Coach Gethin Rhys James

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Prowlers, Sleds and Chutes

There are a variety of different devices available to us. So many pieces of equipment have been developed for the purpose of adding resistance to our running. Here are just a few:

Prowlers
Sleds
Parachutes
Pulleys

People ask me a many questions about resisted running on a regular basis. What are the benefits of resisted running? How does if help me with my sport? How do I implement these exercises into my training programme? What piece of kit should I use and why?

Resisted running provides the benefit of overload. Overload is a principle which suggests that by raising the difficulty on the demands of a set goal in training, will inevitably make the goal easier when it comes to the date of the task. For example, if you run with a 10kg dumbbell in each hand in training, your arms will feel lighter whilst running in a race. Each peace of kit also holds a special benefit.

Prowler pushes are a fantastic way of firming up good posture in the acceleration phase of a sprint. They mimic the low body position of acceleration. Sleds and parachutes hold very similar demands. You pull a sled via a rope attached around your waist. The slack of this rope is taken away during the later phase of acceleration and the resistance is applied. This is useful for people needing to build top end speed but don't necessarily need to improve on acceleration. The parachute is similar because the chute does not open until the later phase of acceleration. It should be noted that the load of a chute is different to the load of the sled in the way of displacement. The resistance of the sled comes lower down whilst the parachute will try to pull you upwards. Pulleys can be used for acceleration and top end speed work under the coaches discretion.

Resisted running can be implemented into technical sessions on a once per week basis. Ensure that you practice your sprints without equipment as well because you don't want resisted running to spoil your running mechanics. 10 sets of these type of track drills are ideal for a good session.


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