Keiser sled machine

[eagle918]

Hi all,
I have a PAT this weekend, and one of the tasks is to move a Keiser sled 5 ft with a sledgehammer. I have only done this for one other test a couple of years ago. Does anyone have any advice on how to effectively complete this task without using a lot of energy. For your information, I am 5'8", 153 lbs.

Please help I do not want this to be the station that hinders me from passing.

Thank you.

[Drjmilus]

First, I would go to a practice if there is one.
If it does not go well this weekend, in the future:
In your well equiped gym, I would do the following:

I would super set these 2 exercises in the gym. Start with 4 sets and work up to 8 or even 10. Start with 60-70% of max, and move the weight up by 10 pounds each set. Go back and forth. Don't rest. Do this every other day... max 3 days per week. Do it on the day you do back or upper body.

Work the swimmer pull. I named it that, and I don't know if other people call it that, but it's what I use for this. Here's how you do it: Use a rope handle. Set the pully so the rope handle ends are at about head level when you are in the following position: Stand with your feet 1 1/2 times hip width apart about 3 feet from the weight stack. Bend your knees to 15-20 degrees. Hinge (bend) to 90 degrees at your hips. Keep your back flat. Stick your butt out. Start out with the weight just raised off the stack. With your arms straight, (this is not a tricep exercise except by default- although it is done on that very machine!) swing as if you are imitating the sledge swing. Explode from the top. Lower slowly. At the top of the range of motion, your hands will be together. At the lower end, they will be down by your legs, and apart, outside and right above the knees. Repeat 20 times. As you go up in weight, (10 pounds per set) you will go down in reps by 2 each set. When you get really strong at it, you will be able to do enough sets that you get down to 4 reps. (what's that, 9 sets?) Your weight should increase by 10 pounds each super set. I start with 50 pounds when I am not practiced at it, and work up to 120 as I go. If you start out slow/light and build up, you won't be so sore. Rememeber, the downswing is fast, just like the action of the sledge hit.

Remember, so as not to lead to an impingement syndrome, don't let the head of your humorous jam up into the gleno-humoral joint (shoulder socket). This can lead to bursitis, impingement syndrome, and ongoing shoulder problems later. To ensure you don't do this, do not let your arms go higher at the shoulder joint than makes the upper arms parallel with the trunk.

This exercise is great for increasing your explosive strength with the sledge. It will make this part of the test much easier.

Then move immediately to this:

Sit on the floor. Grab the rope that is now above your head with one hand (yes, the rope may slide). Do a one armed lat pull down to (the same side of)your chest. Pull down quickly, and lower the weight slowly (or l let your am up slowly, however you want to say it). Start with the same weight each set that you just did the swimmer pull with. Start with 20 reps. You'll go up in weight as you do with the swimmer pull, and down in reps: up by 10, down by 2. Now do the other hand. I suggest doing the non dominant arm first, and never exceeding what that arm can do with the dominany arm. At the very end of all of these super sets, I actaully do an extra set of these one armed lat pulls with my non-dominant side to failure. When you get stronger, you should be able to work up to like 120 here too!

This exercise is great for lats and grip strength.

Walk over to the drinking fountain, get a drink, and go back to the first exercise. OR BETTER:
Jump rope at 150 rpms for 60 seconds, grab a sip of water, and go back to the first exercise!

Between these 2 simple exercises, you should have a significant improvement in your sled portion. Each event has little things like this, so if you have other questions, and value my opinion here, let me know!

Dr. Jen

[aaronw1]

Remember to always have the sled about one inch behind your heels when you are striking it, that will give you more of a swing.



DR. Jen, impingement syndrome....is that why they do not let you swing higher than your head during the event?

[Golzy12]

The First thing I would suggest is bulid your own keiser, I used 3 6x8 railroad ties next to each other I placed the ties on top of 3 2x4's which lied perpendicular to the direction of the ties I made this set up in my yard, I took a branch about 2 or 3 inches in diameter 8 inches long and I cut it off like a spike I then drove 3 of those spikes into the ground next to the outside tie on eachside to keep the ties in place. I then stood on the outside ties and drove the center tie backwards between my legs with a sledge hammer. The set up will cost you 50 dollars tops including 8# sledge hammer. The machine I made is a lot harder then the ones they have at the tests I take. when it canme time for my first official keiser sled machine I destroyed the thing (metaforicly) 15 to 20 hits and I was done. and I'm only 5' 9" 165#.

I would do 3 sets of the keiser every other day, I did this for a month or 2 and I got my technique down to a T. The keiser just like every other event is all about technique.

[protomkv]

Remember to always have the sled about one inch behind your heels when you are striking it, that will give you more of a swing.



DR. Jen, impingement syndrome....is that why they do not let you swing higher than your head during the event?

Let the hammer do the work, try to ensure that the head of the hammer hits flat against the side of the sled so that maximum force is applied to move it, if you continually hit the sled with the edge of the hammer, you are just wasting energy. try to hit the sled in the center, not the edges.

[Drjmilus]

Wow, great help, you guys! I wouldn't have thought of building the same thing. But it's a great idea!

The impingement syndrome question:
that is usually caused by doing something that jams your humoral head up into your Acromio-Clavicular (AC) joint alot. I get it from doing very deep tissue work on people all day long (for many years). If you couple that with many other repeated forces in the same direction: incline flies, punching on a heavy bag for cardio, set after set of push ups, bench press.

If you were doing all of those other things, and did the exercises I mentioned above incorrectly, trained on the sled 3 sets a day incorrectly, I guess you could set it off. If you did all of those things correctly, and balanced out your exercises, you are more likely to avoid injury. (See balance below)

In the test, when they don't allow the hammer over your head, it is probably because if you let go of it up there, you could be in BIG trouble... you and your head! If you let it go at a lower point, it would be less likely to hit you as it spins into the air. Just doing in for the short period of time in the test, in and of itself, the one time you might take the test in 6 months would probably not cause it an impingement sydrome.

By the way, I always try to balance my pulling work (lat pulls, bent over rows, seated cable rows) set for set with the ones that are pushing. I try to keep the weights relatively similar too. The pulling things really work to pull the humoral head back out... creating more balance... preventing that kind of injury, I hope!

Dr. Jen
www.fireagility.com