Speaking of sled drags, my wife and I talked about a sled just yesterday. Money is tight right now but I do have some income from PayPal. My wife asked what I was doing with the PayPal money and I said that I was paying bills. She said that I should use that money for something I want that was when I mentioned a sled. Her comments were “you want to do what with it” and “won’t that tear up the grass?”. I convinced her that it would actually smooth out the little divots in the grass ;). However, I will save up more and wait until spring before getting one.
I just bought one of those 7 dollar circular snow sleds from kmart, some heavy duty rope, drilled a few holes and now I have a sled for like 12 bucks lol. Why buy a 185 dollar sled? when you can make one yourself for under 20 bucks.
you can also just drag a small tire on cement. put weight inside it, and an eyelet bolt to tie a rope to
[quote]dolarhyde wrote:
I just bought one of those 7 dollar circular snow sleds from kmart, some heavy duty rope, drilled a few holes and now I have a sled for like 12 bucks lol. Why buy a 185 dollar sled? when you can make one yourself for under 20 bucks.[/quote]
What is your goal with sled dragging exactly??
If its just for conditionning Jim recommended in the past that you do it on lower body day if possible, but you can also do it on upper day. Depends on your goal also…for conditionning dont overthink about which exercice you can do with the sled, just sprint,walk,run!!!
[quote]crankMAN wrote:
dolarhyde wrote:
I just bought one of those 7 dollar circular snow sleds from kmart, some heavy duty rope, drilled a few holes and now I have a sled for like 12 bucks lol. Why buy a 185 dollar sled? when you can make one yourself for under 20 bucks.
What is your goal with sled dragging exactly??
If its just for conditionning Jim recommended in the past that you do it on lower body day if possible, but you can also do it on upper day. Depends on your goal also…for conditionning dont overthink about which exercice you can do with the sled, just sprint,walk,run!!!
[/quote]
I mainly want to do it for conditioning and help with recovery since I saw some of the exercises on Elitfts were for recovery. I plan on doing it on my off days and this is what I’ve done so far.
Warm up: Sled pulling forward / backwards for 10 laps
Bicep Curls w/ sled 3x8
Chest flyes w/ sled 3x8
Rear / front delt raise pulls 5 each side
Pull through 3x10
Ended my workout with 8 Bear crawls adding more weight each lap.
I’ve also thought about doing sled drags before each workout to warm up in addition to doing the above on my off days.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
you can also just drag a small tire on cement. put weight inside it, and an eyelet bolt to tie a rope to[/quote]
this is a cheap alternative jsdool; I do this on the street in the front of my house, neighbors get a kick out of it
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
you can also just drag a small tire on cement. put weight inside it, and an eyelet bolt to tie a rope to
this is a cheap alternative jsdool; I do this on the street in the front of my house, neighbors get a kick out of it[/quote]
I have no problem with the cheap solution. I thought the expensive one would likely minimize damage to lawn. The saucer idea seems better than the tire with regards to impact upon lawn but I doubt it would handle much weight. Still, might be good for starting out.
I would also like a heavy tire for flipping but I’m sure my wife would have a fit even if I got the tire for free…
[quote]jsdool wrote:
TheDudeAbides wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
you can also just drag a small tire on cement. put weight inside it, and an eyelet bolt to tie a rope to
this is a cheap alternative jsdool; I do this on the street in the front of my house, neighbors get a kick out of it
I have no problem with the cheap solution. I thought the expensive one would likely minimize damage to lawn. The saucer idea seems better than the tire with regards to impact upon lawn but I doubt it would handle much weight. Still, might be good for starting out.
[/quote]
The most i’ve put on it so far is 210. I can send you a picture if you’d like.
if you get a real sled or use a tire like I do, drag on the street. I posted instructions for a tire sled some time ago, I will try to find it and repost here
Found It!
Old Lardass’s Guide to Building Your Own Cheap-Ass Dragging Sled
First, go to the tire store. They have to pay to get rid of their old tires, so they will give you one for free. Try to get a tire from a pickup truck.
You need a 3/8 in drillbit and a drill. you take 2 scrap pcs of 2x4 (about 6 in long)and drill a 3/8 in hole in them. Then, you lay the tire on its side, and drill a 3/8 in hole about 1 or 2 in down from the top of the treadline.
Get a 3/8 in eye bolt (less than a dollar at home depot) and push the threaded end into the tire. Reach inside the tire and impale the scrap pcs of 2x4 on the threads of the eye bolt. put washer and nut at the end. Use loctite on the threads so you don’t have to constantly tighten the nut. So, what you have just done is used 2 pcs of 2x4 as a big washer, so that the the eye bolt wont punch through the tire.
Take a scrap pc of plywood and cut it so it will fit inside the tire. This is so you can load the tire will all manner of heavy shit without it falling out the middle.
The rest of the stuff you need is available at walmart inexpensively. You will need 2 each of 1/4 in replacement chain links (a 2-pak is about 3 bucks). a 10’ chain (the 880 lb chain at walmart is 11 bucks) a 6 inch snap link (4 bucks). a 20 ft tow strap (15 bucks - you could also use an old fire hose).
