8 Benefits of ATG Basic #1: Sled
[Click here to ensure you know the standard intentions when doing sled work in the ATG Program.]
#1: More time with family
I think of fitness as a tool to enhance the rest of my life. The ability to give someone a strength and cardio workout to make their body more athletic while healing it — and in 5 minutes or less! THAT is my favorite benefit of the sled.
My wife, mom and dad are all able to do the ATG program, and SLED is always the first item of each workout. This means if all they do is get in their 200 meters of sled, that’s a WIN in the ATG program.
And yep, the fact that my wife and parents can enjoy the same workouts I do means I get even more time with them, too!
#2: Rebuilding from the ground up
When you start out intentionally pushing the sled slowly as we do in the ATG program, you load and mobilize your big toes, feet and ankles! The 3 most common lower body exercises, squats, deadlifts, and leg presses, are each flat-footed. And the 2 most common lower body accessory exercises, leg extensions and hamstring curls, also don’t train your feet. Foot problems have reached epidemic levels because our feet lack the ability to handle the demands placed upon them. I and thousands of others have completely conquered chronic and COSTLY foot problems with no complicated methods: just sled.
And even as you move upward to the Achilles tendon, I saw a quote from mobility legend Kelly Starrett in which he said he believes a controlled forward sled drive is the #1 exercise for Achilles health.
#3: Knee health
Charles Poliquin strength-trained the most Olympic medalists ever, and he used daily backward sled dragging when Olympic hopefuls reached out to him with limited time and major knee problems. Without daily backward sled dragging, many people would not have won the Olympic medals they now own.
In the ATG program, we take this clue and we drag the sled backward every single workout. Monday through Friday, every workout starts with sled. On leg days I use forward and backward, and on upper body days I just use backward.
The same foundation that generated outlier Olympic results is generating outlier knee results for people of all ages and all walks of life!
#4: Cardio
A vicious cycle occurred for me and many others: knee injury leads to sedentary lifestyle leads to the need to do cardio to get back in shape which then injures the knees further which leads to even worse condition.
The reality is that depression is common as a result, which leads to eating worse foods because you have lost hope and the junk food temporarily makes us feel better.
Sled is the solution, because it gives you cardio while being arguably the most effective natural knee pain therapy!
And if you have excess weight… that makes it even easier to move the sled! Whereas with most other cardio, your excess weight makes the exercise more difficult and more injurious.
In fact, the only thing Google says we can DO about knee pain is lose weight! This means you are at more risk of knee injury by TRYING to lose weight. Hence: vicious cycle.
Sled completely solves this, as it is fundamentally safer than running or lifting weights. You have less impact but greater exertion and adaptation to be more athletic and bulletproof! And the sled then enhances your results with running, jumping, or lifting weights! The ATG Program itself is essentially sled plus exercises to correct the most common modern human deficiencies, and the whole process is easier when the sled is done standardly before each session.
#5: Hormones
Sled likely releases more growth hormone than any other exercise, but you also get a feeling of accomplishment afterwards. People get happier, feel more confident and are less likely to fall into depression-eating.
When you add this step to the factors above, it’s not even close: Sled is the most youthening exercise.
My training partner is one of the most aesthetic and athletic 43-year-olds on the planet (@mr1nf1n1ty on Instagram)… but he’s more athletic and injury-resistant now than he was in his 30s!
He’s also most likely done more sled than anyone in the world over the past 5 years.
Success leaves clues.
#6: GLUTES!
When you push the sled forward you use your glutes. In the ATG program we do use a few unusual glute exercises which provide distinct advantages for developing your glutes. There’s no doubt, though, that the miles and miles of loaded sled driving each year add to your glute results!
#7: Body Composition
Body composition refers to how much muscle you have vs. how much fat you have.
It’s traditionally thought that you either “bulk” or “cut.”
Bulking would mean gaining muscle and fat together.
Cutting would mean losing muscle and fat together.
These are valid processes, but undeniably less ideal than being the healthiest version of yourself 365 days a year.
Sled is my cheat code that allows me to have a 6-pack every day of the year without ever limiting how much I eat.
And it’s not just about having a 6-pack… it’s about being explosive!
There is an inverse relationship between how many miles you run and the peak speed you can reach.
Meaning: Every marathon runner would get badly burned by the top 100-meter sprinters. The body of a 100-meter sprinter has more muscle tissue and can contract with more explosion.
Since my sport is basketball, I want endurance but I also want to be able to dunk at the end of a game.
I want muscle but I also want to be lean, and I play basketball every weekend so I never want to be out of shape.
Sled. Sled. Sled.
I sleep well every night knowing how many people I’ve helped who were spending countless hours and many thousands of dollars trying to obtain the 7 results listed above through high-tech medical procedures, injections, orthotics, supplements, recovery treatments — only to find the sled gave FAR MORE results for those 7 areas, and at lightning speed.
But I didn’t mention one thing:
IT’S NOT EASY…
#8: MENTAL TOUGHNESS
Done right, sled requires the most exertion of any exercise relative to total time required.
SIMPLE, so, so simple!
But not easy.
Kinda like life.
The closer you get to the truth, the simpler a subject becomes.
Every day of my life, I am happy and grateful because I understand the sled.
I have so much less stress, and so more much enjoyment of life, thanks to ATG Basic #1: SLED.
Yours in Solutions,
Ben
The ATG Equipment List (we don’t currently sell anything, but I keep this list up to date with what I use, plus links and discounts)
PS. For those with excuses about not having sled access, I DO understand that they aren’t in every gym yet. However, consider this beautiful picture I received last night: rural South African students with makeshift Push-Pull sleds. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
