In order to play hockey properly, you’ve got to have bad posture – but that doesn’t mean that you want to have bad posture away from the rink as well. In this video, I will show you why all girls hockey players need to have bad posture on the ice, but I am also going to show you 2 ways to fix it off the ice.

You may need to have a certain degree of bad posture in order to stickhandle and catch passes effectively, but you don’t want to have bad posture off the ice as well. All the sitting you do (in front of the computer, the TV or at your desk), only makes your bad hockey posture worse.

As a result of spending most of your day with your shoulders rolled forward, your chest muscles get really tight and the muscles in the back of your shoulders get really weak.

You only need to spend 2 minutes each day focusing on your posture off the ice and it will make a huge difference in preventing shoulder injuries and increasing your performance.

Chest Stretch
First of all, you need to do a chest stretch. Stand in front of a doorway and reach back to grab onto the inside of the door frame with your arms straight. You should feel a stretch in your chest and shoulders. Hold for 30 – 60 seconds and perform this stretch at least once a day.

“Stick Em Up” Shoulder Strength
After you have stretched your chest, you need to work on strengthening the muscles between your shoulder blades. Stand against a wall with your elbows tucked in by your sides and your hands pointing up towards the ceiling. Reach up over your head until your arms are straight keeping your entire arm in contact with the wall. Now pull your elbows back down towards your sides by squeezing your shoulder blades down and together, like you are trying to put them in your back pockets. Make sure you are keeping your entire arm against the wall as much as possible. Perform at least one set of 20 repetitions each day.

Can you spend an extra two minutes per day working on your posture?

A little bit of stretching and strengthening each day goes a long way.

FYI – The first time I saw this “stick ’em up” exercise, I thought it would be dead easy. Then I tried it and realized it was a lot harder than it looked. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

~ Coach Kim