Sled Push · Trunk Angle at Brace

Why this matters

The sled push is a horizontal force problem. The athlete's body is a lever that converts leg drive into forward push on the sled. The trunk angle sets the direction of that force vector.

If the chest is too high, the push drives the sled down into the carpet, not forward.

A torso angled 10–20° above horizontal aims the force nearly parallel to the floor — the direction the sled actually needs to travel. This is the single most important postural variable on the push.

What good looks like

• Torso a long, rigid line from hip to shoulder, tilted only slightly above horizontal.
• Hips loaded back, weight committed against the poles.
• Head in line with the spine (not craned up).

Common faults

Too Upright (> 22°)

The cardinal sled-push fault. The chest sits high, so the force the legs generate has a large downward component. The sled effectively gets heavier — friction climbs and the split slows.

Causes: fear of committing the weight forward, weak posterior chain, or simply never being coached to get low.

Effect: more friction, slower split, faster fatigue.

Too Flat (< 8°)

Over-committed to the floor. Sustainable for a few metres but the neck drops out of neutral and the position is hard to hold for the full 50 m.

Coaching cues

• "Chest toward the floor" — biases the torso down toward the target angle.
• "Long spine, low angle" — keeps the trunk rigid while lowering it.
• "Drive the sled forward, not down" — names the force-vector consequence directly.

How to draw

1. Pause on the braced frame: weight dropped, poles compressed, sled not yet moving.
2. First point: greater trochanter (hip centre).
3. Second point: acromion (shoulder).
4. The acute angle vs horizontal is the reading.

Related measurements

• Trunk Angle at Contact — the same line one phase later; together they expose chest-pop-up during the step.
• Elbow Extension at Brace — same frame; confirms the arms transmit rather than absorb.