Another Great Exercise for All Lacrosse Players

By Wayne Burke

-February 9, 2016- Single leg strength training might be the most valuable group of exercises that every player could do.  This group of exercises challenges your adductors (groin), abductors (hips, glutes) and stability in a way that squats and deadlifts can’t.  It also addresses strength imbalances by training the left and right leg individually. Every lacrosse player needs single leg strength for sprinting, stopping, starting and cutting.

I love single leg strength work because it can be given to all players regardless of age, gender or ability and they tend to be safer and tend to have a shorter learning curve than squats and deadlift,which checks allot of boxes when it comes to training young players or large groups.

Single leg strength usually starts with split squats or assisted split squats and progresses into lunge variations, elevated split squat variations and at the extreme end, single leg squats.

Here is a single leg squat variation called a Skater’s Squat.

This is a more advanced single leg strength progression.  In this video I used a blue Airex as a marker to make sure I go down low enough under control and the plate that I’m pressing out actually helps me get lower by providing a counter balance as I descend to the pad.  You can make this easier by holding a trx to give you some assistance to stand back up.  You can make it harder by holding a weight close to your chest or by standing on a step so that you have to go lower on your squat.

If you have any questions about training, programming or you would like to have a strength and conditioning program designed specifically for you, contact us as strengthcoachburke@gmail.com or sean@thedynamicathlete.ca.

Tags: acceleration, core stability, core training, injury prevention, injury reduction, lacrosse training, lacrosse workouts, smart lacrosse training, Speed Training, stability, Strength Training