How do you Increase your Stride Length

Increase stride length in hockey by refining technique, building strength, and consistent practice.

In hockey, speed is one of the most critical components of a player’s skill set. Whether you’re chasing down a loose puck, out skating an opponent, or driving to the net, your speed on the ice can often be the difference between success and failure. One of the key factors that contribute to overall skating speed is stride length. By increasing your stride length, you can cover more ice with each push, thereby boosting your speed and efficiency during a game. In this guide, we’ll explore How do you increase your stride length through technique, strength training, and consistent practice.

Understanding Stride Length in Hockey

Stride length refers to the distance covered during one complete skating stride. The longer your stride, the more ground you cover with each movement, which translates to increased speed. However, it’s essential to understand that stride length isn’t just about taking longer steps—it’s about optimizing the power, efficiency, and fluidity of your movements on the ice.

A well-executed stride should be smooth, powerful, and efficient. It starts with a deep knee bend, which engages your leg muscles to their full potential. As you push off the ice, your leg extends fully, propelling you forward. The recovery phase involves bringing your leg back under your body, ready to start the next stride. The length of your stride is determined by how fully you extend your leg and how well you recover for the next push.

Techniques to Increase Stride Length

1. Improve Knee Bend and Posture
   • One of the fundamental aspects of increasing your stride length is improving your knee bend. A deeper knee bend engages more of your leg muscles, particularly the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, which allows you to generate more power with each stride. Work on lowering your center of gravity by bending your knees more deeply, which will also improve your balance and stability on the ice.
   • Proper posture is equally important. Your back should be straight, with a slight forward lean from the hips. This position not only allows for a more powerful push-off but also helps maintain balance during the recovery phase.
2. Focus on Full Leg Extension
   • Many players struggle to fully extend their legs during a stride, often cutting their push short, which limits the distance covered. To increase your stride length, consciously focus on extending your leg completely at the end of each stride. This full extension ensures that you’re utilizing the maximum amount of force your muscles can generate, leading to a longer stride.
   • Drills that emphasize full extension can be particularly helpful. One effective drill is the “Crossover Extension” drill, where you focus on fully extending your leg during crossovers. This not only improves stride length but also enhances your lateral movement on the ice.
3. Enhance Edge Control
   • Your ability to control your edges plays a significant role in stride length. The better your edge control, the more efficiently you can transfer power to the ice, leading to longer strides. Work on exercises that improve your edge work, such as inside and outside edge drills, power turns, and edge-to-edge transitions.
   • Balance and weight distribution are key components of edge control. By ensuring that your weight is evenly distributed over your skates, you can maintain better contact with the ice, resulting in more powerful and longer strides.

Strength Training for Increased Stride Length

1. Build Lower Body Strength
   • Strength training is essential for increasing stride length, as it directly impacts the power of your stride. Focus on exercises that target the major muscle groups in your legs, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, and step-ups are all excellent exercises for building lower body strength.
   • Plyometric exercises, such as box jumps and jump squats, can also be highly effective. These explosive movements train your muscles to generate power quickly, which is crucial for a powerful, extended stride.
2. Develop Core Stability
   • While lower body strength is crucial, don’t overlook the importance of core stability. A strong core helps you maintain proper posture and balance during your stride, allowing for more efficient power transfer from your legs to the ice. Exercises like planks, Russian twists, and medicine ball throws can help build core strength.
   • Stability exercises, such as single-leg balance drills or stability ball exercises, can also be beneficial. These exercises improve your balance and coordination, which are essential for maintaining a strong, stable stride on the ice.
3. Incorporate Flexibility and Mobility Work
   • Flexibility and mobility are often overlooked components of stride length. Tight muscles can restrict your range of motion, limiting how far you can extend your legs during a stride. Incorporate regular stretching and mobility work into your training routine to keep your muscles flexible and joints mobile.
   • Dynamic stretches, such as leg swings and hip openers, are particularly effective before a game or practice. Afterward, static stretches can help maintain flexibility and prevent tightness. Yoga and Pilates can also be great additions to your training regimen, as they improve both flexibility and core strength.

Consistency and Practice

1. Drill Execution
   • Consistent practice is key to increasing your stride length. Incorporate drills that specifically target stride length into your regular practice routine. For example, the “Forward Stride” drill, where you focus on long, powerful strides while maintaining proper form, can be highly effective.
   • Video analysis can also be a valuable tool. Recording your strides and reviewing them can help you identify areas where you can improve your technique, such as knee bend, leg extension, or recovery.
2. On-Ice Conditioning
   • On-ice conditioning is crucial for translating the strength and technique improvements you’ve made into game situations. Interval training, such as sprints with short recovery periods, can help improve your endurance and ability to maintain a long stride throughout the game.
   • Skating drills that mimic game situations, like stop-and-starts or full-ice sprints, can help you practice maintaining stride length under fatigue, which is often when form breaks down.
3. Mind-Muscle Connection
   • Developing a strong mind-muscle connection is important for consciously improving your stride length. During drills and games, focus on the specific aspects of your stride that you want to improve, such as knee bend or leg extension. This conscious focus helps reinforce the neural pathways involved in these movements, making them more automatic over time.

Increasing your stride length in hockey requires a combination of technical refinement, strength training, and consistent practice. By focusing on improving your knee bend, fully extending your legs, and enhancing your edge control, you can optimize the mechanics of your stride. Complement these efforts with targeted strength training, particularly for the lower body and core, to build the power necessary for longer strides. Finally, practice regularly and focus on the details of your stride during drills to ensure that these improvements translate into game situations.

As you work to increase your stride length, remember that progress takes time and consistent effort. By incorporating these techniques and training methods into your routine, you’ll gradually see improvements in your stride length, leading to greater speed and overall performance on the ice.