Prowler Push How?Why?What!?

The prowler is a piece of equipment that is definitely one of my favorites! With a catchy title and its challenging reputation, this sled portrays the epitome of a ‘meat-head’ in terms of teaching movement. Despite this one-dimensional image, the Prowler has an overwhelming variety of uses. I specifically use the Prowler while teaching the acceleration component of speed.
I found a ton of videos in which people are attempting to show correct technique with the Prowler and I could not find a single one I liked. Therefore, I was inspired to share my instructions on Prowler Acceleration. Now, I am sure there are people out there reading this and thinking, “everyone thinks their way is the right way so of course this guy thinks his way is better”. Well, I was prepared for that so I put it to the test!
First, I took one of my athletes to accelerate the Prowler. He has a basic knowledge and understanding of the concepts of acceleration, as well as correct form using my checklist:

• Power Line Position
• Knee Punch to hip height (without initiating with knee flexion first, parallel shins)
• Drive the ball of the foot backwards behind the hip and center of mass, etc.

What I had him do next was watch some of these videos and try to demonstrate what he saw, I forced him to perform each a few times. When he was finished, I asked him to explain what he felt during the movements. This is demonstrated below by the bottom illustration. If you look at the joint angles you can immediately determine that the quadriceps are going to load the brunt of the force, which limits activation for the Glutes and Hamstring.

I took a picture of the Prowler with my phone, transformed it into a sketch, and then printed.

After comparing the results, there are noticeable differences and in using my checklist my athlete was much more effective and able to push more weight faster with less fatigue. He uses a better combination of power and in a better direction. The top picture demonstrates my checklist. My way the athlete will get a better combination of quadriceps activation as well as total Glute and Hamstring extension. These movement skills will carry over to free running and make any athlete more efficient.
Not convinced? Check out the videos…

Prowler Push (Not my version to increase Acceleration technique)

Prowler Push (Acceleration Technique)