Push technique in detail: angle of attack, hip dominance, side and rear handle, phase logic and why dry-track technique does not transfer one to one onto ice.
If you want to refine your push, work on one variable first: the angle of attack. In an analysis of 305 ground contacts from 28 male elite bobsleigh athletes, the angle of attack — the lean of your body against the ground — was the strongest performance predictor across all push phases [1]. Not step length, not frequency, not grip strength. The angle at which you brace against the sled.
The second lever is the source of force. During start acceleration, propulsion is hip extensor dominant; only as speed rises does the ankle contribution grow while the knee contributes less [2]. Compared with unresisted sprinting, bobsleigh athletes generate more mechanical energy at the hip and less at the ankle [1]. You are not a sprinter with a sled — you are a hip engine with ground contact.
The third point is the most inconvenient: the dry track is not ice. When pushing on ice, national squad athletes show higher step frequency and shorter stance, swing and flight times than on land, plus smaller vertical movement of the centre of mass [3]. The authors explicitly warn of negative transfer from land-only training in the start and acceleration phases [3] — a preprint analysis, so not yet peer-reviewed, but practically highly relevant.
And because you want to know whether the effort pays: start time and finish time correlate moderately (around 0.48 in men, 0.63 in women) [5]. The start does not decide alone — but it decides along.
Research divides the push into three sections: start acceleration (first and second ground contact after push-off from the start block), acceleration phase around 10 metres and high-velocity phase around 30 metres [2]. Each phase has its own force logic. Train it all in one lump and you improve nothing specifically.
Film yourself from the side and measure your body angle to the ground during the first contacts. Too upright a start wastes horizontal force; too flat makes you stumble. Since the angle of attack was the strongest predictor across all phases [1], it is your weekly checkpoint — not your feeling.
Two things count in start acceleration: a high hip extension velocity of the stance leg at touchdown and a high hip flexion velocity of the swing leg [2]. Translated into cues: actively paw backwards instead of stamping down, and rip the swing leg forward aggressively. The rest follows.
The rear handle (at the back of the sled, usually the brakeman) allows a deeper, symmetrical position; the side handle (on the folding bars, usually the push athletes) forces a slightly rotated stance. Train both with single pushes of 5 to 40 metres, exactly as trials demand [4]. Short pushes for start acceleration, long ones for the high-velocity phase.
Loading is not an extra drill but the end of your push. It is trained exclusively with coaches and on the real sled — speed plus a moving bob is nothing for solo experiments. What you can train alone is the prerequisite: trunk stiffness and the ability to drop from full speed into a deep, compact position.
Because step frequency, contact times and centre-of-mass motion differ systematically between ice and land [3], the rule is: land training builds the capacity, ice training shapes the movement. During the season, plan as many ice pushes as your club allows.
Push technique is the athletically safest part of bobsleigh — with two exceptions. First: maximal pushes load hamstrings and adductors heavily; without at least 15 minutes of warm-up with build-up runs, that is an avoidable risk. Second: loading into the moving sled is the trickiest moment of the entire run.
This guide explains technique, it does not replace training. Every push and loading drill on the real bob and in the ice track belongs under the supervision of qualified coaches and inside a club structure.
Film two pushes a week from exactly the same side camera position — tripod at hip height, 10 metres away, start area in frame. Compare a single still: the second ground contact after push-off. That contact belongs precisely to the research definition of the start acceleration phase [2], and the angle of attack in it is your harshest, most honest feedback [1]. One degree less upright beats any felt "explosiveness".
Above all the angle of attack: in an analysis of 305 ground contacts from 28 elite athletes it was the strongest performance predictor across all push phases [1]. Add hip-dominant force production during start acceleration and a high hip extension velocity of the stance leg at touchdown [2].
On ice, squad athletes show higher step frequency, shorter stance, swing and flight times and smaller vertical centre-of-mass movement than on land [3]. The authors therefore warn of negative transfer when start and acceleration are trained on land only [3]. The analysis is a preprint.
Both. Trials test side and rear handle pushes as well as single pushes over distances of 5 to 40 metres [4]. The rear handle allows a more symmetrical, deeper position, the side handle a slightly rotated one — in a crew you will be deployed where your profile fits.
Moderately important. Push time and finish time correlate at around 0.48 in men and 0.63 in women [5]. So the start measurably matters, but not alone — line and equipment carry the rest. As a push athlete it is nonetheless your only direct lever.
Through phases and splits: short pushes for start acceleration, long ones for the high-velocity phase [2], plus timing at the start and at 15, 30 and 50 metres. A force-velocity profile is a useful addition, since Pmax, V0 and Vopt have discriminative validity for push performance [6].
Training Without Ice: Push Tracks, Dry Starts and What Actually Transfers