Watch Lizzo do a sled workout before her VMAs performance

Watch Lizzo do a sled workout before her VMAs performance

Lizzo showed off her strength in a big way ahead of the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The "About Damn Time" singer, who performed Sunday night and took home the Video for Good Award, shared a video of a workout on TikTok just days before the big event.

In the clip, set to Lizzo's song "2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)," the singer pushes and pulls a sled by taking quick, small steps. She does so in an all-white outfit, including a mesh top and cropped leggings from her brand Yitty. While she makes the exercises look easy, her caption tells a different story. “Hope your day is better than mine,” she wrote. “I feel like shit.” (Honestly, who hasn't been through a tough workout?)

If you're familiar with the benefits of pushing and pulling on the sled, it's no wonder Lizzo hosted a sled workout leading up to the VMAs, where she performed "About Damn Time" and "2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)." When done correctly, "sled pulls and pushes pretty much target your entire body, making it an excellent choice for strength, power, and conditioning," Sloane Davis, certified personal trainer and founder of Pancakes and Pushups, tells Shape. "Your quads, hamstrings, glutes, core, calves, chest, triceps, shoulders, and hip flexors are all utilized, giving you excellent bang for your buck." The moves also improve unilateral lower body strength because each leg works independently to either push the sled forward or pull it backward, she adds.

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Pushing and pulling on the sled "might be classified as a full-body exercise, but it primarily works the legs, glutes, core and upper body," explains Clarence Hairston, NASM personal trainer and tempo fitness coach. It's ideal for conditioning and as a finisher at the end of a workout, adds Tempo Fitness coach Alex Higa, a certified personal trainer. “Sleds and prowlers are great for building speed, strength and endurance,” she says, noting that “many athletes use this exercise to improve their performance.”

Additionally, pushing and pulling on the sled increases your heart rate and gives you a cardio workout that burns calories while building muscle, explains Davis. Plus, "it's a great option for people with lower back pain because there's no spinal compression. That makes it easy to load up and get a great workout," she says.

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After all, the exercise is suitable for pretty much every fitness level. "It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or advanced lifter, as you can control the amount of weight, if any, that is pushed or pulled," says Davis. Of course, you should consult your doctor and/or personal trainer before starting a new fitness program to make sure it's right for you.

Based on Lizzo's recent performances at the VMAs, adding sled presses and pulls to your workout seems like a great idea. (Next up: Lizzo made the viral TikTok treadmill workout set to her own music)