Speed and acceleration are not the same thing. Speed is how fast you can sprint at maximum velocity. Acceleration is reaching top speed as quickly as possible. The ability to accelerate in hockey means winning loose balls, blowing past defenders or catching runaway attackers.
The use of resistance sprinting, specifically weight sled training, is a valid tool for improving acceleration in sport. A hockey players performance benefits from improving short acceleration and sled pulling is an ideal training technique to improve the ability to accelerate the body over short distances.
Weighted Sled Drills
What to know when planning to use sled sprinting as a training program to improve acceleration
There are four true variables when working with sled sprinting. They are distance, mechanics, load, and speed. While load (resistance) can reflect different surfaces, sled designs, and the external load added, those factors usually don’t change. Most coaches will understand the need to compare the same set-ups each time they train, so different sleds on different surfaces having different friction levels is not a hard concept to understand. Here are the guidelines for the four variables mentioned above.
Distance: Sled pulling should be done over 25-30 meters only, as the literature shows very little transfer past 20 meters and none as one gets close to top speed. While improvements over 5-10m may benefit athletes, the longer sprints tend to develop better capacity to sprint over all short distances, not just the first few steps. Also general leg power will transfer over the first three steps, making sleds a good answer for steps two through ten or more.
Mechanics: Rehearsal of sprinting technique is important for sprinters, but even team sports having a solid running mechanics is a smart way to safely improve performance and decrease injury potential. One of the fears of having heavy loads on sleds is that they will degrade technique or fail to transfer to regular sprinting in games. While small mechanical changes will occur from loaded sled sprints, they are not significant if they are near the same speeds as unloaded sprints.
Load: Sleds overload the acceleration sprint by creating friction to the training surface via the sled design and additional weight. The sled design and surface choice is usually not going to change, so most loading adjustments are made by adding or subtracting weight. Loads have traditionally done by estimating a percentage of one’s body weight, but with body weights staying the same or changing, a combination of speed difference and external load is more useful. Two athletes being the same size but dramatically different in speed having the same external load doesn’t make sense, even if they are roughly the same in the weight room.
Speed: Acceleration by definition can occur at any distance, but the primary zone is the early phase of acceleration, or 0-30m. Research has shown that little influence from sleds can come from the 20-30m zone, but for practical purposes one should run through the line to ensure the first 20 meters is aggressive. The 20-30m zone may not have the same impact from sled sprints, but no research has shown that a combination of moderately loaded sleds and unloaded sprints impaired late acceleration. Exclusion of 20-30m sled sprints doesn’t seem warranted, and very light loads may help the later acceleration phase just as the heavier loads may help with early acceleration (5-15m).
Weighted Sled Drills and Proper Technique
The following video addresses technique aspects of sled training
How to use a sled trainer
The following video covers how to set up and use a sled trainer
To purchase a sled trainer go to https://www.hartsport.com.au/products/2-074 or you can use alternative equipment. See below
Low Cost Sled runs using bands
To find more about sled training benefits Google – ‘sled training’
Source: various
