What you'll gain
Trains hip and knee extension with no lowering phase, so soreness stays low.
Reintroduces controlled load after injury at a speed and range you choose.
Combines lower body drive with an upper body pull in one conditioning piece.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Attach a rope to the sled and load the sled with the weight you can move smoothly.
- 2
Stand facing the sled with the rope taut and your feet in a wide, stable stance.
- 3
Sit back into a partial squat and hold the rope with straight arms and a braced trunk.
- 4
Extend your hips and knees sharply to start the sled moving.
- 5
Pull the rope in hand over hand as the hip drive carries the load toward you.
- 6
Reset your stance and repeat for the prescribed distance, time, or rounds.
Common Mistakes
Pulling with the arms only, which stalls the sled and turns a leg drill into a grip test.
Rounding the lower back to reach the rope, which loads the spine at the worst angle.
Standing too upright, so there is no hip drive left to start the sled moving.
Loading the sled so heavily that it moves in jerks and the stance breaks down.
About This Exercise
The sled pull loads the body concentrically only. In the hip drive version shown here you sit into a partial squat holding the rope, extend the hips sharply, and let that drive carry the arm pull that brings the sled toward you. Quadriceps and gluteus maximus supply the drive, the spinal erectors hold the torso angle, and the lats, rhomboids, and biceps finish the pull. Because there is no lowering phase, sled work produces very little muscle damage, which is why it is used to reintroduce load after injury and to add conditioning volume between heavy sessions. For a catalog this clip covers the conditioning and rehab end of a lower body library, where most assets show barbell or machine strength work. It suits circuit builders, athletic development plans, and return-to-training content.
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Sled Pull
A rope-driven sled drag where the hips extend hard to start the pull and the arms finish it.
Need more than one animation?
Choose a focused 104-exercise pack or unlock all 412, with commercial licensing included.
Specifications
Built for
- Conditioning finishers in a gym or class programming app.
- Return to training blocks in a rehab focused plan.
- Athletic development content on horizontal force production.
- Machine and functional equipment collection pages.
Muscles Worked
Details
License Includes
Band Squat
$4.99A bodyweight squat with a loop band above the knees, keeping tension on the quads and glutes throughout.
Barbell Split Squat
$4.99A loaded split-stance squat for single-leg quad and glute strength — the staircase between regular squats and Bulgarian split squats.
Barbell Thruster
$4.99A front squat into an overhead press in one motion — the conditioning workhorse that hits legs, shoulders, and lungs at once.
Bodyweight Alternating Lateral Lunge
$4.99A side-to-side lunge that loads one leg at a time — builds glute and quad strength while opening up the inner thighs and hips.
Bodyweight Alternating Reverse Lunges
$4.99A backward-stepping lunge that builds the glutes and quads — the knee-friendly cousin of the forward lunge.
Bodyweight Box Squat
$4.99A bodyweight squat to a bench or box — the cleanest way to teach squat depth and hip-back mechanics to beginners.