Goalie Groin Exercise: 1/2 Butterfly Push That Feels The Same As On The Ice

Ahhhh Grade 9 Physics!

Bless you and your circuit boards and that time Mr. Waugh accidentally sort of electrocuted Donny with the hand crank generator – – happy times.

And bless your laws of motion like Newton’s Third (I think) law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction force.  I love looking at goaltending through the lens of physics and biomechanics.  I look at it as a huge advantage that I didn’t grow up as an ice hockey goalie (pretty good road hockey goalie though), because I have no biases from what I was taught when I was younger.

I can look at the position objectively and do my best to apply the 6-years of university and thousands and thousands of dollars in tuition to helping you stop more pucks with fewer injuries.

Which brings us to this exercise for you.

Pay special attention to what is going on with your weight-bearing hip – the muscles on the inside and outside of the hip on the side you are kneeling on.

As you push laterally, you will feel the muscles on the outside of your stabilizing hip kick into action.  As you pull in, you will feel that shift to the muscles on the inside.

Now put your finger tips on either side of your torso and feel how your ‘core’ muscles kick in.  Cool eh?

But there is one more thing goalies like you love about this one… check out how to do it first and then I will tell you…

What you tell me that you love the most; and this makes me happy because it is what got me excited about it too, is the fact that you can’t just push laterally.  You have to push down and out, just like you do on the ice.

Your progression will be like this:

  • start with a relatively light load – 5-10lbs plate
  • start with a tempo of 2020 (2 seconds out, 2 seconds in)
  • start with 10 reps each way
  • then increase the speed and volume to 15 reps at a 1010 tempo
  • then you can start to creep the weight upward

Don’t you DARE let me catch you doing this…

Don’t you dare let me catch you posting a video on Instagram of you doing this drill with a 45lbs plate – too heavy, not the point and probably more harm than good.

And don’t you dare let me catch you posting a video on Instagram of you doing this drill so fast that your leg is a blur and you have no trunk stability and your arms are flipping all over the place.  Practice proper habits – be stable, be strong.  Increasing the tempo is fine, but you must maintain stability.

Enjoy.

Cheers,
M

PS – if you are doing this at home on Mom & Dad’s new hardwood floor, make sure it is okay with them before you start – -it could end badly for both of us 🙂