Skater Squat Bottom 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, other leg bent slightly behind you (knee toward the floor). Reach both arms forward as a counterweight. Squat down on the standing leg — the back knee descends toward (but doesn't touch) the floor. HOLD at the bottom: back knee 1-3 inches off the floor, front shin vertical or slightly forward. Tight glute, knee tracks over toes, torso tall (don't dive forward). Stand under control. Switch legs. That's one rep per leg.
Why It Works
The skater squat held at the bottom is the closest off-ice match to the loaded edge position of a tight turn or crossover. Both knees and hips sit at the angles a skater's joints actually live in during the hardest skating positions — not the upright 90° of a normal squat, but the deeper, more diagonal angle where the outside leg loads through an edge. Holding this position builds knee stability and quad/glute strength in the SPECIFIC range hockey demands, in a position where most off-ice training never goes. That's what makes it elite-level transfer for skating.
Hockey Transfer
Deep single-leg squat held at the bottom — the exact knee/hip angle of tight turns and crossover edge work. Builds stability in the position skaters actually fail in. If the front knee dives inward, regress to bench-supported. Don't grind a bad position to add seconds.
Coaching Cues
- "Single-leg squat down — back knee hovers just above the floor"
- "Arms forward as a counterweight. HOLD. Tight glute"
- "Front shin vertical"
- "Knee tracks the toes. Switch legs."
Common Mistakes
Front knee diving inward as it gets hard — regress immediately; that's the ACL injury pattern. Crashing the back knee into the floor — defeats the hold; control the descent and hover. Diving the torso forward to balance — hips/knees stay deep, but chest stays up. Going single-leg before unilateral split squats are clean — build the base first.
Progression / Regression
Weighted skater squat hold — goblet-hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at the chest.
Bench-supported skater squat hold — light hand on a chair/bench for balance; full hold remains.
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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