Power is one of the most valuable attributes for hockey players. The speed chute not only improves speed, but also strengthens endurance levels. Training with the speed chute is a very beneficial tool for developing overall lower body strength.
With more explosive first steps and a powerful stride, hockey players can develop the breakaway speed they need to truly take their game to the next level.
While footwork drills can help players get quick and light on their feet, getting more powerful is what allows players to express more force with each stride - and ultimately improve their speed.
Speed is defined by stride frequency x force.
This is a major reason why professional players are consistently working to get stronger and more powerful in the gym, in hopes of translating to their on-ice strength. The more force a player can express in each stride the more speed they can generate. Although, this doesn’t have to be strictly with strength work, Olympic lifts, or plyo exercises. Utilizing a resistance chute (both on and off the ice) can be the perfect tool to develop power that most hockey players are looking for. By using a Resistance Chute, it deliberately creates resistance while the athlete is sprinting, forcing the player to generate more power.
This creates a training effect through muscle memory where the body adapts to generating more power when beginning to accelerate. This ultimately allows athletes to recruit muscle more effectively and develop the power that will specifically translate on-ice speed.
Here are five useful tips to maximize the gains from the Speed Chute:
1. Fast Steps
As the chute doesn’t kick in until after the first 5-6 yards, you want to make sure that you are getting an explosive start just as you would be on the ice. By starting off with rapid steps, this will start to become muscle memory making your stride as a whole quicker when translated to on-ice start-ups.
2. Explosive Strides
Along with starting out with quick feet, each of those steps have to be explosive to get the most out of your stride. Focus on digging into the ground and pushing off as hard as you can with each stride you take.
3. Pump the Arms
You want to make sure that your arms help the movement of your body when pushing off and pushing forward. By moving your arms front to back, this increases the force that is powering your body forward. Keep pumping those arms with a long swing to generate as much speed as possible.
4. Forward Lean
The upper body is just as important as the lower body. By leaning forward, this helps the power that you are producing to go in the direction you want it to – which is out. If you try starting off with your back straight up, you’ll notice there is more resistance which begins to slow you down. By leaning, you are targeting that power outwards as you would be on the ice.
5. 15-30 Yard Reps
This is the sweet spot when focusing on explosive strides. Anything over 30 yards would be too endurance focused, and anything less than that wouldn’t be beneficial to what you’re trying to practice. We want you to get the most out of your chute, with all of your strides and reps being as explosive as possible. This is the ideal length to really generate that power.
The HockeyShot Speed Chute is the ultimate tool you need to get that explosive power behind your stride and take your speed to the next level.
In this video, we look at how hockey players use these tips to maximize the Speed Chute to develop more power and truly maximize their speed on the ice.
