Hyrox Sled Pull Technique: Grip, Body Position & Pacing for Maltese Athletes

You've run 3 km, ripped through 1,000 m on the SkiErg and just wrestled a loaded sled across 50 m of carpet. Your legs are cooked, your heart rate is redlined, and now a judge points you to a rope. Welcome to the sled pull, the station where more Maltese athletes lose time than almost anywhere else on the course, and one of the easiest to fix with a bit of technique.

The good news: the sled pull rewards smart mechanics over raw strength. Get your grip, body position and pacing right and you'll walk to the next run with your forearms intact and time in the bank. This guide breaks down the whole station, with weight references for the divisions you'll actually race in Malta.

Where the sled pull sits in the race (and why order matters)

First, a quick correction to a common assumption: the sled pull is station three, not the one after the burpee broad jumps. The running order is SkiErg, then Sled Push, then Sled Pull, and only after the pull do you hit the burpee broad jumps. So when you plan your pacing, you're recovering from the push, not the burpees.

The distance is fixed for everyone. You cover 50 m total, split into four lengths of 12.5 m. You pull the sled the length of your lane until it fully crosses the far line, walk back to the other end, pull it back, and repeat until all four lengths are done.

That "fully crosses the line" detail matters. Under fatigue it's easy to think you've made it, drop the rope, and realise the sled is a few centimetres short, forcing you to reload and pull again. Watch the sled, not the line.

Hyrox sled pull technique: the rope-over-hand mechanics

There's no single correct way to move the rope, but the efficient athletes all share the same principle: the arms sequence the rope while the legs and hips do the heavy lifting. If you try to bicep-curl 103 kg across a carpet, your grip and arms will quit long before the sled does.

Here's the sequence that works for most single competitors:

• Kill the slack first. The competition ropes have a little stretch, so take up all the slack and get tension before you commit force. Yanking into slack wastes energy and jars your grip.
• Sit back and load your bodyweight. Adopt a strong backward lean with a braced trunk so your bodyweight becomes a counterweight. You're not pulling with your arms; you're falling back into the rope while your legs anchor.
• Grip low, drive up and back. Reach low on the rope, then drive through your heels and extend the hips, pulling the rope from low to high, like a standing row where your body does the work.
• Overlap your hands. Reach for the next section of rope with your free hand before the working hand has fully finished. Keeping the pulls overlapping keeps the sled moving continuously instead of in jerky stop-start reps that stall it on the carpet.
• Manage the rope pile. As rope gathers at your feet, flick it to the side with small steps so you don't trip on it or tangle it. Never throw it behind you into a neighbouring lane.

Remember one rule that catches people out: you must stay standing throughout. Pulling from a seated or kneeling position isn't allowed, and you can't step on the front or back line of your box while holding the rope.

Hand-over-hand vs. step-and-pull

There are two broad styles. The hand-over-hand method keeps your feet planted and feeds the rope in with continuous overlapping pulls, relying more on upper-back and grip. The step-and-pull method has you grab the rope and walk your feet backwards within the box to move the sled, using more leg drive per pull.

Neither is universally better. Stronger upper bodies often prefer hand-over-hand on lighter loads; heavier divisions and grip-limited athletes usually get more mileage from driving with the legs. Try both in training when fresh and again when fatigued, and pick what holds up under a jacked-up heart rate.

Foot bracing: your quiet time-saver

The base you build with your feet decides how much force actually reaches the sled. Set your feet roughly hip-to-shoulder width, weight through the heels, and think about "screwing" your feet into the floor to create a stable platform.

At some venues there's a raised edge or the rig frame to brace a foot against. If it's within your legal working area, use it every single length. Bracing gives you purchase so you spend energy moving the sled rather than stopping yourself from sliding forward.

Two things worth knowing before race day in Malta:

• The carpet is brutal. The competition flooring has far more friction than a smooth gym floor, so the sled feels noticeably heavier than the same load in training. Expect it and don't panic on the first pull.
• The carpet can bunch. Sometimes the surface rucks up in front of the sled, adding resistance mid-length. Keep tension and keep driving rather than resetting.

