The Top 10 Lower Body Strength Exercises for Hockey Players
For hockey gamers – decrease physique energy is the whole lot.
Want a sooner stride? Get more potent legs. Want sooner begins or to toughen your alternate of route? Get more potent legs. Want to get extra strong and cast at the ice? Get more potent legs.
While it’s a ways from being the most effective piece of the equation to making improvements to skating and taking your recreation to the following degree – for almost each and every hockey participant, they will have to be deliberately making improvements to their decrease physique energy.
In this text you’re going to be informed why decrease physique energy is so precious, the varieties of decrease physique workout routines, after which the most efficient 10 decrease physique workout routines to enforce for your coaching nowadays.
Let’s dive in.
Why Lower Body Strength Is So Essential for Hockey Players
If you’re a hockey participant, undeniably you’ve had it ingrained into you the significance of having more potent legs. We see younger hockey gamers doing further squats and lunges, we see the professionals
As the good Herb Brooks mentioned – the legs feed the wolf.
But why is it in fact so necessary to deliberately expand energy for your decrease physique?
We can destroy this right down to a few causes:
- Strength is the root of energy. Put merely, energy is your skill to swiftly explicit energy. In biomechanics, we write this as Power = Force/Time. While hockey gamers want to refine their capability to precise energy thru athleticism, plyometric, and pace drills – making improvements to their energy will permit them better attainable for energy output. Want a extra tough stride? Get more potent.
- Strength is very important for alternate of route and agility. Absorb and re-express – that is the root of any alternate of route. Sports science analysis has many times proven that making improvements to energy improves your capability to switch route (1, 2, 3). This is as it calls for intense energy to soundly soak up pace after which explicit it in a special route. Therefore making improvements to energy is very important to simpler and environment friendly alternate of instructions at the ice.
- Strength creates balance. While the gamers we paintings with aren’t precisely benders, even our elite faculty and professional gamers can toughen their energy and balance to offer them a extra assured and infinite really feel of their skates. Sometimes that is developing energy thru new levels of actions that permit gamers to precise energy/energy from a low place, whilst from time to time it’s activating the steadiness muscle tissue that permit for higher mechanics at the ice.
Understanding the Types of Lower Body Exercises
So, whilst we outlined the obtrusive for many hockey gamers in that final segment – let’s outline the now not so obtrusive – now not all decrease physique workout routines are similarly precious.
Before we dive into the most efficient decrease physique workout routines for hockey gamers, it’s precious to know the other varieties of workout routines.
We can destroy decrease physique or leg workout routines into 3 classes:
- Squat-based. These workout routines resemble the squat development and contain extra of an up and down motion on the hips.
- Hinge-based. These workout routines are posterior-focused, corresponding to deadlifts or hip thrusts, and are targeted for your hips coming again to entrance or hinging on the waist.
- Lunge-based. These unmarried leg workout routines may arguably be the most efficient of the 3. They act as their very own distinctive motion development that load up a unmarried leg each and include each extensive anterior and posterior calls for.
We outline those classes as it’s necessary that hockey gamers are the use of all 3 varieties. Often we’ll connect to a participant who’s been doing their very own workout routines and has been sticking to simply squats or simply deadlifts relying on what their favourite is.
There’s not anything flawed with favorites – that is incessantly outlined through your motion mechanics and the way your our bodies default activation patterns. But it can result in additional imbalances or neglecting to toughen motion patterns of muscle teams which might be precious on ice.
This is why we use all 3 classes each and every exercise in our Relentless Hockey coaching systems.
While the main center of attention can nonetheless be a heavy squat or deadlift, we wish gamers to coach in the course of the different motion patterns each and every unmarried exercise.
So, let’s in any case get to the highest 10 workout routines you’ll be able to be the use of to take your recreation to the following degree at the ice.
The Best Lower Body Exercises for Hockey Players:
- Trap Bar Deadlift
- Reverse Lunge
- Goblet & Front Squat
- Single Leg RDL
- Anterior Loaded Split Squat
- Single Leg Box Step Offs
- Hip Thrust
- Cossack Squats
- Eccentric Hamstring Sliders
- Lawn Bowlers
Our subsequent segment takes you thru why each and every workout is so precious for hockey gamers, the kind of motion development, and a video hyperlink – however we figured we’d come up with those workout routines instantly as much as screenshot and save for your telephone.
While we center of attention on integrating those workout routines in combination and discovering combos that act synergistically to create a better coaching stimulus with our exercise program for hockey gamers – for those who have been to easily combine those 10 workout routines into your workout routines each and every week, your off-ice coaching could be additional forward than 95% of gamers.
Exploring the Best Leg Exercises for Hockey Players:
1) Trap Bar Deadlift
Movement Pattern: Hinge
Trap Bar Deadlifts are most likely in 90% of school or professional coaching systems. And for just right reason why, the Deadlift is without doubt one of the unmarried biggest workout routines for creating decrease physique energy and creating sturdy full-body chains.
