Single Leg Hops for Lacrosse: Part 1

-May 13th, 2020-

A good lacrosse training program will first and foremost focus on keeping the lacrosse player healthy.

One of the most common “major” injuries in lacrosse players are knee injuries, more specifically a tear of the ACL.

While I’ve said many times we cannot prevent injuries, with proper training we can greatly reduce the risk of injury.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament runs across the front part of your knee and helps provide stability in that joint.

When the knee caves in and rotates, the ligament is stretched and if it’s severe enough can be torn. To help reduce risk of this happening we need to train the body to resist these forces, to not let the knee go Valgus (cave into the middle).

There are many ways to train this, but a simple (not easy) way is by using Single Leg Hops.

This is part 1 of a series we use as part of our warm up to train to reduce ACL Injuries.

Level 1 is a Linear (Sagittal Plane) Hop. Jump up over a cone/stick and stick your landing on the same leg you jumped from.

Land absorbing the force, bending your knee. Fire your glute, the more you flex your butt the less likely your knee is to go Valgus.

You want to stick the landing. Try not to hop around, or to do the hops continuously. Come to a complete stop.

Start with 2 sets of 6 – 8 reps.

 

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Single Leg Hops are a great way to train single leg stability, strength, and balance. It’s also a great way to reduce your risk in injury, specifically ACL tears. By training your leg to absorb force while preventing your knee from becoming valgus (caving in to midline of body) you are training your body to resist the forces where injuries occur. These Linear Hops (Sagittal Plane) are Level 1 in our Single Leg Hop series. Do 2 sets of 6-8 reps each leg. Make sure to stick the landing and hold for 2 seconds. #lacrosse #lacrossetraining #lacrossestrength #injuryprevention #singlelegtraining

A post shared by Lacrosse Strength+Conditioning (@lacrossesc) on May 13, 2020 at 7:24am PDT

Tags: dynamic warm up, injury prevention, injury reduction, lacrosse training, stability