Grip-endurance drills that carry over

Grip is the first thing to fail on the sled pull, and it's the most trainable. The aim isn't a one-rep max; it's the ability to keep closing your hand hard while your forearms are flooded and your lungs are screaming. Build that with capacity work, not heavy singles.

• Loaded carries. Farmer's carries, single-arm carries and heavy KB holds build the exact endurance grip the sled and later the farmers carry demand. Handy, since Hyrox also throws 2 × 16 kg (Women) up to 2 × 32 kg (Pro Men) farmers carries at you later.
• Dead hangs and timed bar holds. Simple, scalable, and honest about where your grip endurance sits. Progress by adding time or a small load.
• Rope pulls for reps. If your box has a sled and rope, do repeated seated or standing rope-to-sled pulls for time rather than for max weight. Match the effort and duration you expect on race day.
• Back and posterior-chain volume. Rows, RDLs and pull-throughs build the upper back and hips that actually move the sled, taking load off your hands.

Crucially, train the sled pull tired. Precede it with a hard run or the SkiErg and sled push so your grip is already pre-fatigued, because that's exactly the state you'll meet it in during a race. A pull that feels easy fresh can feel like a different station at 3 km deep.

Malta weight references: what you'll actually pull

Hyrox weights are standardised worldwide, so whether you race abroad or at a local event the loads are identical. The figures below include the sled itself (the sled base is roughly 30–40 kg, with plates making up the rest). Distance is always 50 m (4 × 12.5 m).

• Women (Open): 78 kg incl. sled
• Women Pro / Men (Open): 103 kg incl. sled
• Men Pro: 153 kg incl. sled

For doubles, the loads mirror the singles standards: 78 kg for Women's Doubles, 103 kg for Women's Doubles Pro, Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles, and 153 kg for Men's Doubles Pro. Note that Open Men and Pro Women pull the same 103 kg, a useful benchmark if you train in a mixed group and want a shared target.

When you're programming, train a little above your race load so competition weight feels manageable. If you're an Open athlete comfortable moving a bit more than 78 or 103 kg on a friction-heavy surface, race day becomes a pacing problem rather than a strength problem, which is exactly where you want it.

Pacing: how to attack the sled pull after the push

The sled pull is one of the highest-variability stations on the course, meaning the gap between a good and a poor performance here is huge. That's a threat and an opportunity: mismanage it and you bleed time, nail it and you gain places on people who blew up.

Because it lands right after the sled push, your legs are already carrying fatigue and possibly some lactate you didn't fully clear on the run. So resist the urge to sprint the first length.

• Start controlled, not explosive. Open with strong, steady pulls to establish rhythm rather than emptying the tank on length one and stalling on length four.
• Break it into planned segments. Think of it as four 12.5 m efforts, not one 50 m grind. A short, deliberate pause between lengths, while you walk back, lets your grip recover without costing real time.
• Breathe on a rhythm. Tie your breathing to your pulls. Holding your breath spikes the effort and burns your grip faster.
• Protect the next stations. Whatever you overspend here shows up in the burpee broad jumps, the row and the farmers carry. Smart is fast.
• Finish every length fully. Keep tension until the whole sled is over the line. Dropping early and re-pulling is the classic time-waster, and missing lanes carries a heavy 3-minute-per-lane penalty.

Putting it together for race day

The sled pull isn't a strength contest; it's a mechanics-and-management contest. Kill the slack, sit back and let your bodyweight and legs move the load, keep your hands overlapping, brace your feet, and pace it in four controlled segments. Train your grip endurance with carries and rope work, and always rehearse it tired.

If you've got access to a sled, a rope and something to load, you can build most of this at your own box in Malta. A friction-heavy pulling surface, official-style loads and a bit of structured grip work will do more for your Hyrox time than another PB attempt on the deadlift. Practise the station the way you'll race it, and the sled pull turns from a place you lose minutes into a place you gain them.