Lateral Bear Crawl
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
Get on hands and toes — knees hovering 1-2 inches off the floor. To move RIGHT: step right hand AND right foot OUT to the right simultaneously. Then bring left hand and left foot in to match, returning to the start position. That's one lateral 'step.' Continue 5-8 steps right, then reverse direction. Hips stay low and LEVEL — no twisting, no piking. Slow and deliberate. Same-side hand and foot move together (this is the OPPOSITE of forward bear crawl).
Why It Works
The lateral bear crawl trains the sideways contralateral pattern — exactly the neural firing sequence of crossover steps on the ice. While forward bear crawls are general athletic patterning, the lateral version is hockey-specific: it grooves the same hip-and-shoulder coordination that powers tight-turn skating, edge work, and the lateral push-off used in pivots. Lateral patterns are the most under-trained athletic skill in pre-puberty athletes — most off-ice work is sagittal-plane only.
Hockey Transfer
Sideways bear crawl trains the lateral coordination pattern of skating + builds anti-rotation core strength. The cross-body neural patterning is GOLD for under-13 athletes. The most-under-trained pattern in pre-puberty hockey training. Most off-ice work is sagittal-plane only. Fix that.
Coaching Cues
- "Hands and toes down"
- "Knees hovering 1 inch off the floor. Hands shoulder-width. Step right hand AND right foot out sideways together"
- "Then left hand and left foot follow. Keep hips low and level."
Common Mistakes
Moving same-side hand and foot at different times — defeats the pattern. Twisting the hips toward the direction of travel — should stay perfectly square. Letting one knee touch the floor — even briefly. Hover hold is the point. Going too wide on the steps — small steps train the pattern; big steps cheat with momentum.
Progression / Regression
Lateral bear crawl with a band around the wrists OR ankles — adds anti-collapse load.
Lateral quadruped hold (no movement, just shift weight side-to-side in the hover position).
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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