by Jim Smith, CSCS

Today we are going to talk about sled dragging and a very unique variation I came up with.  Most  anaerobic alactic / anaerobic lactic sports (especially combat athletics) require not only specific metabolic adaptations but a general conditioning foundation (GPP).  It is this foundation that allows more specific, higher level conditioning to be implemented and developed.

Sled dragging is an excellent tool to help develop this general conditioning baseline.

Different types of sled dragging:

• forward dragging
• backward dragging
• lateral dragging
• rotational dragging

You can also attach different attachments to the sled to drag it to make it more difficult

• tow ropes
• thick ropes
• thick “V” handle
• and now a car tire!

The Setup

Hook the tow rope through the car tire and anchor it back onto the sled.  Grab over the circumference of the tire and perform a tight chest crush.  Now walk backwards.  We also did a variation where we perform a strong rotation to move the sled.

Standard Setup

Holding Lacrosse Balls

In the video I show another variation of holding lacrosse balls.  This makes the chest crush even harder.

Similar Posts:

• Innovative Sled Dragging – Slosh Sled Dragging for Functional Strength
• Innovative Rope Training for Athletes
• Choke-A-Pitbull
• Killer Conditioning – Sled Dragging – Prowler Pushing
• Strongman Training Workout – Guest Blog Post – Joe Hashey

If you’ve picked up the latest edition of Men’s Fitness, there is a big 4 week AMD workout in it.  You know from all of my posts here on Diesel and if you’ve purchased this innovative muscle building system, that I’m big on full range of motion movements, a thorough warm-up, activation exercises, SMR and everything else that helps you stay healthy and move better.

It is so important as you get older and it is so important for coaches and personal trainers who are responsible for helping athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

READ THIS NOW

With this in mind, I created a killer new video.  Each warm-up might look like a whole lot of exercises;  more than you’re used to.  But as you get proficient, you’ll flow from exercise to exercise and it should not take you longer than 10 min.

In this video you’ll find 3 choices.

Three different upper body warm-up routines that you can pick and choose from for your workouts.

What To Do Next?

1.  Watch the Video

2.  Rate at 5 stars

3.  Print out all 3 Warm-up exercise lists on this page, or in the description on the YouTube video.

Copy and paste the following into word and print it out.  Take it with you to the gym.

Upper Body Warm-up Routines

Warm-Up #1

Perform 1 Run Through

1a)  Jump Rope, 3 min

1b)  Foam Roller, 30 seconds each area

1c)  Shoulder Bridging, 10 reps each side

1d)  Push-ups, 20 reps

1e)  Push-up Plus, 10 reps

1f)  Kneeling Reach Through, 5 each side

1g)  Banded Diesel Face Pulls, 20 reps

1h)  Muscle Snatches, 10 reps

Warm-Up #2

Perform 1 Run Through

1a)  Jump Rope, 3 min

1b)  Foam Roller, 30 seconds each area

1c)  Med Ball Wall Dribbling, Left to Right, 10 times

1d)  Db Laterals, 10 reps

1e)  DB Flyes, 10 reps

1f)  DB Raises, 10 reps

1g)  DB Presses, 10 reps

1h)  Banded External Rotations, 10 reps each arm

1i)  Standing Rotator “Y”, 10 reps

1j)  DB Lateral Drops (Activation), 15 reps

1k)  Plate Extensions into Halos, 10 reps

Warm-Up #3

Perform 1 Run Through

1a)  Jump Rope, 3 min

1b)  Foam Roller, 30 seconds each area

1c)  Lat Stretches, 5 resets each side

1d)  Band Shoulder Stretches, 3 Ways, Various

1e)  Hindu Push-ups, 20 reps

1f)  Cable Face Pulls with External Rotation, 10 reps

1g)  Cable Face Pulls, 10 reps

1h)  Side Lying External DB Rotations, 10 reps each side

1i)  Blackburns, 10 reps

1j)  Full Range DB Laterals, 10 reps

Highly Effective Upper Body Warm-ups

PS. If you want to learn how to pull all of this together into a complete workout, guaranteed to not only build muscle and get you stronger, but also help you rehab your injuries and feel better now, check out Accelerated Muscular Development

PPS. Want power?  Want real core strength?  Check out Combat Core StrengthSimilar Posts:

• 3 Insanely Effective, FAST Upper Body Warm-ups – Repost
• Diesel Workout of the Week
• Push Pull Workout for Powerful Upper Body Strength
• Back Off! Massive Muscle Building for Your Back
• Great Tricep Finisher – Improve Pressing Power

Hips Don’t Lie?

Why is improving your hip mobility important?

Well, the most important reason is that you can get your own music video.  You’ll be shaking your mobile hips in waist deep water with a macrame bikini on.  Shakira made a career out of it.

There are a few other reasons that might be important to you as a lifter, or you as a coach responsible for athletes.

