That would be an excellent choice. I’ve seen those referred to as “tank sleds”. Should be gentle on the back. 5/3/1 for Hardgainers also employed the idea of sled work for lower body assistance.
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5.8.25 Push Day
Did a little bit of a dynamic warm-up including 10 box jumps. Those kind of hurt.
Bench
135 x 10
170 x 8
200 x 6
230 x 4
250 x 2
Machine OHP
70 x 10
90 x 8
105 x 6
120 x 4
130 x 5
Hammer Strength Incline
160 x 10 x 3 sets
Single-Arm Cable Lat Raise
30 x 10 x 3 sets
OH Rope Ext
130 x 13, 10
JM Press
70 x 20
Not sure where my back is. I have muscle pain but not terrible. I’ll keep trying to baby it but I’m wondering when it’s time to just get back at it and deal with the pain.
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Gave the sled a shot today and it did not disappoint. I set it at the max resistance (0 to 3 with 0 being neutral) and pushed about 20m down and back. Did two sets like that and a third at level 1 so I could go faster. Level 1 was too easy unless you want to run with it.
It was just a little trial run but I see the potential. Max resistance was a good challenge. There is also a more traditional sled in the area I could use or I can add weight to the fancy one.
I needed to pick up my daughter and my legs were burning so I didn’t do any more than the three laps. I want to see if I’m sore tomorrow before I do more.
According to my 5/3/1 Strength and Conditioning template, I should do the sled for 4x50 with 75% of my bodyweight on days 1 and 3. Day 2 is 2x50m forward and 2x50m backward with the same load. The weeks alternate after that with week 2 doing the forward and backward stuff twice and the 4x50m forward once.
I’ll use that as a guide as I move forward.
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5.11.25 Leg Day
Warm-Up
- Agile 8
- 20 pogo jumps
- 10 box jumps
I use box jumps to soften the landing rather than seeing how high and fast I can get my feet up there.
Leg Extension
100 x 20
115 x 20
130 x 20
Seated Leg Curl
110 x 20
130 x 12 or 13
I saw a video about leaning forward during these and it did not disappoint. It lengthens the muscle and you can feel the stretch at the end range.
Old School Leg Press
450 x 20 x 2 (5 plates each side)
Felt my friendly back muscle on set two so called it.
Sled
Sled weight is 75 lbs but was missing an optional handle so probably 60-65 lbs added 160 lbs
Push 30m
Pull 30m
4 sets of each alternating.
My space is about 30m. It has four racquet ball courts and they’re supposed to be 20 feet wide.
The sled plus 160 felt similar to the fancy one with adjustable resistance on level 3.
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5.12.25 Push Day
Warm-Up
- Agile 8
- 10 box jumps
- 50 pogo jumps mixed in with DB Incline
Bench Press
135 x 10
170 x 6
200 x 4
230 x 2
255 x 2
DB Incline
70 x 12
75 x 9, 7
Machine OHP
70 x 8
90 x 6
105 x 4
120 x 2
135 x 2
Machine Fly
180 x 15, 12, 9
OH Rope Ext
130 x 12, 10, 3
Apparently my triceps just quit.
@T3hPwnisher you were right calling it a Tank sled. I didn’t even pay attention the other day, but the Y has the M4 version. It’s on sale for $1699.99 right now.
Sled Conditioning
Tank M4 Sled (resistance chart (on the right) and sled pictured below)
max resistance (level 3 on both wheels) x 25m down, then back x 4 rounds. Took a couple puffs as I switched sides and got back to it.
- lap 1: 1:00, rest 1:30
- lap 2: 1:08, rest 1:23
- lap 3: 1:05, rest 1:29
- lap 4: 1:02
*Total time: 8:39
I’m actually surprised at the times. I didn’t track anything during the workout other than pressing the lap button on my watch. Happy with the rest times, too. Those were just based on how I felt and I like seeing the consistency in recovery. I definitely felt like I was slowing down. I have no idea my speed, but if I compare the difficulty to the Ethos sled I pushed yesterday with 160 lbs, I’d say I was moving about 1.5 to 1.75 mph so the “weight” was 174 to 203 lbs.
