The key to getting those quick powerful shots with the puck when you need to rim it around the boards or make a laser quick pass up to your D is learning how to generate the power from your legs and hips and then transfer that to your upper body and stick without losing power through your torso (or your core as the cool kids call it).
Learning to do that requires strength and core control… absolutely.
But it is more about the skill of transferring that power, much the same way a baseball player uses their lower body to generate batting power or pitching power.
This drill helps you learn that skill, while strengthening the right muscles in the right way.
Doing crunches for your ‘core’ won’t improve your puck handling skill as a goalie. That is not goalie training. This one will help:
Being on your feet and generating rotary power is ‘sport similar’.
And don’t be phased that the grip isn’t the same as you have on your goalie stick nor that the foot position isn’t exactly right. It is okay, I am trying to teach you a global skill right now. I have other drills where you use your stick for some passing drills, but this is a foundation movement to teach you to hip block.
Even though this goalie training drill looks simple; the devil is in the details. Pay close attention to your foot position, to your hips – do they rotate through? Is your chest rotating with your hips?
Start with 2-3 sets of 8 each way using a tempo of 2111.
Enjoy – happy training!
Maria
PS – and don’t worry that you don’t ‘feel your abs’ when you do this. Honestly, do you ever feel your abs burning when you are out on the ice? That’s right, no you don’t.