In ice hockey, skating can make or break you. Here are 4 fundamentals for becoming a high-performance ice hockey skater, plus 4 additional techniques to push you right on the edge!
In ice hockey, skating can make or break you. Here are 4 fundamentals for becoming a high-performance ice hockey skater, plus 4 additional techniques to push you right on the edge!
- A solid, balanced stance is the basis for whatever speed level you are trying to achieve. If you’re going to be working at the start, stopping, and turning as described, you’ll be well on your way to a good balance.
- In striding, you have better balance if you skate with your feet about shoulder width apart. If your feet are too close together, it’s easier for you to get knocked out of balance in tough matches.
- The faster you skate, the more you will have to bend forward from the waist. The comparison here is with the slim-body of a sprinter doing a 100-yard dash and a striding form of two millimeters. During the hockey game, you will be a sprinter and a strider while playing dictates. But when you really want to dig fast, with or without chips, you have to lean well into it.
- For straight forward velocity, your strength comes from the push you get when the digging knee straightens. For maximum thrust, the knee of the leg that is coming forward must be well bent. Make sure you bring this knee in front of your foot. Then when you place your foot on the ice, you get full muscle strength when the knee straightens.
Top athletes, especially track extraordinary stars, recognize the importance of leg strength and do something about it. They employ a training principle known as overload. And you can use your own shapes, too. Here are some of the methods of overloading:
- Drive yourself all out as long as you are on the ice during the scrimmage. Don’t just beach around the rink on roller skates; they will do most of the work for you if you let them.
2.Short skating, hard bursts, gradually building up the long amount of ice you can do in succession.
- Get a friend to let you push him over and under the ice. You are over-loading the amount that he weighs.
- In testing yourself at high speed, keep a persistent restraint in your mind: “I can go even faster!” Make sure to warm up well before an all-out test.
If you learn these 4 fundamentals and overload the 4 techniques above, you will improve your skating skills dramatically. And that in turn will improve your overall ice hockey performance.