Importance of Hip Mobility

• Less stress transfer to your lower lumbar
• Less stress transfer to your knees
• More neutral pelvic alignment (poor pelvic alignment puts surrounding musculature on tension)
• Deeper, more full range of motion movements of the lower body
• Progression toward strength in these new range of motions becomes essential
• Improves rotational power potential
• Lower injury potential during decelerative, high force movements
• Sexy bikini photo shoot (not sure why I keep going back to this?)

Exercises That Promote Hip Mobility

1. Squat to stand
2. Tin Men
3. Full Squats
4. Lunge and Reach
5. Hip Flexor Stretch with Elevated Back Leg on Bench
6. Glute Stretch
7. Leg Swings
8. Leg Raised with Foot Circles
9. Cossack Squats

What are Cossack Squats?

Cossack squats are done by performing a lateral lunging motion.  The toes can be slightly pointed out or straight forward during the movement.  The lifter or athlete will move their feet outward to a sumo or slightly WIDER than sumo position.

From their the torso is braced and forced outward as the lifter / athletes moves to the right / left.  The knee moves forward tracking over the toes and on the straight leg the toe comes up.  Settling into the bottom position will depend upon your hamstring / glute flexibility and hip / ankle mobility.

The lifter / athlete can stand straight back up (easier) or slide across to the other side (harder).  The slide technique keeps constant tension on the legs.

Benefits of Cossack’s

• deeper squat
• better setup on deadlifts
• hip mobility
• knee stability
• hamstring / glute flexibility
• better, stronger kicks in combat athletics

How to Progress Toward Free Stand Cassocks

You might find as you try this movement, there are TONS of things preventing you from getting into position.  Your lack of ankle and hip mobility and your quad, hamstring or glute flexibility.  In fact, for many of you, this position will feel really weak because it is a new range of motion and you’ve never created tension in this range.

Start slowly and perform it by holding onto the power cage.  Then you can transition to a free standing movement.  Also, if you are wearing Nike Shox, throw them off and do these barefoot.

Sample Cossack Squat Supersets

Superset 1

1A) Squats, 3×8

1B) Cossack Squats, 3×6 each way

Superset 2

1A) Cossack Squats, 3×3 each way

1B) Box Jumps, 6-8

Superset 3

1A) Psoas Activation, 3o sec each leg

Performed with knee bent and leg raised above 90 deg, held for time.

1B)  Cossack Squats, 8 each leg

1C)  Banded Seated Leg Curls

Spread The Word
Smitty on Twitter Smitty on Facebook
Products

Resources

Smitty’s Bio Smitty’s Articles Smitty’s Videos Ask Smitty a Question

Similar Posts:

• Fast Five to Lower Back Health
• Essential Hip Mobility – How to Warm-up Correctly
• Essential Hip Mobility – How to Warm-up Correctly
• Damn My Knee Hurts
• How to Deadlift the Proper Way

I was walking by this lady’s cubicle the other day and I saw a sign that read:

Think Thin

I thought about it for a second and it really pissed me off.

Think thin is such a cop out.  Think thin all you want, it doesn’t make that hamburger and fries that you ate for lunch go away.

To have a sign like that in your office means that you hope that by thinking thin, it will help you be thin.  Or it will help you reach your goals.  Whether it be building muscle, losing fat or fitting into that dress.

Those types of signs and that type of mentality are what’s wrong with society.  People want excuses.  They want the easy way out.  I will think thin and magically I will be thin.

WAKE UP!

It is time to start taking responsibility.

No more BS.  Get off your ass and start doing something!  Anything!  Quit blaming others, quit using the “I have no time” excuse, quit “thinking thin”.

Because you know what works?

• Hard Work
• Consistency
• Dedication
• Ownership
• Focus
• Real, attainable short term / long term goals
• Planning
• A good program
• Support from friends and family
• Keeping track in a lifting / diet journal

What is NOT Important?

MATCHING YOUR OUTFIT TO THE SWISS BALL YOU ARE USING AT THE GYM – Sorry Diddy!  (Is he even sweating?)

So, to get you started the right way, I want to dispel some common fitness myths and give you some essential tips for optimizing your fitness workouts.

Top 7 Tips for Build Muscle and Losing Fat

1.  Get Moving…Consistently!

Like I said, you have to do something…anything!  Get off the couch, get out from in front of the TV and move yo’ ass.  Do I sound harsh?  I’m trying to be!  I am sick and tired of people making excusing and then complaining all the time.

When you get home from work, go outside and take a walk.  Do some push-ups, do some lunges – just get moving.  And it you think you need hours and hours each day, you’re wrong.  10-15 minutes of moving, stretching, doing bodyweight exercises will add up very quickly in a week.  Start slow and do 3 times a week and as you progress, do 4 or 5 times a week if you want.  Now do this each week over the course of a month, 3 months and a year.  Be consistent!

2.  Progression

After you start moving again on a consistent basis, you will hit a plateau.  Remember, ALL PROGRAMS WORK UP UNTIL A CERTAIN POINT.  Then, they stop working.  That is when you either look for a new program, or learn how to create your own programs.  If a muscle building program is good, it teaches you have to make informed decisions based on your individuals needs.  It also teaches you moving forward how to adjust your program to continue to make progress.

