Jump Training for Hockey

Jump training is an effective way to improve lower body power development, and the ability to decelerate.  Jump training gets a lot of emphasis because of the importance of maximizing force output while transitioning from a deceleration- to acceleration-based movement, or eccentric (muscle lengthening) to concentric (muscle shortening) contraction.

This happens anytime you precede a jump with a quick dip: you’re eccentrically contracting your quads and glutes while decelerating your fall, then transitioning into an upward acceleration by concentrically contracting your quads and glutes.

This leads me into my new favorite jumping exercise.

Single-leg high force reduction followed by an explosive lateral or diagonal bound, followed by another single-leg high force reduction.

I love it.  You can progress this exercise by adding a high knee before the forward lunge (so you’ll be decelerating from a higher height, adding to the amount of force you’ll need to reduce) or by adding a weight vest.

I’ve always wanted to name an exercise after myself, so I changed these from: Lunge to Lateral Bound to: Neeld Bounds.  Not nearly as descriptive and I’m sure someone else has thought of it, but I’m running with the fantasy that I made it up.

Train Smart. Jump Far.