Hyrox Sled Push

The sled push is Station 2 in Hyrox — and it is the one that catches people off-guard. After your second 1 km run, you grab a weighted sled (102 kg for Open Men, 78 kg for Open Women) and drive it 50 metres across the competition floor. There is no technique shortcut for a light sled — the weight is the weight. But there are massive time differences between athletes who push efficiently and those who stall out at 30 metres. Body position, leg drive angle, and breathing strategy are the levers you can control. This is also the station with the biggest variance in floor conditions — friction changes with the surface, the venue, and even humidity. The athletes who practise sled work regularly are the ones who adapt fastest on race day.

Technique Breakdown

Efficient technique on the sled push is the difference between a fast station time and a painful one. These are the key steps to get right — especially under race fatigue.

1. Set your body angle. Grip the high handles and lean into the sled at roughly a 45-degree angle. Your arms should be fully extended, shoulders stacked over your wrists. The lower your angle, the more horizontal force you generate — but go too low and your feet slip. Find the angle where you can drive continuously without losing traction.
2. Drive through the floor. Each step should feel like a powerful leg press. Drive your foot into the ground behind you, fully extending the hip and knee before the next stride. Short, choppy steps waste energy. Think "push the ground away" rather than "move the sled forward."
3. Keep your core braced. Your torso is the transmission between your legs and the sled. If your core collapses, force leaks. Brace your abs as if someone is about to punch your stomach, and maintain that tension for the entire push. Breathe in through the nose on the recovery step and exhale forcefully through the mouth on the drive step.
4. Commit to continuous movement. The hardest part of the sled push is restarting after a stop. Static friction is higher than dynamic friction — once the sled stops, it takes significantly more effort to get it moving again. Even slowing to a crawl is better than a full stop. If you must rest, keep your hands on the sled and your weight leaned into it so the restart is faster.

Pacing Strategy

Pacing on the sled push is not about going slow — it is about going sustainable. Here is how to approach it.

• Do not sprint the first 10 m. The sled starts from a dead stop and requires peak force to initiate movement. Use the first few steps to build momentum, then settle into a powerful rhythm.
• Break the 50 m into two 25 m segments in your mind. Focus only on the first 25 m — when you hit the halfway mark, reset your mental effort and push through the second half.
• Aim for a total push time of 1:30–2:30 (competitive Open) or 2:30–4:00 (recreational). If you are regularly exceeding 4 minutes in training, prioritize leg strength work.
• Your breathing pattern matters more here than on any other station. Exhale forcefully on every drive step — holding your breath will cause your blood pressure to spike and your vision to narrow.

Common Mistakes

These are the errors we see most often at Hyrox events. Avoid them and you are already ahead of half the field.

• Gripping the low handles when fatigued. The low handles reduce your leverage — you have to bend over further and your hip angle closes, limiting your stride power. Stick with the high handles unless you are very experienced with low-handle technique.
• Looking up while pushing. Your head position dictates your spine position. Looking ahead causes you to extend your back and lose the forward lean that generates horizontal force. Keep your gaze on the ground about one metre ahead of the sled.
• Taking long strides. It feels natural to take big steps but long strides reduce the amount of force you can apply to the ground in each step. Shorter, powerful, piston-like steps with full hip extension are faster.
• Stopping at the halfway mark. Many athletes pause at 25 m because the initial burst of effort catches up with them. This is a pacing problem — start at a pace you can sustain for all 50 m.

Training Drills

You do not need specialist equipment to train for the sled push. These drills work in any commercial gym and directly transfer to race-day performance.

1. Heavy sled pushes: 6 x 25 m at race weight with 2-minute rest. Focus on continuous movement — zero stops. Reduce rest to 90 seconds as fitness improves.
2. Sled push to wall sit: Push a sled 50 m then immediately hold a wall sit for 60 seconds. This trains your quads to endure the sustained contraction pattern of the push.
3. Leg press pyramid: Sets of 20-15-12-10-8 reps at increasing weight, 90-second rest. Builds the single-leg drive strength that powers each step on the sled.
4. Prowler sprints: 8 x 15 m at lighter weight (60–70% race weight) with 45-second rest. Develops power and turnover speed without the fatigue of full-distance pushes.

Weights by Division

The sled push weight varies by division. Here are the official specs for every Hyrox category.