Edit: I just had a thought. I think the resistance is direction specific. I saw a question in the FAQs of the Torque site where someone asked about resistance going both directions so he didn’t have to turn the sled around. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t mess with it. In my misery, I considered dropping it to 3 and 2 for what I thought would be a total of 5. But I guess I would have just made it easier going one direction.
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5.13.25 Pull Day
Not much energy today.
Hammer Strength Pull-Down
180 x 10
200 x 8
220 x 6
240 x 4
260 x 3
Incline DB Row
75 x 10, 10, 9, 7
Reverse Fly Machine
130 x 11, 9
Smith Machine Upright Row
65 x 15
85 x 10, 10, 10
Trying to replace my cleans.
Cable Curl
80 x 10F/10T/10B x 2
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Holy cow, it’s crazy to see how some people grow up and develop around here! Way to go, @j4gga2!
As you can see, I was browsing the back injury section. I’ve been in pain pretty much 24/7 for three years. It’s not an injury necessarily, but it’s obviously not right. The best way I can describe it is that the tissue (not sure what) that seems to be on top (skin/surface side) of my sacrum hurts. It aches constantly. I can achieve sharp pain if I extend or hyperextend my lumbar spine. I can do this lying in bed. This is the area that I feel pain when I officially mess up my lower back deadlifting or squatting. When that happens, I think my L5 rotates and the right side of my pelvis shifts up and forward slightly. I can usually fix that with a couple trips to the chiro over about two weeks and then I’m off and running again…until now.
Here’s what I’ve tried to address the daily pain:
- rest with no change so I stop resting
- manual therapy at my PT which has helped but only a tiny bit
- I did visit my PT four to five times over about that many weeks for full blown visits but I felt the only improvement came from the manual therapy. For that reason, I’ve opted to go in and pay cash for that alone. I’ve had about six visits over the past 2.5 months (they’re busy and my schedule is limited).
And that brings me to my current official injury. I had the same feeling while squatting 2.5 weeks ago (April 28th), but this time it feels like I also strained a muscle. I think it’s my QL. Prior to the injury I had been feeling like the same area was on the verge of cramping or straining while performing heavy squats. It felt like it might have affected my obliques as well, but I may just underestimate how high the QL goes (or technically starts). The “strain” is slowly getting better and I was happy to see you share this:
I’m still well within the guidelines you posted. But as my QL region feels better, I’m starting to feel the junk “on” my sacrum again. The only muscle I know of in the area is the erector spinae but it confuses me to only have pain in the area of insertion instead of along the whole muscle.
What are your thoughts? More rest? Back to PT as an official patient including all the exercises?
I only recently came back to the forum and was shocked when I looked back at my history to see that my last “injury” occurred three years ago. I didn’t realize I’d been tolerating this for so long. I have a great PT here, but I’m curious what someone else might have to say about the matter. The reality is that PT twice a week gets expensive fast on a teaching salary.
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Thanks to @T3hPwnisher and his food blogging, I’ve been craving red meat. I stopped buying a portion of a cow a couple years ago and haven’t had many steaks since. I bought a flat iron steak because it was slightly marked down and the cheapest cut that looked edible. Little did I know that it’s supposed to be tender second to a filet. I kind of rushed things and threw it in the cast iron skillet using old bacon grease instead of butter or oil to coat the pan. I seasoned it with a blend of salt, pepper, and garlic and added a bit more garlic powder. I seared each side for about 3-4 minutes and seared the edges (all on medium heat). Some recipes online said the internal temp would be close to 130 after 4-5 minutes per side but they must’ve had thinner steaks. Mine was only 75 degrees so I dropped the temp to low and put a lid on it until the thickest part reached about 131 degrees.
And here’s the result:
I found a new steak. I’ve never eaten anything other than ribeye, t-bone, and sirloin (listed in order of preference). This thing is awesome. 
Net weight before cooking was 1.79 lbs and I’m fighting the urge to eat the whole thing.
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Don’t fight that urge: that’s your body asking for exactly what it needs. And you keep giving in to THAT urge and it will have less urges for donuts, haha.
That’s a beautiful steak.
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That thing looks glorious, steak envy!
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Inspired by you as well! Like I mentioned, I’ve only eaten the following steaks:
- t-bone (close second)
- sirloin
- ribeye (favorite)
- swiss (forgot to list this one earlier)
I saw your cut was something different and the way you described it made it sound like it came out good.
