{"id":3663,"date":"2018-03-19T12:20:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T16:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2018-03-19T12:30:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T16:30:16","slug":"sst-qa-short-hockey-stride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/uncategorized\/sst-qa-short-hockey-stride\/","title":{"rendered":"SST Q&#038;A- Short Hockey Stride"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 My 14 year old son is a good hockey player, but as he is getting older, his skating strides are becoming short.\u00a0 Why would this be? And how can he improve his stride?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3668 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"449\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb.jpg 1180w, https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb-768x500.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb-1024x666.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/skating-stride-anatomy_fb-1000x651.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 449px) 85vw, 449px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer: <\/strong>This is a good question.\u00a0 I have been around the rinks for about 20 years now, and that is something I notice a lot of in young hockey players. A short skating stride can come from a number of things.<\/p>\n<p>First thing, take notes:\u00a0 What is the position of his upper body? Which way does he shoot?\u00a0 What does he do for warm up?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">For Example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">If his upper body is bent over = tight hip flexors<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">If he shoots left = Tight right Hip (must be balanced) (and vice versa for a right shooter)<\/p>\n<p>Warm up is Crucial for effective stride length so make sure you are including an effective dynamic warm-up <strong>before<\/strong> you get on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you are still having issues with stride length look to tackle to following through myofacial release,\u00a0 proper stretching, and off-ice training:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tight Hip Flexors<\/strong>&#8211; Comes from too much skating, riding the bicycle (amazes me how many pros I see still riding the bike after games!), not enough stretching, computers and TV etc. Look for warm-up exercises that extends the hip and lengthens the leg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tight Hamstrings<\/strong>: same as above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Weak Glute Muscles<\/strong>: Glute Med, Glute Max, Piriformis\u00a0 muscles which extend and abduct the hip.\u00a0 These muscles are neglected off the ice.\u00a0 If these muscles are not strong, power can not be generated to get a full stride. Weak glutes often cause the common hockey groin injury as a direct result of the groin being overworked.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tight IT Band<\/strong> \u2013 Abducts the hip. Tightness in the IT band causes knee tracking problems causing Patella Femoral syndrome. Use myofacial release to help reduce tightness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tight\/Weak Adductors<\/strong>: Commonly neglected.\u00a0 Athletes tend to stretch this muscle a lot, however neglect to strengthen them.\u00a0 This affects the recovery phase of the skating stride. Due to the imbalances of the Glutes the groin is an overworked muscle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Upper Body Posture:<\/strong>\u00a0Tight anterior muscles can affect the stride length as well. When a player strides, the opposite arm cocks back as well.\u00a0 Being tight can cause the leg not to extend to its full potential.\u00a0 Most hockey players are tight in the Anterior Upper Body (chest region).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Weak Core Muscles<\/strong>: Especially Back Extensors.\u00a0 Weak low back causes a hunched position which decreases stride length.\u00a0 SST has found that strengthening the Lower Back will increase stride length.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>These weak areas can be imp<\/strong><strong>roved by:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Stretching the hip flexors and hamstrings, strengthening the glute muscles, strengthening the adductor muscles.<\/li>\n<li>A mixture of dynamic stretching, static stretching, foam roll self myofacial release.<\/li>\n<li>A proper warm up before training, practice and games is also very important.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>EXERCISES PERFORMED AT SST<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Split Squats, Lunges, Walking Lunges and other forms of Lunges, Glute Ham Raise, Reverse Hyper Extension, Deadlifts and all variations, \u00a0Resisted Hip Adduction, Y,T,W,L Shoulder Circuit, Back Extension and a variety of speed, agility, quickness and power exercises.<\/p>\n<p>A player with a long fluent skating stride will be more effective and efficient during a game.\u00a0 He\/she will not use as much energy, will be stronger on his\/her feet, and will be less likely to become injured.<\/p>\n<p>To recap:\u00a0 Stretch hip flexors, IT band and chest muscles.\u00a0 Strengthen glutes, adductors, back extensors and upper back.\u00a0 SST recommends doing this 3 x a week and watching the difference in your stride and your game.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more great articles and videos please visit www.sstcanada.com<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question:\u00a0 My 14 year old son is a good hockey player, but as he is getting older, his skating strides are becoming short.\u00a0 Why would this be? And how can he improve his stride? Answer: This is a good question.\u00a0 I have been around the rinks for about 20 years now, and that is something &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/uncategorized\/sst-qa-short-hockey-stride\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;SST Q&#038;A- Short Hockey Stride&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,7,131,168,1],"tags":[23,82,47,167,261],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-blog-post","category-hockey","category-hockey-training-off-ice","category-uncategorized","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-camps","tag-hockey-speed","tag-hockey-hockey-training-speed-training-off-ice-training-off-ice-speed-plyos-power-nhl-slapshot-wristshotsstrength-training-speed-ohl","tag-lightning-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3669,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions\/3669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}