Lower body strength training focuses on the hamstrings [¹], glutes, and quadriceps, which are required extensively during ice hockey. Below we look at some exercises you can do to improve your lower body strength. Below we look at some activities you can do to strengthen your lower body.
Hey guys, Tyler here from Warrior Lower Body. This custom video is for everybody over at ExercisesforInjuries.com.
Now I want to highlight the number 1 exercise that you should be able to perform before doing any lower body strength training.
Car versus Bike – A Painful Knee Story
Before I do that, I want to give you a little background on why I am qualified to teach you this exercise.
Several years ago, I was in a bike versus car accident, and I was actually on the bike. This caused a lot of damage to my leg. I needed surgery, and I had to re-learned how to walk again.
In my experience, we learn how to walk, we know how to squat, and we understand how to get to the point where I can do one-leg squats and things again.
I came up with some fundamental exercises that people need to know how to do before they can do any lower body training [²].
I want to teach you that exercise today and make sure you know how to do it with perfect form to prepare your clients and teach yourself the proper way to fire muscles before doing any lower body training.
Keystone Exercise to Lower Body Strength
First, I want to show you the exercise yourself and review some features. The training I am talking about is the Unweighted One-Legged Deadlift.
So this is how you do this; I am going to plant my left foot. I am going to shift my center of gravity over the center of my left foot, and I am going to come down, keeping my spine and everything neutral, and come down and back up.
Why should you be able to do this under control?
Well, if you do it under control, not only are you going to show that you have good hamstring mobility because you can come down past a 90-degree position while still maintaining a neutral spine, but you are also showing that you can use your glute muscle and your hip external rotators to stabilize yourself on one leg.
This is so important because anything you do in athletics is a single leg, running, sprinting, jumping, and we want to make sure that these muscles are correctly firing to facilitate hip extension rather than the other muscles, which is what other people do cause injury.
What Should Move First? The Hip or the Knee
Here’s what we are going to do. We should look at mistakes others make when focusing on the legged deadlifts.
But one thing I see more common than anything else is they move the knee first rather than the hip.
Somebody starting their one leg deadlift, bend through the knee, go forward and then come down with their body.
There’s nothing wrong with having some degree of knee flexion on the one-legged deadlift. However, the movement should be initiated through the hip.
When you start with your one leg deadlift, make sure that you start with your weight back through your heal, and you are moving through your hip almost like your shin is buried in sand and come into that bottom position. Then you squeeze that glute muscle to facilitate hip extension.
Common Mistakes People Make
Another common mistake I constantly see is people being unable to fire their glute muscles. I had clients who took six months to build a mental connection to their glute muscles.
So you can work on manual glute firing drills once you lie down on your stomach. You can have them learn how to fire their glute in extension like this and eventually work to the point where they can hold the top position of the one-leg deadlift where they are just having here, the glute is firing, the pelvis is stable, and then also work on holding the bottom position.
Once you get to the top and bottom positions, work on moving through those two positions friendly and control to use that muscle for the unweighted one-legged deadlift.
Best Keystone Exercise To Strengthen Your Legs
The best keystone exercise for lower body strength is the sumo squat to rotational lunge. This combination of activities targets every major muscle in your lower body while also challenging your core. The sumo squat to rotational lunge is a strenuous exercise to perform, but it’s worth it. By completing this exercise, you’ll strengthen your lower body and improve your coordination, proprioception, and core strength.
From there, your glute muscles will be firing correctly, and you will be well prepared to move on to things like deadlifts and maybe Olympic lifts down the road, one-legged squats, two-legged squats, and so on so forth.
So make sure you can do a perfect one-legged deadlift before initiating any lower body training. This will help you in the long run, guaranteed.
Now, if you want to know more about foundational mobility and stability exercises and the complete movement progression system for body weight and lower body exercises, check out the brand new Warrior Lower Body system by clicking the link below.
Thank you so much for watching, and keep on working on your one-legged deadlift.
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