Spanish 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
Anchor a heavy resistance band around a sturdy upright at knee height. Step inside the band so it wraps around the back of both knees. Walk backward until the band is taut and actively pulling you forward. Sit back into a quarter-to-half squat — torso tall and vertical (this is the giveaway: no forward lean). Knees stay tracking over the toes; resist the band's forward pull. HOLD. Hold until quads burn out. Step forward to release.
Why It Works
The Spanish squat is the gold-standard isometric for the patellar tendon — the structure that takes the brunt of every stop, every crossover acceleration, and every change of direction a skater performs. Anchoring a heavy band around the back of the knees creates a horizontal pulling force that has to be resisted by quad isometric contraction, loading the tendon directly without the spinal compression of a back squat. Sports-medicine clinics use this as the FIRST-line protocol for jumper's knee (patellar tendinopathy) — both for treatment and prevention. Hockey players who add 2 × 30-60s of Spanish squats per week experience dramatically lower rates of nagging anterior knee pain across a season.
Hockey Transfer
The gold-standard patellar tendon isometric — bulletproofs the knees against the constant stop-start loading of skating. Sports medicine's primary protocol for jumper's-knee prevention and rehab. Make the band heavy enough that it actively pulls — if you're not resisting, the iso isn't there. Add band tension before adding time.
Coaching Cues
- "Heavy band anchored at knee-height around a sturdy post. Step inside so it wraps the back of both knees. Sit back into a quarter-to-half squat — band pulls forward"
- "You resist. Torso tall. HOLD."
Common Mistakes
Leaning forward at the hips — converts it into a regular squat and unloads the patellar tendon. Band too light — if you're not actively pulling against it, the iso stimulus isn't there. Use the heaviest band that lets you hold for ≥30s. Knees caving inward — push out against the band actively. Going too deep (full squat) — quarter-to-half is the working range; deeper makes it a leg workout, not a tendon iso.
Progression / Regression
Heavier band + longer hold (60-90s). Or single-leg Spanish squat with band on one knee only.
Lighter band + shallower depth (quarter-squat only). Or bodyweight wall sit while you build base quad endurance.
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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