Hip Airplane Hold
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds drills like this into your personalized off-ice program, week by week. Your first week is free.
How to Do It
Stand on one leg. Standing knee can be slightly soft (not locked, not bent). Hinge at the hip — torso drops forward, back leg lifts behind you. Continue until torso and back leg form a straight line parallel to the floor (a 'T' from the side). Arms extend out wide to the sides for balance. Square the hips — point both hip bones at the floor (don't let the back-leg hip rotate open). HOLD. Standing leg solid, no twisting. Stand under control. Switch.
Why It Works
The hip airplane is the deep-stabilizer test most off-ice training programs miss. Holding a single-leg T-position — torso and back leg parallel to the floor, hips square — recruits the glute medius, deep hip rotators, and posterior-chain stabilizers that control hip rotation under load. For hockey, that's the EXACT muscle system that keeps a skate edge tracking through a tight turn: when an athlete's outside hip rotates uncontrolled, they lose the edge. Adding 15-25s isometric holds in this position builds the rotational stability that pays off in cleaner turns, better balance through contact, and dramatically lower rates of nagging hip and groin issues across a season.
Hockey Transfer
Single-leg balance plus hip-rotation control under hold — the same deep stabilizer system that keeps a skate edge tracking through tight turns. Most overlooked iso in hockey training. Catching yourself with the back leg means the hold is lost. End the set there — quality over time.
Coaching Cues
- "Single-leg stance. Hinge at the hip — torso and back leg form a straight "T" parallel to the floor. Arms out wide. HOLD without letting the hip drop or rotate. Switch legs."
Common Mistakes
Back-leg hip rotating open (turning sideways) — kills the whole point; force both hip bones to point down. Standing knee locking out fully — keep it soft so the hip muscles work, not the joint. Catching with the back foot when balance fails — once that happens, end the set; the hold is over. Arching the lower back — torso stays straight, like a board parallel to the floor.
Progression / Regression
Eyes closed (removes visual balance feedback — makes it ~30% harder). Or hold a light dumbbell in the lifted arm.
Hand on a wall or pole for balance — same T position, less stability demand.
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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