LOWER BODY MOVEMENTS

In our Strength Training System, most exercises that are being considered for a specific program will be placed into one of three general movement categories. Lower Body Movements involve the following movements: knee extension, hip extension, and plantar flexion. Lower Body Movements are those that will help increase strength in the lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus muscle group, hip extensors, flexors, adductors, abductors, and the muscles of the lower leg (calf and ankle). Bilateral Movements are prominent within the program, but we also utilize a lot of unilateral variations which are more sports specific and help reduce stress placed on the body during training.

FORWARD LUNGE EXERCISES

Forward Lunges are a unilateral lower body movement variation important in teaching and strengthening proper load mechanics for deceleration. This is a more quad dominant movement pattern which also mimics a movement pattern specific for skating.

Forward Lunge: Barbell

• Address the bar at athletic position, feet hip width apart, pointed straight ahead
• Next grab the bar with the same grip you would use to bench, thumbs one finger width to smooth
• When stepping under the bar, pull your shoulders down and back, while placing the bar on your lower traps just above your shoulder blades. This should be a tight and secure position.
• Under control, walk the weight out of the rack slowly, one step at a time
• Prior, make sure your bar clamps are secure
• Lunge forward at a distance that produces 90° joint angles at the hip, knee and ankle when the back knee touches the floor.
• Do not allow the forward knee to lean in. Your thigh, knee, foot and ankle should all remain inline, pointing straight ahead.
• From the bottom position, push hard with the forward heel to return to the starting position.
• Maintain a spine neutral upright torso throughout the movement pattern.
• Notice your torso is leaning slightly forward and at the same angle with the rear thigh and front shin. I like to see the front knee slightly forward of the ankle because it matches proper skating mechanics
• Alternate legs for number of reps prescribed.
• The utilization of a Safety Squat Bar is also an excellent variation to this movement which we often rotate into our training protocol