When performing the 21 exercises in Total Hockey Strength, you must maintain complete control at all times.
Whether you are performing the side plank or the reverse crunch, it is critical to always maintain perfect form throughout the entire movement and that means that you should NEVER be using momentum to initial or complete your movements.
One strength exercise where momentum often rears it’s ugly head is in the STEP-UP.
Remember how in the last post I talked about not bending your legs during the INCHWORM…well the same rule applies when doing your step-ups…at least for one of the legs.
How To Do a Proper Step-Up
In order to build proper single-leg strength and stability with this exercise, you must do ALL of the work with the top leg (the one on top of the bench). All too often, players will ‘cheat’ by pushing off with their back leg (the one touching the floor) by bending their knee.
I often tell the athletes I train that they should pretend that their back leg is broken and in a complete cast from hip to ankle. Granted I hope that you never have to experience this in real life, but it does make you consider how you are going to complete the exercise without being able to generate power and momentum off of your back leg.
The other aspect of the step-up where momentum is often a factor is with upper body control. You must be able to maintain perfectly straight posture throughout the movement. Quite often a player will lean their upper body forward at the beginning of the movement and then pull their chest up as they step up onto the bench.
This is a case where the player is using their lower back to generate momentum in order to generate the force needed to get up onto the bench. When performing this exercise, I like to think that I am being pulled up by a string through the top of my head throughout. This keeps me from leaning forward and allows me to focus on doing all of the work with my top leg.
There are many more exercises included in this program where the use of momentum must be avoided at all costs. I will make sure to point them out to you (and give you tips on how to maintain perfect form) as we progress through the off-season training program.
Remember - when you are building hockey-specific strength and stability, control is your friend and momentum is not.
Until next time,
Kim