The other bonus for this experience is that I’ve never cooked a steak on the stove. I feel like I committed some sort of crime but it was delicious. 
I planned on having like half of the cut left, but thanks to the freeloaders I only have two slices that are about 3/8" thick.
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If t-bone is a close second, you owe it to get yourself a porterhouse sometime. It’s a t-bone, but with more of the tenderloin (filet mignon) section left on, so basically an even bigger T-bone. I’m honestly not a big filet mignon fan in isolation, but when it’s attached to a t-bone, it’s like having dessert steak.
Also a shoutout to picanha. It’s sirloin with a wonderful fat cap. And you need to get yourself some tri tip. It’s California’s gift to the BBQ world. And the world is welcome! Haha.
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I endorse this. Reverse seared a tri tip on Monday on the Ninja Woodfire. Might be the best beef I’ve ever eaten.
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Saw these next to the sirloins yesterday and was intrigued. I opted for the sirloin because I know I can cook it in a way that comes out good and it was cheaper. My career change happened right at the start of the inflation boom so I have to be more mindful of my spending than I like to admit. But I am thinking of ways I spend my money on crap and how I can stop that and put it towards meat.
Alright, you two. I’ll give it a shot. I’m pretty sure I saw some of this at Dillons or Yoder Meats yesterday during my journey. I am very blessed to be 40 years old and only just now having to worry about buying steaks. I’ve always just been able to go to the freezer and grab one.
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For cost savings on steaks, it helps to buy roasts and cut them into steaks yourself. Save the cost on butchering. You can even get the “primal cut” at places like Costco or your local butcher to do just that. The past 6 weeks I’ve been living off of steaks I cut out of roasts.
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Honestly this is turning into an expensively inspiring conversation, bought 4 more steaks tonight. 3 being dry brined one cooked straight away, was actually a rushed dinner - hadn’t had lunch and was going from back to back meetings and driving all day, to fire service training, so picked up (as requested) frozen pizza and frozen Mac and cheese for the family, and just had this conversation and Pwn’s max def example running through my head and came to the conclusion that this:
Was probably the best option that ticks speed, macros and flavour.
Unfortunately this:
Was not true and I ate 2 donuts after training was done.
On the flip side thought I did smash a strongman conditioning session after drill and before the donuts.
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It was the peas that did it. Carbs beget carbs.
But good you smashed that training!
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Had a Sunday roast at The Arab Boy in Putney.
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5.15.25 Stupid Legs
Leg days suck when you’re trying to avoid using your back.
Hack Squat Thingy
(turns out it’s called a linear hack squat)
90 lbs x 15
140 x 10
Quit. This puts a ton of pressure on the anterior knee and I couldn’t do it on the second set. My right knee is trash and I still battle pain at the bottom of the kneecap in the patellar tendon.
RFESS
BW x 10 x 3 sets
No rest; just switch from one leg to the other til I hit the 30 reps.
Seated Leg Curl Leaning Forward
130 x 15, 12, 12
Seated Calf Raise
125 x 15 normal pace
125 x 8 pause at top and bottom (you can reach failure in 8 reps)
125 x 20 fast reps
Torque Tank M4 Sled
Push: Level 3 x 50 meters (25 down, 25 back) x 2 sets
Pull: Same
I used straps and held on with my hands for the first pull. It irritated my back towards the end of the 50m. Someone had put a weighted dip/pull-up belt on the sled and had carabiners to clip onto the straps. Brilliant. It made the pulling like a belt squat and put no pressure/strain on my back.
I’d like to go 50m non-stop, but I’d be obnoxious to pull that off. Doing it in a down/back style still sucks. It just feels like two different sets. The first one is strong and the second one tanks and my steps get shorter and everything slows down. I’m going to go back to the Ethos sled for the next go around to see the difference. The Tank M4 gets “heavier” the faster you push it.
I almost went back to snag the rest of the marked down flat iron steaks, but I’m waiting one more day. Dillons has a rewards program and each dollar you spend is worth a point. Get 100 points and get 10 cents off per gallon on gas. Fridays are 4x points so my $100 can get me 40 cents off per gallon. I gotta eat and I gotta buy gas; might as well save some money!
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Any recommendations on which roast?