Isometric Yoga Circuits for Hockey Players
Brijesh Patel, my friend and colleague from Quinnipiac University, spoke at the Boston Hockey Summit about training program design for ice hockey players. During his talk he went through several yoga-based isometric circuits that can be incorporated into off-ice training warm-ups. Everyone, including myself, that I’ve seen do these circuits has the same reaction: They feel loose AND strong. The circuits are well-designed to improve range of motion around the hips and thoracic spine (spine around your upper back…this is a good thing), and activate the hip abductors/external rotators and muscles around the posterior shoulder (muscles on the outside of the hip that don’t get the training attention they deserve).
I started using two of these circuits with all of my athletes. In both of these circuits, each position is held for 10 seconds.
3-Way Squat Circuit
1) Deep squat while pushing your knees out with your elbows to stretch out the muscles on the inside of your thigh
2) Maintain the deep squat, but move your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers, and pull your elbows back together. It’s important to keep your back flat (don’t let it round forward) and actively pull your knees outward using the muscles on the outside of your hip.
3) Maintain the deep squat while extending your arms straight overhead and continuing to pull your knees out.
3-Way Split Squat Circuit
1) Split squat position with arms extended straight overhead. Focus on squeezing your butt on the back leg and pulling down into the floor through the ball of your foot on the front leg.
2) Maintain the position while performing a triceps stretch on the arm on the side of your back leg and leaning toward the side of your front leg.
3) Maintain the position while twisting toward the front leg and reaching back with the arm on the side of your front leg and following this hand with your eyes.
As I type these descriptions, I’m realizing how simple these are when you see them, but how confusing it is to try to explain it. If you’re simple-minded like I am and have no idea what any of those descriptions mean, your best bet is to head over to myfittube.com and watch the videos that Brijesh put together for them. I’m confident you’ll be able to wrap your mind around them as soon as you see them.
When you get to myfittube.com, look for Brijesh Patel’s Deep Squat Series, and Warrior 1 Series.
Similar Posts:
- The Knee Pain Program
- Hockey Conditioning For Goalies
- Improving Hip Range of Motion in Hockey Players
- Hockey Conditioning-The Fun Stuff
- Hockey Player Plague: Sports Hernias and “Groin” Strains
I am a high school and youth hockey goaltending coach as well as the goaltending consultant to the US National Standing Amputee Hockey Team. I’ve read your articles with interest and I have purchased your hockey training series. I’m particularly interested in trying to help the goalies I work with prevent knee injuries. Several have chronic conditions due to what I believe is the overuse of butterfly style saves. I’ve been told by several local physical therapists that a yoga program may be of some help. Your article has intrigued me and I would like to know more about the integration of yoga into a stretching and recovery program during the upcoming season. Can you point me in the right direction to see if such a program can help with these knee problems?
31.10.2009, 10:22 pmHi Paul. Thanks for all your support! To answer your question, I think Yoga has a lot of potential in helping hockey players improve dynamic range of motion around certain joints. Having said that, yoga is likely every other aspect of training in that it should never be blindly recommended as a “cure-all”. Your suspicion that goalies are developing knee problems because of an over-reliance on the butterfly position is probably dead on. This position involves substantial internal rotation of the femur within the hip joint, and repetitive pounding on the knee and hip in this position. This is one of the reasons so many goalies also have CAM impingement problems and hip labral tears.
Yoga may be beneficial in improving the extensibility of the hip flexors. I’d also make sure that your goalies are maintaining appropriate hip abduction/external rotation range of motion (think of sitting with one ankle on the opposite knee) and that they aren’t neglecting strength work for the muscles on the outside of their hips (through lateral miniband walks, monster walks, single-leg lifts, etc.). I have a TON of videos of helpful exercises over at http://ice-hockey-training.com. Check out the video section there for other ideas.
Hope this helps!
-Kevin
02.11.2009, 3:16 pmI practice Yoga at home mainly for the purpose of having a relax mind and body. Stress is really high on our workplace and yoga helps me relax.
22.12.2009, 9:32 am.
I hear ya. That’s one of the major benefits of yoga-it puts you in tune with your breathing and allows you to focus on relaxing a bit.
29.12.2009, 5:20 pm