SL Balance — Eyes Open
How to Do It
Stand on one leg, the other knee lifted to around hip height or the foot held just off the floor. Find a focal point, stack the hips level, and hold a tall, quiet posture. Keep a soft standing knee and let the foot and ankle make small corrections. Hold for the prescribed time, then switch.
Why It Works
Challenges the ankle, knee, and hip proprioceptive and stabilizing systems to maintain single-leg balance, training the small postural muscles and neuromuscular control that underpin all single-leg actions.
Hockey Transfer
Builds the single-leg balance and ankle/hip stability required to glide and push on one edge; better proprioception improves stride stability and the ability to recover balance after contact.
Coaching Cues
- "Tall and quiet"
- "hips level"
- "let the foot make small fixes"
Common Mistakes
Hips dropping to the free side; gripping/clawing excessively; locking the standing knee
Progression / Regression
eyes closed or unstable surface
hold a light support or shorten the time
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural (balance)
Put it to work
on the ice.
This exercise is part of a fully periodized 12-week off-ice program — built by a sport scientist who coaches at the national level.
← Back to Exercise Library