Morning from Prague, CR! What a place!?
Arriving in a new city can be chaotic. Stepping off a night train in the brilliant sunshine of a new world, wandering off in search of the metro station can be disorienting, but chaos is good because it forces us to adapt.
I arrived here from Poprad, Slovakia on Friday morning completely disoriented and now, although I still have no idea which way “north” is (don’t worry, it is the same at home), I have become a fairly competent wanderer. And the metro is my new best friend 🙂
While I was over here in Central Europe, I had the chance to meet with goalie coaches from the Slovakian and Czech Hockey Federations, it was awesome. I met with about 80 coaches in total to talk about what they are doing now in terms of off-ice training, what is working and where they need help.
They were super receptive of some of the new strategies I shared and I made some new friends. Awesome.
Today I will continue my tourist-ing and wander aimlessly – – after I get my work done of course, so let’s wrap up this talk of chaos…
This Drill Will Help You Find Power Even When You Are Off-Balance
Single leg kneeling balance is a crucial skill for all of you.
If you cannot balance on one knee for at least 30 seconds without touching down or using your arms for balance, then you need to start there.
Once you have mastered that, then you are ready to progress with this drill, but REMEMBER… the key element is finding power and stability, even when you are in an unstable position. I don’t want you simply flailing around, that is not helping you.
Here’s what it looks like…
- Use a light resistance band to start and you can progress to a medium resistance band at most. Doing this with a heavy resistance band does not make the drill better
- Start with 2 sets of 15 pushes – build up to 30 pushes
- Make sure you cushion the knee that you are kneeling on please
- Brace with your abdominals a little bit too and that will help
Have fun with it, but remember the purpose, to be powerful and stable even in awkward positions.
Catch you later.
Cheers,
Maria
PS – That’s a picture taken on the greatest hike ever in the High Tatras mountains of Slovakia – truly and amazing place to visit if you ever get the chance. And yes, it is as steep and scary as it looks 🙂
PPS – if you want to see some more pics of my travel adventures, then you can check out my personal IG account @movingmtn. I try not to clog up my @goalietraining feed with personal stuff. Just please don’t use the @movingmtn account to ask goalie training questions – – I won’t answer them there 🙂