The Most Common Ways to Increase the Intensity of Your Training Session:

• Modify Rest Periods
• Varying the Load
• Increasing the Speed of Movement
• Progressing from Isolated to Compound Movements

All of these components can be grouped together into a principle called the Principle of Progressive Overload.

3.  Keep a Training / Diet Journal

The only way to stay consistent with your diet is to monitor exactly what you eat everyday.  If you record this in a journal, you will be very surprised how much you are eating or NOT eating.  Eating a good quality protein source every 2 hours and having the majority of your complex carbs for your first meal and the meal immediately following your workout is a great, very basic way to start being consistent with your diet.  Also, setting a goal to drink a gallon of water a day and elminating sugary drinks will pay off big time.

On the other side, also keeping a training journal for your training is priority one.  If you don’t know where you’ve been, how can you know what your destination is.  A training log allows you to lay out your microcycle (short term periodized succession of workouts).  It also shows you immediately what weights (load) and exercises you did for your last similar workout.

A cool thing to use for a training journal is a calendar. The dates are already there and you can get one with lots of space for each day.  It is laid out for you in weekly blocks.

4.  Get Your Balance On

This is something that was driven home by Alwyn Cosgrove’s Periodization Design Bible.   In it, Alwyn really teaches how to design a sound program on the foundation that movements and movement patterns should be balanced.  The volume for a push movement has to be balanced with the volume of the pull movements.  This will ensure that muscle groups and joints (kinetic chain linkage) are antagonistically strong and the body creates appropriate tension when presented with the opportunity to overcome a weight.

I’ve been very fortunate to have many mentors.  Alwyn Cosgrove, Jim Wendler, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, James Smith, Ross Enamait and many others.  These guys have influenced me and shaped my training style.  The idea is – read every thing that is reputable.   I used to tell trainers always read everything and never STOP LEARNING.  But now, I tell them read everything from reputable resources.  It is very important who you read and what you apply. All trainers are NOT created equal.

5.  Do Not Specialize

Try many different sports, not necessarily your best one

Olympic weightlifters specialize for Olympic weightlifting.

Powerlifters specialize for powerlifting.

Girevoy (kettlebell) sport specialize for kettlebells.

If you are talking about building muscle and strength, you have a variety of options.  The problem is lifters stay on a program too long or without progressive overload and they plateau.  Always challenge yourself!

When talking about athletes of all ages, they need a wide variety of training adaptations and protocols.  Sometimes those who “specialize” think that their training is the ULTIMATE TRAINING and everyone should be only doing that.  Well, they’re wrong.

Yes you can get strong with kettlebells, yes you can get strong with barbells, yes you can get strong with dumbbells….it ALL WORKS!  These are tools but it is all dependent upon how you use these tools.  When training athletes, you must make a choice on how to choose the right training protocols (yes plural) after and only after you analyze the following:

• the training maturity (how long they’ve been training) of the athlete / lifter
• the sporting age (how long they’ve been playing their sport(s)) of the athlete / lifter
• the metabolic, physiological and neurological demands of the sport
• the movement patterns of the sport
• the athlete or lifter’s ability to adhere to the prescribed training and restorative modalities (sleep, massage, foam roller, good nutrition, etc.)
• the athlete / lifter’s current injuries and / or stage of recovery
• many others – this is just a short list

Side Note to all You Trainers Out There:  Your training is NOT FUNCTIONAL.  It is NOT FUNCTIONAL if you are talking about athletic performance and you are NOT PLAYING THE ACTUAL SPORT.  Remember that.

6.  Recovery

Ever sat on a lacrosse ball?  No, not THAT WAY!  I’m talking about using lacrosse balls to improve your soft-tissue quality and extensibility.

You should!

They can be very effective (because of their density) at removing scar tissue, adhesions and trigger points.

In ACS, one of the foundational manuals in the AMD muscle building system, I talk at length about the importance of foam rolling (and LaX balls) every workout or during your non-training days.  The improvement to your strength and overall movement will be huge.

Other forms and self myofascial release or SMR are:

• the Stick
• foam rollers
• tennis balls
• golf balls

7.  Dedication

You have to be dedicated to the program…any program.  Without this dedication and support system (friends, twitter, facebook groups) you will never follow through.  If you are serious about changing your life, finally, then you must dedicate yourself everyday.  Tell people about your goals, this gives accountability.

Even when you’re tired.

Even when the kids are driving you crazy.

Even when work sucks.

Even when you have absolutely no time in the day, find the time.

Even when no one thinks you can do it.

Even when everything has failed.

Try again.

Spread The Word
Smitty on Twitter Smitty on Facebook
Products

Resources

Smitty’s Bio Smitty’s Articles Smitty’s Videos Ask Smitty a Question

Similar Posts:

• I’ve Got No Where Else to Go!
• Exercise Selection for Muscle Building
• Essential Hip Mobility – How to Warm-up Correctly
• Man of Steel Challenge – Win It For FREE
• Essential Hip Mobility – How to Warm-up Correctly