See below for a quick video outlining the influence of the stretch reflex and stretch shortening cycle in skating.
Major Take-Away: The stretch reflex should primarily be trained in positions of deep hip and knee bend, with less focus on the more upright posture, short contact time exercises applicable to top speed sprinting OFF the ice.
Give this a shot, and post any feedback in the comments section below!
The goal is to stay tall and centered over the foot.
When someone is performing this exercise, there are several things I’m looking for:
Foot stability: Do they maintain 3 points of contact with the heel, ball of the foot and 5th metatarsal (base of the pinky toe)? Some movement is expected, but the foot shouldn’t collapse inward or roll so far to the outside that the big toe peels off.
Hip positioning: As the ball moves, does the pelvis rotate, sway excessively side to side (this can also drive the foot to roll in or out), or dump forward?
Core control: Does the rib cage stay stacked above the pelvis? Most typical deviation from this position is to allow the pelvis to tip forward and rib cage to flare up, which is a sign of an posterior (low back) stabilization strategy, but some will also excessively crunch/brace which will cause them to “lose height”.
Head/Neck position: Does the head stay stacked above the rib cage and pelvis or does it drift forward?
Positioning and control in all of these areas are inter-related, (e.g. a foot collapsing inward can drive a hip tilt and loss of rib/pelvis stacking), so it’s important to observe up and down the chain.
As with the other variations, this can be progressed by adding range of motion to the “8”, adding speed, or adding load. In certain cases, I’ve also progressed athletes to doing this with their eyes closed, to remove the visual contribution to balance.
Give this a shot, and post any questions/comments below!
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Core Training Variations for Dynamic Stability
Following up on a previous post, over the next few days, I’ll share other core variations we use to reinforce stability across a variety of different positions.
The video below is of a Split Squat Med Ball Figure 8.
As with the last video, the goal is to maintain depth and a forward lean/shin angle, and to control the momentum of the ball to maintain the pelvis/torso within the base of support.
The “Figure 8” (really an “infinity” symbol) pattern adds a diagonal component, in comparison to the “tight rotation” variation that is straight side to side.
This serves as an end-stage progression from dynamic cable chop and lift patterns.
With longer durations, a key point of emphasis is on “breathing through the brace.”
Give this a shot, and post any questions/comments below!
From an off-ice training perspective, hockey players should first demonstrate that they have the mobility and low position strength and endurance to get into and hold these types of positions.
Once this has been achieved, it can be helpful to integrate dynamic challenges to stability in these low positions.
One example of this concept is the Split Squat Med Ball Tight Rotation, a variation of an exercise I learned years ago from Nick Tumminello.
The goal is to maintain depth, forward lean, and side to side alignment (i.e. not letting the hips sway outside the base of support), while the ball changes positions.
This is an advanced core exercise that requires creating a stable base from the hips down, dissociation of hip and t-spine/shoulder movement, and reflexive core strength.
Typically performed for either 8-12 reps or as many reps as possible in 6-8s, depending on the emphasis, and progressed by
going through a wider arc (ball clearing shoulders on both sides),
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Improve End-Range Stride Strength and Stability
In a previous post, I discussed two strategies to improve hip abduction range of motion as a means of allowing hockey players to increase stride length from a deeper skating position.
A key point of emphasis from that post is that range of motion is more likely to be integrated into dynamic patterns if strength/stability are trained at that specific range.
With this in mind, another strategy to improve strength and stability at the end of a stride is to use an exercise I call the “3-Way Hip Extension”.
This is an exercise I started using several years back, inspired by Dr. Andreo Spina and the material in his Functional Range Conditioning course.
The goal here is to stay long through the spine and maintain a rigid torso (e.g. core stiffness) to isolate movement at the hip.
With this stable base, the athlete:
1) Reaches “long and back” to maximize hip extension,
2) Maintains hip extension while rotating the heel out as wide as possible to maximize hip abduction
3) Maintains hip extension and hip abduction while rotating the toes up and pointing the toes away from the hip to maximize hip external rotation
Typically performed for 2-3 sets of 1-3 cycles of 5-15s in each position.
Give this a shot, and post any feedback in the comments section below!
P.S. If you’re interested in more mobility and stability work to improve stride length, along with off-ice training programs specifically designed to improve speed, check out my new book Speed Training for Hockey.
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