As a hinge-based workout, Deadlifts essentially load the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and many others). But it doesn’t prevent there, Deadlifts additionally problem the low again to stabilize the trunk, the musculature of the higher again to stay shoulders pulled again, and the forearms to carry the load. The Deadlift is an incredible full-body workout that demanding situations chains now not simply muscle tissue.
Moving the standard Deadlift to a Trap Bar or Hexbar, shifts the loading development to permit athletes to coach in a more secure place that takes needless load off of the backbone (4), whilst striking the shoulders in a extra impartial place.
Along with loading the physique in higher positions, research have discovered that additionally they permit athletes to transport the load sooner and in the end create energy/energy that’s extra transferable to on-field efficiency (5).
2) Goblet Squat
Movement Pattern: Squat
The Goblet Squat is a massively underrated workout for Hockey Players.
Most Hockey Players most likely began with the Goblet Squat as a formative years participant. It’s the easiest workout for more youthful athletes to start to construct their decrease physique energy and get started shifting weights. But the truth is, hockey gamers at every age will have to be the use of the Goblet Squat.
Early within the low season, without reference to what degree – we’ll use Goblet Squats to get motion mechanics dialed in ahead of including any kind of complexity like a barbell. But even then, this doesn’t need to be mild.
Recently we had a KHL professional in our training program who, in response to his mechanics/coaching wishes, we strictly used the Goblet Squat for all low season. He was once Goblet Squatting 120+ lbs through the top of the summer season, his motion mechanics had transform flawless, and he felt sturdy on ice.
For some gamers mechanics, it’s extra precious to have a heavy (80+ lbs) and regulated squat than loading up a bar only for ego sake.
Don’t sleep on Goblet Squats.
3) Single Leg RDL
Movement Pattern: Hinge
This is every other all-time favourite for hockey gamers.
There’s few workout routines extra precious than the SL RDL for difficult that hinge development, creating unmarried leg balance, addressing imbalances, and development higher structural chains.
Hockey Players are notorious for creating imbalances all through the physique. While all athletes have a “strong side” – this has a tendency to be exaggerated in Lacrosse Players (6). This is why we like unilateral workout routines, and why we like the SL RDL.
The SL RDL is every other hinge-based workout that demanding situations the posterior chain, however it additionally creates an intense balance call for to create ankle-knee-hip alignment AND a braced core in opposition to an asymmetrical load.
For formative years athletes, this can also be carried out with simply physique weight. While older and extra elite athletes can use a weight, with a focal point on keep watch over as an alternative of load.
4) Anterior Loaded Split Squat
Movement Pattern: Lunge or Squat
We love the Front Loaded Split Squat for a similar unilateral causes because the SL RDL – however this time focusing extra at the quads and lunge development.
Similar to the Goblet Squat, this workout can also be insanely precious with only a unmarried weight held in a goblet. It permits gamers to concentrate on staying upright and braced, with no need to concentrate on a barbell.
Of path, this workout can also be improved through expanding weight, – however one among our favourite permutations is taking part in with pace. Oftentimes, we’ll center of attention on 3-5 seconds at the manner down, after which strongly force again up. We’ll even upload 3-5 2nd pause at the backside of the motion for gamers within the early low season to rewire their muscle activation patterns.
5) Reverse Lunge
Movement Pattern: Lunge
The Reverse Lunge is through a ways our favourite lunge workout.
While generally athletes will default right into a strolling lunge (additionally precious) or ahead lunge, the Reverse Lunge has been proven to be considerably simpler for loading up and creating the glutes (4). Not most effective does this scale back attainable pressure at the knees – however it a lot the musculature very similar to the hockey stride – through striking emphasis on loading the glutes after which the posterior chain.
It’s necessary to notice that this workout is so much other than the Split Squat. While their motion archetypes glance the similar, they’re a radically other loading development. Most significantly – the Split Squat puts extra load at the quads after which the posterior chain, the lunge is extra posterior chain targeted.
The opposite lunge is in each and every unmarried one among our systems from Peewee to Pro – and will’t be understated how precious it’s for gamers.
6) Single Leg Box Step Offs
While this workout may now not look like a lot – it’s tremendous precious for all athletes.
Often referred to as a Peterson Step Off, this workout intentionally demanding situations the quads, and particularly the medial quad muscle – the VMO.
The VMO is incessantly underdeveloped in athletes, making a quad imbalance that may lead hockey gamers to discovering deficient positions and developing mechanics that puts extra load at the ligaments of the knee. (5,6). This can go away gamers with worse off alternate of route talents, and extra importantly at greater possibility for knee accidents with competitive stops or cuts (7).
This workout now not most effective particularly demanding situations the quads/VMO, however it additionally creates a balance call for the place gamers will have to care for knee alignment and battle in opposition to collapsing inward.
