Back

Slow Feet? How to increase Acceleration

Hockey, Acceleration, How to Increase Acceleration, First 3 steps, speed

How to Increase Acceleration

How to Increase Acceleration? Improving first 3 steps:

What is acceleration? Acceleration is being able to “change direction in a high velocity” or often referred to in hockey as “first 3 steps”. Within the first 3 strides, you will know who’s going to win the “race to the puck”.  Overlooked with acceleration is stability, if you are not stable enough in your stance leg and your stride leg, you will waste more energy, rather than being able to accelerate at Top Speed. Acceleration and Speed are NOT the same. 

Why Stability Matters w/ Acceleration:

You want to maintain Triple Extension in your stride (glide) leg and Triple Flexion on your stance leg, this will help to make sure this is no wasted movement. Wasted movement causes you, as a player, to waste more energy having to work on taking more strides, as opposed to having a strong, powerful stride. The quicker you can switch legs with proper stability, the more force production you have to produce power to get to the puck. 

Want to Increase Foot Speed?

You need to minimize how long it takes you to extend your stride and bring back in. The longer it takes for your leg to extend, touch the ice, and reload the more “wasted energy” you are using. If the knee is not fully extended, the power is not being fully used to its full potential, which results in less speed.  Exercises and progressions we use to help, Loop Band Strides for feet, Monster Band around knee for stability, and both monster band w/ loop band to reinforce the stability and power. Can also add a weight or Band for resistance.

Try to do drill bodyweight or with sliders (slider skater strides) to see if the knee of the stance leg could be causing you to lose acceleration (not being stable enough to hold all the force being inserted on the hip that causes the knee to collapse. If having trouble with bodyweight, then use bands and weight to help reinforce the movement. Put it all together to help acceleration.

#unleashthepotential

Written by:

Darrid Watson, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Take action… Now!

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Visit us:
Inside of the Flyers Training Center
601 Laurel Oak Rd.
Voorhees, NJ 08043

Recent posts
  • Top 3 Supplements to Increase Your Sports Performance
    Assess Your Goals, Cherry Hill sports performance, Fitness, Fitness, Hockey Performance, Personal trainer tips, South Jersey, South Jersey, Sports performance
    Top 3 Supplements to Increase Your Sports Performance

    Top 3 Supplements to Increase Your Sports Performance Supplements! Everyone’s favorite go-to when it comes to increasing sports performance. Let’s be clear right off the bat, supplements will get you 1% better. Your daily recovery habits like proper diet, optimal sleep, water intake, etc. will make up the other 99%! So only focus on adding…

  • Kettlebells are all you need in your home gym
    Assess Your Goals, Cherry Hill sports performance, Fitness, Fitness, Hockey Performance, Personal trainer tips, South Jersey, South Jersey, Weight Loss
    Kettlebells are all you need in your home gym

    Kettlebells and athletic training- Unleash the potential!   I’m often asked what equipment someone should buy for their home gym – a treadmill, a bench press, a hex bar, TRX, etc. My answer is always the same: save your money and invest in kettlebells. I recommend starting with one 25lb, two 35lb, two 45lb, and…

  • What Boxing Means to Me-Part 5: The Itch to Get Back in the Gym
    Boxing Performance, Fit and healthy, Fitness, South Jersey, South Jersey, Testimonials, Uncategorized
    What Boxing Means to Me-Part 5: The Itch to Get Back in the Gym

    Part 5: The Itch to Get Back in the Gym In 2018, I was promoted at work. Just ten weeks later, I was demoted for something completely out of my control. It hit me hard… for about ten minutes. Then I did what boxing had always taught me to do, roll with the punches. I…

Subscribe to our newsletter
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.