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.

Front Squat: Barbell – Off the Pins

Pin Squats differ from traditional Front Squats because the weight is completely unloaded from the body during the bottom portion of the lift, resting on the safety supports. This eliminates an eccentric load and forces the athlete to become completely tight and stable before completing the accent. This quickly turning your CNS system off and then back on is the same thing you should be learning to do before you get hit or give a hit on the ice. Other than that, your technique is the same.

• Address the bar from the rack position
• Next grab the bar with the same grip you would use to bench, thumbs finger width to smooth.
• Have the bar rest on your shoulders, just below your throat.
• From this Catch Position, your elbows need to be pointing straight ahead. The bottom of your arm should remain parallel to the floor throughout the entire movement. This will require some wrist and tricep flexibility which you will acquire over time
• Under control, walk the weight out of the rack slowly, one step at a time
• Prior, make sure your bar clamps are secure
• Once you’re in your proper stance, slowly and under control, drive your hips back as you maintain a relatively upright posture. Take a deep breath and hold it during the decent.
• Allow the bar to come to a complete rest on the safety supports at proper squat depth, which I usually set just slightly above parallel
• Pause, and then forcefully push your feet through the floor as hard as possible and exhale when squatting back to the starting position
• Your chest should always come up first, before your hips. Not the other way around. This will always be your biggest challenge.
• Maintain thoracic pressure throughout the movement