The Big Secret in Hockey: Mobility

The secret that hockey players from the best leagues aren’t sharing is the importance of mobility. Your body takes a toll during the season due to the physicality of the game and the demand that is placed on the muscles and joints needed to perform. This is where mobility exercise comes into play. Mobility is the flexibility and strength to perform a controlled range of motion within your joints and surrounding muscles, and exercises are used to relieve tightness, correct structural imbalances+technique, increase range of motion+movement efficiency, and decrease the overall risk of injury to the parts of the body it pertains to. In short, these exercises are used to better perform the movements associated with hockey, thus impacting the rest of your game. If you can’t move well, you won’t be effective. Though there are others, the three most common body parts where mobility issues are found are the ankles, hips, and shoulders, which also happen to be the most important.

Ankle:

The ankle is prone to mobility issues due to the sideways movement of the foot during skating while also being trapped in a rigid boot. Immobility in this area will have a direct effect on skating stride and could cause issues all the way up the chain to other parts of the body. Ideal ankle mobility will allow you to play lower to the ice (bettering your edges) and generate more power in your stride.

Hips:

In hockey, we are rarely standing fully upright, leaving our knees always bent and bodies constantly hunched over. This makes the hips most susceptible to wear and tear creating mobility issues. Connecting the upper and lower body, the core and hips are responsible for generating and transferring power, thus immobility in this area will have an impact on the movement efficiency and effectiveness of your stride and shot.

Shoulders:

Shoulders commonly experience tightness, soreness, and other mobility issues. Not just from banging bodies, but also from being hunched over in our natural hockey stance, (creating rounded shoulders), swinging our arms as we skate, and for playing the game unilaterally (to one side as a lefty or righty). To keep it simple, increased shoulder mobility obviously allows us to shoot and handle the puck better.

This picture of the GOAT is a perfect example of the movement mechanics that are required to play the game at a high level. Pay attention to his ankles, hips, back, and shoulders. This is also very unforgiving on the body to do all season long.

The good thing is mobility exercises are pretty easy to do and will be the reason you’re able to log 20 minutes a night during the season. They are great for recovery+maintenance on the body and will prevent injuries. It’s why all the best players are becoming even better (and you're not), and you will see more mobility work incorporated into training the higher level of hockey you go. This is why we teach about it, here at Line 1 Hockey. And again, these are dynamic exercises to allow you to move better and not static stretches for flexibility. So whether you incorporate it into a warm up or dedicate a whole day to it, you will feel unreal afterwards. Just don’t over do it.