Pancake Stretch
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
Sit on the floor with legs spread as wide as comfortable — gradually increase over weeks. Sit tall on the sitting bones — don't let the pelvis tuck under. Hinge FORWARD at the hips — chest moves toward the floor, not the forehead. Walk hands forward along the floor as you descend. Hold the deepest position for 30-60 seconds, breathing into the hips. Add active rotations: turn the torso to face each leg and hold.
Why It Works
The pancake stretch (seated wide-leg forward fold) targets the hip adductors, hamstrings, and hip external rotators in their most lengthened position — creating the extreme hip mobility required for goalie splits, wide defensive stances, and the maximum stride width of an explosive skating push-off. Regular pancake work directly increases stride width, which is one of the largest biomechanical contributors to skating speed.
Hockey Transfer
Extreme groin and hamstring flexibility — critical for goalies and tight turns. Daily work, but be patient. Pancake gains come over months, not weeks. The investment compounds.
Coaching Cues
- "Seated wide legs"
- "Rotate chest toward one leg"
- "Then center"
- "Then other side"
Common Mistakes
Rounding the lower back to reach further — hinge at the hip, keep the spine long. Legs not wide enough — the stretch must feel challenging. Add width over weeks. Only holding passively — add active movements (torso rotations) for more mobility transfer. Forcing it — adductor tears happen when aggressive stretching meets cold tissue. Warm up first.
Progression / Regression
Weighted pancake — plate on the back increases gravity assist into the fold.
Butterfly stretch — same adductor target with less range requirement.
Primary Muscles
Energy System
N/A (mobility/recovery)
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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