running performance. These adaptations will occur primarily at the glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. 

How to Use Sled Training to Improve Running Speed

Like with any exercise, the way you implement the exercise into your programme is dependent on your:

• Training age/experience
• Strength
• Sprint ability
• Training goals
• Space available

However, unlike many forms of resistance exercise, where you may think the goal is to increase load, to improve acceleration we need to improve multiple aspects of performance. Our main goal would be to increase power or rate of force development. Indeed, one aspect of this is strength (force); thus, increasing the load on the sled is ideal here. This is where you will complete heavy resistance sled training.

However, power is also an essential component of sprint performance. This is where you should work in the middle of the force-velocity profile, i.e., as external loads are increased, the speed at which you move decreases. Sport scientists suggest that to improve power, you should work somewhere in the middle of this profile. Thus, a weighted sled with lighter external loads applied will allow you to train in this sweet spot. This will allow you to perform fast movements that closely resemble acceleration/sprinting, while overloading the muscle to a degree to maximise your power output.

Example Sled Session for Runners

Warm-up: 5–10 minutes of dynamic movement and running drills.

Sled pushes: 4–6 × 15–20 m

Rest: 60–120 seconds between efforts

Sled pulls: 3–4 × 15–20 m

Then finish with normal sprinting or strength training depending on your individual programme.

Conclusion

So, can sled training improve running speed? Yes!

Sled training can be an extremely useful tool to develop strength and rate of force development in the lower limbs, particularly when appropriately programmed. You should incorporate a mixture of heavy sled training, including pushes and pulls, to build a strong foundation. Importantly, you should also include lighter sled training. allowing you to mimic accelerations while somewhat overloading the musculature involved. At Exersci, we offer a range of weighted sleds, including our standard weight sled, as well as our premium options, that allow for versatile grip. Additionally, a limitation with sled training is the requirement of artificial turf or the risk of scratching your flooring or equipment. However, now we offer a weighted sled on wheels to overcome the limitations of flooring requirements and allow you to train on multiple terrains. 

Want to add resisted sled training to your programme? Explore Exersci's range of sleds and build strength that carries over to your running.