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iron addict
09-16-2007, 03:54 PM
It is finally cooling down here in Arizona. We just had a heat spell of 33 days of 100+ most days over 105 and lots of 110. So.......I quit puling some time ago because it just made me puky pulling in 100+ degree weather, many nights at 10-11 PM it was still 96 out.

I just started again (just pulled a 1/2 hour ago in 90 degrees) and have been thinking about a few things. Since it has been so hot, I didn't feel like doing my usual couple of light passes to warm up. I have found that 3 sets of 20 bodyweight squats with fast acceleration done with less than 2 minutes rest between sets warms everything up fine to pull heavy, at least for me.

Intervals are way better than steady state pulling.

If you pull fast enough with enough weight you don't need that many pulls from a conditioning standpoint. 4-6 is fine. I just pulled 5 interval as fast as I could without momentum taking over--and I pull in sand. I went to failure on backwards pulls and when I un-hooked and went in the house my quads were so pumped for about 10 minuted I wanted to cry--lol. I also noted I am in shitty conditioning since not pulling regularly for almost 3 months.

If you are pulling to drop bodyfat, more intervals at a lower intensity for more time will be better all around from a recovery and fat loss standpoint.

After you are conditioned upper body pulls are important and are great for recovery.

I will likely be revamping my pulling program for trainees based on their needs. I have been using intervals for awhile, but will likely change to heavy and fast for minimal pulls for conditioning only, and lighter and longer for fat loss. I have had most pulling likely to many heavier intervals. While guys with great recovery thrive on it and I will still use it with these guys, frailer. folks will get one of the two above prescriptions.

IA

Swellin
09-16-2007, 07:40 PM
Interesting.

I've been considering dropping the weight and going for an all out pull of 3 minutes; 1 minute rest; 3 minute pull; 1 minute rest; 3 minute pull, in order to mimic a fight. As I get accustomed to it, I planned to drop the rest interval by a little bit...hopefully ending up at 30 seconds for the rest period.

What do you make of this?

iron addict
09-16-2007, 08:04 PM
I think that is a great idea. When training for sports, as much specificity to the actual sport is always a better idea. If you do 3 round fights, 3 minutes pulling will be much better.

Wesley

musclemilk
09-21-2007, 05:03 PM
Since I recently started submision wrestling again. I am so focused on conditioning.

So Wes when you say 5 pulls at very fast pace--did you pull the sled and fast walk for a total of 10 minutes?


Thanks Wes Great read as always.

iron addict
09-21-2007, 05:12 PM
Yes, it is actually pulled at a crushing pace with 1 minute rest periods. The forward pulls are extremely fast without letting momentum do the work, and the backward pulls result in failure about 3/4 of the way through. Distance is about 70 yards in this case which is my short side fence to fence , but 50 yards will do.

IA

iron addict
09-21-2007, 07:21 PM
Well I just did the indoor version of conditioning work. Loaded the leg press with a weight that allowed 20 continuous reps with a few left in the bag. Did a set, rested a minuted, and so on. At set 5 I got about halfway through it and got real puky so stopped the set.. Was somewhat nauseated after set 3. Got up gagged once and went and laid on the coach 20 minutes later went and got a waxy maize shake. Drank it and it came right back up.

Please note, this is NOT a substitute for sled pulling as their is doms. I just did it because it was hot (93 30% humility) and it was leg day.

IA

musclemilk
09-22-2007, 02:12 PM
That sounds like a good time :-) Guess I am sick like that.
Another great piece of advice and good thing you stated there is DOMS.

Loving this thread Wes.

TheBrent
12-11-2007, 02:52 PM
Is it cool to pull the sled the day BEFORE a leg/back/bi day?

dbcb314
12-11-2007, 03:06 PM
ive done it


sled shouldn't wear you out... in fact it should help you recover


(not talking about "heavy" days... I have never done them)

TheBrent
12-11-2007, 03:11 PM
Well it helped out a ton last week when I did them the day after legs...

SO my schedule would be like this, this week.

Tues- sled
wed- leg/back/bi
thurs- sled

That's fine as long as I'm not killing my legs today with heavy sled?

dbcb314
12-11-2007, 03:32 PM
ive done it before

as long as yoru pulling the sled within you means (meaning, you dind't just jump right into it and starting pulling 20 minutes straight... you worked yourself up to w.e level you are on)... you should be fine

boxer81
03-15-2009, 07:50 AM
have you done any youtube vids of this? would like to see, sounds great

Gilligan7408
04-11-2009, 09:24 PM
Figured I would post this here instead of making a thread but if I'm going to do Starting Strength, would I not be able to do sled pulling due to squatting 3x a week? The only time I see it fitting in would be on a Saturday.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

AnyOldIron
04-12-2009, 07:08 AM
try doing some sled pulling straight after your heavy squat workouts.

alexjoan
03-05-2010, 04:22 AM
Sled training is easy to fit into your schedule. You could do it as a separate workout on a separate day. You could do it as part of your weight workout, either before or after the weights, using heavy weights, shorter drags (say under 50 yards) and a couple minutes between pulls.