Band Glute Bridge
How to Do It
On your back, knees bent, feet flat, mini-band above the knees. Press the knees outward against the band. Drive through the heels to lift the hips into a straight line, squeezing the glutes at the top while maintaining outward knee pressure. Pause, then lower under control.
Why It Works
Adds an abduction demand to the bridge, recruiting the gluteus medius alongside the glute max so the hips extend while resisting knee collapse — training hip extension and frontal-plane stability simultaneously.
Hockey Transfer
Builds the combined hip extension and abduction control used to push off and hold edges; keeping the knees driving out under load trains the valgus resistance that protects the knee on crossovers and turns.
Coaching Cues
- "Knees press out the whole time"
- "heels down, squeeze the glutes"
- "ribs down, don’t arch"
Common Mistakes
Knees caving in (losing tension); over-arching the low back; pushing through the toes
Progression / Regression
single-leg banded bridge or hip load
lighter band or no band
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural
Put it to work
on the ice.
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds exercises like this into a personalized off-ice program — created by a sport scientist and former national-team coach. Your first week is free.
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