Hand over hand or strapped in, reel it in.
Set your feet and hinge slightly, power comes from your hips and legs, not your grip.
Reeling in a loaded sled, hand over hand or walking backward on the strap, loads the quads with every anchoring step while the glutes and hamstrings power the hip drive behind each pull. The anchored stance is the secret, your legs and hips generate the force and the strap just delivers it. It earns its place as conditioning with a strength flavour, taxing the legs and grip together in a way few machines can copy.
Both work. Hand over hand from a set stance adds more grip and upper-body pulling, while walking back on the strap keeps the legs driving continuously. Alternate them across sessions.
You are pulling with your arms instead of your hips. Set a strong hinged stance, drive through the legs, and let the arms act as hooks that transfer the force.
Turf, rubber or any strip the sled slides on consistently. Rougher surfaces effectively add load, so expect the same plates to feel very different from gym to gym.
