Home Off the Ice Increasing Your Shot Power

Increasing Your Shot Power

Written by John Sabo

Sunday, 02 December 2007

There is no better feeling then coming down into the offensive zone, snapping off a shot from the high slot and scoring over the goalie’s glove side. Burying that puck in the back of the net before the goalie even lifts his arm to make the save. Not only does this feel good, but it’s something that has always impressed a recruiting scout.  Being able have a quick release and hard shot is a very valuable weapon for a goal scorer. While many people believe that delivering a hard shot is a natural talent, a proper off-ice training program that focuses on lower body, core strength and hip movement will help develop the power that is vital to having a quick, hard shot.   In order to develop your shot power, you have to understand the proper movement and mechanics of a shot. It’s natural to think that the upper body is the most important aspect, but this is not true.  The power behind a hockey shot is started with a player’s hips and core muscles. The faster they are able to turn with their hips and rotate in the other direction with their core muscles, the more velocity they will be able to create. The upper body is only there to follow through at the target and hold the stick. I have seen some of the smallest players have the hardest shots because they have trained their core and hip muscles to be explosive and strong. Incorporating core and hip exercises into an off-ice training program is very important. Not only do you want to strengthen these areas but you want them to become more explosive. Your oblique muscles are used a lot while rotating to take a shot. You want to concentrate on a program that develops your obliques to rotate quickly in each direction. Once you have trained your hip and abdominal muscles to react faster off the ice, the explosive movement of a shot will come naturally. You will be shooting like Brett Hull on a regular basis!   Here are some of the exercises we incorporate into our program at our training center. Med Ball Side Throw Med Ball Side Throw Med Ball Side Throw: This is my favorite exercise for working on your shot power.  This exercise allows you to have some resistance and still mimic the hip movement used with a shot. The resistance is important because it forces you to move your hips faster or you won’t be able to throw the ball hard. It is easy to lose form with this exercise so concentrate hard on throwing the ball with your hips and not your arms. Baseball Swings Baseball Swings: This exercise is similar to the Med Ball Throws. It allows you to work on the explosiveness in your core and hip areas. Your obliques are used in both directions with this drill. You want to make sure you are explosive on the way out but control the weight on the way back in. This way your will work both side of your oblique’s. Make sure you use your hips and oblique’s instead of your arms when rotating. Russian Twist Beginning Russian Twist Middle Russian Twist End Russian Twist on Stability Ball: The Russian Twist exercise is great for core and specifically oblique strength.  You want to make sure you control the weight in each direction. Keep your hips up and don’t sag your back. 4-Point Stability Bridges: This is the best exercise for core strength. You will work all four angles of your abdominal area (front, both sides and back). This exercise allows you to work on strengthening your inner abdominal muscles which are crucial for strength development. Try to squeeze and draw in your abs into your stomach while you hold each position. I normally start by holding each position for 20 seconds. Make sure you keep your back flat in each direction. 4-Point Stability Bridge Position 1 4-Point Stability Bridge Position 2   4-Point Stability Bridge Position 3 4-Point Stability Bridge Position 4 John Sabo, founder of Maximum Performance Institute, has over 10 years of experience in sport specific training, and was captain of the US Developmental Hockey Team, US World Junior Hockey Team and Boston University Hockey Team.  John spent his formative years training, studying and working with renowned strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle, who is the strength and conditioning coach for Boston University, The Boston Bruins and the Men and Women’s US National Teams. Visit www.sabospeed.com to learn more Be the first to comment on this article Only registered users can write comments. Please login or register.