Most players try to fix their skating on the ice, when usually the problem starts in the gym…
Lack of confidence in your stride stems from 3 primary drivers:
- No Hip Strength
- No Single-Leg Stability
- No Lateral Force
Hockey is a sport played primarily in the athletic stance which means feet set wider than hips, knees bent, hips sitting down in pseudo hinge position, meaning your hips is working A LOT.
This area includes your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and abductor/adductors muscle complexes (among others). This lower body stance provides us with a good stable foundation and readiness to explode in any direction we need to.
When our hips are weak, we don’t have the ability to stay in the athletic position, giving up our ability to really generate power for first step quickness or to sustain the ability to accelerate. Building strong hips through exercises like deadlifts, glute bridges, squats, etc. can provide a deeply rooted foundation for our body to move through and give our stride the burst of power it needs.
On top of that, the hockey stride is 2-fold. There’s the stride, which is the trailing leg that pushes to accelerate us, and the glide of the front leg that propels us forward.
When we lack single-leg stability, it’s harder for us to trust putting our weight on the front foot to glide and therefore doesn’t allow our stride leg to fully generate the power it needs to get us to the speed we desire.
In a game that balances you on steel blades merely centimeters wide, confidence in your feet, ankles, knees, and hips to balance and produce is crucial. That’s why it’s important to include Step ups, Single leg Hops, and Split Squats to your weekly training routine.
Finally, our stride leg itself is meant to create force and get us moving forward as fast as possible. Unlike running, it’s not a straight-forward motion that propels us, but a lateral sweep back and outward from the body (laterally).
If we are unable to produce high lateral force, we will not be able to accelerate and reach the top speeds we need to compete. Copenhagen Planks, Hip Abductions, Cossack Squats, and Lateral Skater Jumps will not only keep our hips strong and healthy, preventing injury, but provide the force we need for acceleration and acceleration quickly!
Here’s a quick 5 exercise routine you can drop into your training program TODAY to get great results.
- Goblet or Zercher Squats – 3 sets of 6-10 reps
- Romanian Deadlift – 3 sets of 6-10 reps
- Bulgarian Split Squats – 2 sets of 8-12 reps each leg
- Cossack Squats – 2 sets of 8-12 reps each leg
- Skater Jumps – 4 sets of 2 skater jump per side
Remember, your stride is a lateral push, not just a squat, train smart to gain strength, speed, and power like you never imagined!
