Paused Split Squat (Isometric)
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
Take a long split-squat stance — front foot flat, back foot on its toe. Lower straight down — back knee descends until 1 inch from the floor. HOLD. Front shin roughly vertical, back leg extended. Tight glutes both sides. Core braced. Hips square (don't twist). Hold until form breaks. Stand. Switch legs. That's one rep per leg.
Why It Works
The paused split squat is a unilateral isometric — single-leg loading held in the deepest position. It directly trains the position of a defensive crouch, a goalie's lateral push-off, or absorbing contact when you're caught mid-stride on one leg. Unilateral isometrics expose left-right imbalances ruthlessly (you can't compensate by leaning) — making this one of the best diagnostic AND development tools for hockey-specific lower-body strength.
Hockey Transfer
Single-leg isometric hold at the bottom of a split squat — the exact pattern of holding a defensive crouch or absorbing contact one-legged. Triphasic isometric phase, unilateral. Useful diagnostic: if one leg shakes 10 seconds earlier than the other, that's the priority side.
Coaching Cues
- "Take a split-squat stance. Lower until back knee hovers 1 inch from floor. HOLD there. Front knee tracks over toes. Tight glutes. Switch legs."
Common Mistakes
Front knee caving inward — same ACL-risk pattern; track it over the second toe. Hips twisting toward the back leg — re-square them; this is the silent test of hip stability. Holding too shallow (back knee 6+ inches off the floor) — the deep position is the whole point. Bouncing in and out — kills the isometric stimulus. Hold STILL.
Progression / Regression
Weighted pause split squat — hold dumbbells at sides or a barbell on the back.
Pause split squat with hand support (light touch on a bench or chair) — same hold, less balance 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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