Now, take one of the replacement links, and use it to connect one end of the chain to the eyebolt. use the other link at the other end of the chain to connect the 6 in snaplink. connect the ends of the towstrap together to make a long loop. Run the loop through the snap link so that you now have 2 loops, one on each side of the snap link. put these over your shoulders like pack straps, or crossed over your chest. Load the tire with rocks, children, old sears cement weights. Drag lots.
I leave mine in the back of my Outback so that I can drag at the park or anywhere else.
Now, if you dont mind dragging in your nieghborhood (or you have a gym or someplace where you can permanently abandon your sled), here is a great way to pimp your sled. Get 2 very large yard bags, and put 1 inside the other. put it inside the tire. get an 80 lb bag of cement, and dumpt it inside the bags. Add water and stir. You now have a 80 lb sled once the cement cures. You want a permanent place for the sled, cuz lifting it in and out of your car can be a pain.
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
Found It!
Old Lardass’s Guide to Building Your Own Cheap-Ass Dragging Sled
First, go to the tire store. They have to pay to get rid of their old tires, so they will give you one for free. Try to get a tire from a pickup truck.
You need a 3/8 in drillbit and a drill. you take 2 scrap pcs of 2x4 (about 6 in long)and drill a 3/8 in hole in them. Then, you lay the tire on its side, and drill a 3/8 in hole about 1 or 2 in down from the top of the treadline.
Get a 3/8 in eye bolt (less than a dollar at home depot) and push the threaded end into the tire. Reach inside the tire and impale the scrap pcs of 2x4 on the threads of the eye bolt. put washer and nut at the end. Use loctite on the threads so you don’t have to constantly tighten the nut. So, what you have just done is used 2 pcs of 2x4 as a big washer, so that the the eye bolt wont punch through the tire.
Take a scrap pc of plywood and cut it so it will fit inside the tire. This is so you can load the tire will all manner of heavy shit without it falling out the middle.[/quote]
I did this and then added cement. A 205-70-15 tire full of cement weighs about 230. We warm up with that then sit a loading pin on top and add plates. So far this year, my friend and I have pulled it with 600 lbs total. So it’s cheap and can stand up to abuse. We’ve already worn through one sidewall so we just flip it over to the other side. 230’s pretty light and when we get it going, you can smell the rubber!
I was wondering if I could swap a rep scheme in for one of the exercises in Wendler’s program but only for pullups… The sample program he gave said to do 5x15 for Pullups but I’m nowhere near capable of being able to complete it… I know Wendler said that you shouldn’t mess with the routine but in this case is it acceptable to change things up? Also, what would be the best rep scheme to use to best improve my pullups? Thanks
I’m currently doing 25 sets of 2 reps for my pull ups. I think I remember reading in one of these threads that it was ok to break it up.
[quote]dolarhyde wrote:
I’m currently doing 25 sets of 2 reps for my pull ups. I think I remember reading in one of these threads that it was ok to break it up.[/quote]
Its in the book!
the 50 chins on MP day and bench day has been one of my favorite parts of the program so far. good stuff.
I started a topic for using a spreadsheet with Wendler’s 5/3/1 at Forums - T Nation - The World's Trusted Community for Elite Fitness
I know others have created similar spreadsheets but my focus is on having progress charts.
Note that I posted a new version that uses JW’s formula for 1RM.
I’m gonna stop going all out on the last set for DL-too hard on recovery… So far,I have hit 10-12 reps during Week 1,9-10 reps during Week 2 and 8 reps during Week 3.
From this week onwards(new cycle) I am thinking of capping my reps
Week 1:9
Week 2:7
Week 3:5
May I missing out on anything by capping my reps?
In nerd speak, your estimated 1RM according to Jim’s formula will always be well bigger than your base 1RM for the cycle if you go at least +3 reps each week, e.g. 8/6/4. So in that case you won’t miss too much by capping +4 like in your case if you feel that recovery is an issue.
I’m planning to cap myself at + 5 throughout this cycle, and alternate days per week to focus on breaking rep PR’s. Last week I did 11 reps on 5’s week on BP and front squat days, and due to life scheduling issues I’ll be doing a “deload” this week and restart the cycle the week after, hopefully switching the “rep PR days” every week.
[quote]Doenitz79 wrote:
I’m gonna stop going all out on the last set for DL-too hard on recovery… So far,I have hit 10-12 reps during Week 1,9-10 reps during Week 2 and 8 reps during Week 3.
From this week onwards(new cycle) I am thinking of capping my reps
Week 1:9
Week 2:7
Week 3:5
May I missing out on anything by capping my reps?
[/quote]
I think a better idea is to just go all out on only 1 or 2 of the three weeks. The remaining week(s) you can just do the prescribed reps. This way you’re at least getting one week of really pushing yourself. I think Jim has recommended something similar.