One of the exercises that we really like with our training to help develop good unilateral strength is the rear foot elevated split squat. A few of the different ways we load this exercise is by holding onto dumbbells in a suitcase position or in a goblet position, you can have a bar on your back and you can even hold a barbell in the front rack position, there are many different ways to load this exercises and each way challenges the movement slightly different. 

One of the other benefits of performing this exercise along with other unilateral lower body exercises is that it strengthens one leg at a time. When loading the body this way you don’t need as much weight to gain great strength which makes it safer on the joints and more applicable to hockey because each leg works independently while skating. 

With this article, I’m going to point out a few issues I see with this exercise and then I highly suggest watching the video below to get an in-depth explanation of each of these issues.

The first issue I see with the exercise is the setup. The biggest thing that we try and get across to our athletes is that you should not feel a stretch on the back hip. If that is the case then you need to make sure you’re front foot is close enough to the stand so when you lower down your back knee is under your back hip.

The second thing we notice with this exercise is that athletes will drop straight down and they’ll have what we call a vertical shin. Developing strength with a vertical shin doesn’t allow that strength to transfer as well athletically, so we do not want to have a vertical shin during this movement. You want to make sure that you’re leaning forward and that you don’t have too much weight on the back leg. The back leg acts as a kickstand and is only there for balance.

The third major fault with this exercise is not standing up into full extension. You’ll hear a lot of skating coaches preach full extension on the ice making sure the player is driving the ice away. Well, it’s pretty hard to get full extension on the ice if you’re not developing that strength in the gym. When performing any lower body exercise you want to make sure you’re going through full extension and that leg is getting straight. With our rear foot elevated split squat you want to make sure that as you start to stand you’re flexing that front quad muscle as this will help you get into a full extension on that leg. Doing this in the gym over and over again will make it easier to do it on the ice and it will allow you to be a little faster and more powerful with each stride.

Watch the video below to understand in greater detail how to perform the rear foot elevated split squat!

Summary

The video tutorial focuses on the rear foot elevated split squat exercise, highlighting its benefits for unilateral strength development in athletes and emphasizing the correct setup to avoid common faults.

Highlights

Benefits of rear foot elevated split squat for unilateral strength development 💪
Importance of proper foot placement to avoid overstretching the back hip 🦵
Emphasis on maintaining a forward knee position to engage the correct muscles during the exercise 🦵
Need for a full extension at the top of the movement to maximize strength gains and transfer to on-ice performance ⛸️
Common faults include overextending the back leg, having a vertical shin, and not achieving full extension at the top 🚫

Key Insights

Proper setup is crucial to prevent overstretching and ensure effective muscle engagement during the rear foot elevated split squat exercise. 🏋️
Maintaining a forward knee position helps target the desired muscles and avoid compensatory movements that limit strength gains. 🦾
Achieving full extension at the top of the movement is essential for developing power and speed on the ice, translating to improved performance in skating. ⛸️

I really like using the trap bar to teach the deadlift to my new athletes.

Before I get into the details of WHY I think this is important, I suggest you read the article The Trap Bar. It will give you a better understanding of this piece of equipment and the different uses it has.

Down to the Details

Now, why do I think the trap bar is such a great teaching tool when coaching athletes to perform deadlifts correctly?

When athletes stand in the middle of a trap bar, the weight they’re lifting will run through the frontal plane. Having the weight in this alignment takes some stress off the low back. Additionally, it forces athletes to balance the weight in their hands from front to back. If the athlete’s grip is off, they’ll receive immediate feedback by having the weight tip too far forward or backward. This will allow the athlete to instantly know that their positioning is off. Not having your hands in the exact middle of the handles will make it hard to hold the weight. It will also decrease the effectiveness of the exercise, not to mention increasing the stress on the low back.

Another way to tell if your alignment is off is if you have too much weight on your toes when descending in the lift. You can figure this out by paying attention to where most of your body weight is located on your feet. If you feel your toes pressing into the ground excessively and you feel like you might fall forward, then you’re in a bad position. The same goes for having too much of your body weight on the back on your heels. The ideal weight distribution on your feet is having about 20% of your weight on your toes and the rest evenly distributed throughout your feet.

ALIGNMENT AND WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION IS SET, IT’S TIME TO LIFT

Now that your grip is correct and you know where to place your body weight on your feet you’re ready to perform the trap bar deadlift.

The first thing you’ll want to do is push your butt back as far as you can, once you can’t push your butt back any further then you’ll want to start bending your knees in order to lower the weight to the ground all while maintaining a flat back. When the weight lightly touches the ground you’ll start to stand up by driving your hips forward and straightening your legs. 

I’ve added a video to help you visualize this movement and help you master the exercise.

Things to take away from the video:

• Drive your hips back
• Keep your chin tucked
• Look at the floor at the bottom of the range
• Drive your knees out

If you didn’t read my original article on the trap bar then you won’t know that there are two different variations of the trap bar deadlift. In the video above, I have the athlete working on the hip dominant variation. When performing this exact exercise, make sure you have more flexion in your hips than your knees. At the bottom of the exercise when the weight is on the floor, you should have about 70% bend in your hips and 30% in your knees.

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I don’t think you want to be left out (or maybe you do?)

Here is the breakdown of the 3 variations I demonstrate:

In the first variation,  you can see my knees collapse inward as they move laterally. There is also some movement of the upper body. The poor positioning of the body will only reinforce a poor movement pattern and won’t help the areas that are supposed to be targeted.

During the second variation, I am doing a much better job making sure my knees don’t collapse inward but I still have way too much movement through my upper body and pelvis. Remember, part of the glute med’s job is to stabilize the pelvis, and when there’s too much movement in this area you’re not training the muscle to do one of its jobs.

The last variation of the exercise is how I’d like to see you perform the exercise each and every time. Once the band is around the top of my knees,  I get myself into a ¼ squat (feet just outside hip width). Then I externally rotate my knees, keeping my upper back engaged and in an upright position by slightly sticking my chest out. I make sure to lead with my heel and don’t let my knees collapse inward or lift my pelvis.

To start the drill, I take one small step out to the side then take a small step in with the back foot. You’ll want to continue this small stepping action for the desired amount of repetitions while never allowing your feet to be in a narrower position than your starting position (feet outside of hip width). Maintaining the postural position throughout the exercise will target the glute med and help it to get stronger, and improving your on-ice stride.