We get started even our elite gamers on a low field (12 inches) and gradually build up the peak as an alternative of including weight.
7) Hip Thrust
Movement Pattern: Hinge
We’ll finish the controversy: there’s no higher workout to expand posterior chain energy than the hip thrust.
Unlike the Deadlift which has an intense full-body call for (decrease, core, higher again, grip. and many others) this workout singularly a lot the glutes and posterior chain. This permits athletes to load up greater than they generally would, with out the similar possibility of failure or damage.
We’ll incessantly see Hockey Players upload vital muscle and energy once we upload a section of heavy hip thrust of their program. Studies have additionally recommended that heavy hip thrusts toughen dash instances as opposed to squats (7) – most likely attributed to the emphasis on glute energy.
With the glutes and posterior chain calls for on hockey gamers, this will have to be in each and every hockey participant’s program.
If you need to expand your posterior chain, this must be for your program.
8) Lawn Bowlers
Movement Pattern: Lunge
This is a little-known body weight workout that may be precious for hockey gamers in any respect ranges.
While many gamers have observed the body weight Single Leg RDL with Reach or the “Standing T” workout – it will temporarily transform simple for gamers.
The Lawn Bowler is designed to problem hockey participant’s balance through making a crossbody achieve so far as conceivable. This forces gamers to create balance around the ankle, knee, and hip – whilst connecting in the course of the core and higher physique for totally built-in balance.
This can also be frequently improved through going slower and attaining additional.
When lots of our professional gamers see this workout of their program, they’re temporarily humbled – however nearly they all come again to us pronouncing that this one among their favourite balance workout routines and one of the most workout routines they in fact really feel themselves making improvements to at.
It is probably not a heavy energy workout, however it’s for sure person who interprets to the ice.
9) Eccentric Hamstring Sliders
Movement Pattern: Hinge
This workout is a large sleeper select.
While hinge-based workout routines problem the musculature of the posterior chain (muscle tissue in the course of the again of the decrease physique), oftentimes those workout routines can also be ruled through glutes. The similar factor is correct with the hockey stride, which is so glute-dominated. While that is general sure (the glutes in the end outline your horsepower) it could possibly incessantly go away gamers with weaker hamstrings.
This is a matter.
While sturdy hamstrings are very important to creating energy and gear at the ice, eccentric hamstring energy particularly has been proven to be the #1 predictor of long term hamstring workout routines (8). Because of this, we attempt to make the most of workout routines that’ll problem eccentric energy essentially the most – each to construct a robust chain that can be utilized to generate extra pace and to attenuate damage possibility.
The Eccentric Hamstring slider has gamers sliding out (preferably one leg at a time) and going as sluggish as conceivable. This will also be carried out on hardwood or tile at house with a towel beneath your toes and gamers will have to purpose so as to add this workout in as often as conceivable!
10) Cossack Squats
Movement Pattern: Lunge
Often hockey gamers will ask what stretches or mobility workout routines they may be able to do to toughen their stride duration. It’s a super query, and person who displays {that a} participant is trained and considerate about their motion mechanics.
While now we have a protracted checklist of mobility workout routines that hockey gamers can use – the Cossack Squat is an extraordinary workout that can be utilized to toughen mobility, energy, and motor keep watch over.
Let’s discover each and every.
For mobility, the Cossack Squat can also be carried out with simply body weight and a focal point on getting as little as conceivable. This opens up the hip in abduction (the lateral motion), whilst developing an ankle mobility call for. It’s additionally an energetic stretch within the adductors/groin, medial quad, hamstrings, or even calves.
For energy, this workout can also be carried out with a gentle weight. While this workout gained’t mean you can pack on muscle, it’s going to mean you can get more potent in levels and positions you’re not going to coach another way.
For motor keep watch over, this workout is insanely precious. There’s no worth in including vary of movement if you’ll be able to keep watch over that vary. This workout demanding situations gamers to keep watch over their physique in an extremely low hip place – one thing they’ll incessantly see in a decent flip or attaining to offer protection to the puck.
All this to mention, the Cossack Squat is an especially precious workout for hockey gamers.
In Conclusion:
It can’t be understated sufficient how necessary decrease physique energy is for hockey gamers.
From taking part in more potent and extra cast for your skates to creating a extra explosive stride and subsequent degree pace – all of it comes again to energy.
Gone are the times of crushing out some squats and shifting on. These are the leg workout routines that are meant to be in all hockey gamers’ exercise systems each and every month.
While we strategically mix those workout routines in our exercise systems, we inspire all gamers coaching on their very own to make a choice a hinge, lunge, and squat workout each and every exercise – and ensure they are development the integrative chains that actually translate to the ice. We take a deeper dive in tips on how to create hockey workout routines and the way elite hockey gamers teach on this article right here: Workouts for Hockey Players: A Complete Guide.
Now get available in the market & get coaching!
