In HYROX Open the sled push totals 152kg for men and 102kg for women, and the sled pull is 103kg for men and 78kg for women, each over 50 metres, with the plates and sled combined. Pro divisions add weight on top. But the number is the least important thing about the sled. What you train for is horizontal leg drive, a low powerful position and short-burst leg endurance, not a bigger back squat. The sled is the station that most often blows up first-timers, and almost never because they are too weak.
Why the sled feels far heavier than the number
The plated weight is only half the story, because what you actually fight is friction between the sled and the floor. A grippy carpet or rubberised surface can make 152kg feel savage, while a slick floor lets the same load slide. That is why athletes report wildly different experiences venue to venue, and why chasing a squat PB to "beat" the number misses the point. On top of that, the sled arrives straight after a 1km run, so you meet it with your heart rate high and your legs already working, which magnifies everything.
Put those two together and you see why the strongest person in the gym often has the worst sled. They attack it like a max lift, standing tall, arms driving, and stall within ten metres as their heart rate hits the ceiling. The athlete who wins the sled treats it as a low, repeatable effort that keeps moving. Force helps, but only force you can produce again and again while breathing hard.
What physical qualities actually move a sled fast
The sled rewards horizontal force production and leg endurance far more than maximal strength. You want quads and calves that can push repeatedly at a low body angle, a braced trunk to transfer that force, and the aerobic capacity to keep driving without a full stop. A huge one-rep squat contributes a little, but an athlete who produces force again and again beats a stronger athlete who stalls. In my coaching experience, the fix for a slow sled is almost never "get stronger". It is body position and pacing.
| Division | Push total | Pull total | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open men | 152kg | 103kg | 50m each |
| Open women | 102kg | 78kg | 50m each |
| Pro men | Heavier | Heavier | 50m each |
| Pro women | Heavier | Heavier | 50m each |
How to train the sled push
Rehearse the exact demand rather than just loading a leg press.
- Push a heavy sled in short 10 to 15m bursts with a low, forward body lean.
- Keep arms long and locked, driving through the legs, not the chest.
- Train it tired: run a hard 400 to 1000m, then push, to mimic race fatigue.
- Add heavy leg-endurance work: walking lunges, split squats, calf raises.
- Practise a walk-through pace so you never fully stall and lose momentum.
Why the pull is a different problem
The pull is a hand-over-hand rope effort that hammers grip, upper back and the ability to shift a load in a low athletic stance. Grip failure is what stalls most people, not leg strength, so train it with heavy rows, rope pulls where you can access them, and grip-endurance work like heavy carries and dead hangs. The technical key is a low, seated-back position where you use your bodyweight against the rope instead of curling with your arms. No rope available? Band-resisted seated rope pulls and heavy horizontal rows build the same pulling endurance.
"The sled catches out strong people all the time because they attack it standing tall and gassing their arms. Get low, keep the sled moving in small steps, and you'll pass athletes twice your size. It's a technique and pacing station dressed up as a strength one," says George Wootten, Executive Coach, THETA.
How to pace the sleds on race day
Pace them so the runs either side survive. A sled that spikes you into the red costs more time on the following kilometre than it saves on the station. Break the 50m into short segments with brief resets rather than one grinding effort, hold the low position throughout, and never sprint the first metres only to stall the last ten. The goal is continuous forward movement at a hard but repeatable effort. Athletes who empty the tank on the sled routinely walk the next run, which is the opposite of a fast race.
When the sled is your limiter, program it first
Here is the honest bit most plans get wrong: if the sled is genuinely your weakness, adding it as a bit of extra leg work on the end of a session will not fix it. It has to be diagnosed and front-loaded. That is the whole point of weakness-first programming. THETA BLUEPRINT uses a 2-minute assessment to identify your limiter, and if that is the sled it puts sled-specific work into the first three weeks of the block rather than leaving it as an afterthought, then adapts block to block as your position and pacing improve. Week 1 of every block is free, so you can see how it prioritises the station before committing.
The body position that makes or breaks the push
Almost every slow sled comes back to the same fault, so it is worth being specific. The stall position is tall: chest up, arms bent, hips high, so your force goes partly into the floor and partly into fighting your own posture. The effective position is low and long. Your arms are locked straight, your torso is angled toward forty-five degrees or lower, your hips are down, and your driving leg extends fully behind you so the whole chain from ankle to hand transmits force horizontally. From there you take short, punchy steps rather than long lunges, because a long stride leaves you with a moment where no leg is driving and the sled decelerates. A decelerating sled is the enemy: static friction is higher than moving friction, so every stall makes the next push harder than the one before.
A useful cue is to imagine pushing the sled through the floor at a downward angle rather than along it. That keeps your body low and your force horizontal. If you can see your own hands out in front of you while pushing, you are too tall. If your forearms are roughly parallel to the ground and you are looking at the floor a couple of metres ahead, you are in the position that keeps a heavy sled moving.
Common questions
How heavy is the HYROX sled push?
In Open, the sled push totals 152kg for men and 102kg for women, including the sled, over 50 metres. Pro divisions add more weight on top of these figures.
How heavy is the HYROX sled pull?
The Open sled pull is 103kg for men and 78kg for women over 50 metres, performed hand-over-hand on a rope. Pro divisions are heavier again.
Why does the sled feel heavier than the weight suggests?
Friction between the sled and the floor determines the real difficulty, so a grippy surface makes the same load far harder. You also hit the sled straight after a 1km run with an elevated heart rate, which magnifies the effort.
How do I get better at the sled push?
Train short heavy pushes with a low forward body position, add leg-endurance work like lunges and split squats, and practise pushing tired after hard running. Technique and pacing improve most people faster than raw strength.
Do I need a big squat for the HYROX sled?
No. The sled rewards repeatable horizontal leg drive and endurance more than maximal strength. A strong squat helps a little, but body position, leg endurance and pacing matter far more for a fast sled.
How do I train the sled pull without a rope?
Use heavy horizontal rows, band-resisted seated pulls and grip-endurance work such as heavy carries and dead hangs. These build the pulling and grip endurance that decide the pull, even without the exact equipment.
Sources
- HYROX official station weights and standards (hyrox.com)
- THETA coaching data, 2024 to 2026
- Established principles of horizontal force production and strength endurance