Flat Foot Flicks

Equipment needed: dumbbells, floor space
Sets: 2 x 20rep

This one seems pretty easy, but will dramatically increase your footwork speed. To perform the flat foot flick hockey plyometric drill stand straight with your feet flat on the floor then push off as high as you can by pushing off from balls of your feet, and try to jump higher with each successive flick.

Power result: Remember to touch your heel to the ground after each flick.

To get explosive results from this exercise do 2 sets of 20 for this drill.

For your first set, hold a dumbbell in each hand while you do your set.

For the second set just use your body weight and really try to explode off of the ground (you should notice with the decrease in weight an increase in the explosiveness of each flick).

Rapid Plyo Box Jumps

Equipment needed: solid box 24" to 36"
Sets: 2 x 15rep

This exercise is designed to increase your on-ice acceleration, to help you get up to top speed as fast as possible.

All you need for this exercise is a solid platform to jump up to about 24" to 36" in height. You will be bouncing off of the floor onto the platform so make sure the platform is stable.

Start by standing on the balls of your feet right on the edge of the platform and hop down to the ground then quickly bound back up to the platform as quickly as possible. You want to limit your contact with the ground.

If the jumps become too easy, try holding onto some light dumbbells to increase resistance.

Power result: You want the platform to be high enough so that you have to engage your quad muscles in the jump, not just your calf muscles.

Hockey Stride Lateral Bounds

Equipment needed: floorspace
Sets: 3 x 30rep (15 each side)

This is about as specific a hockey exercise as they come, and if done properly will help improve your on-ice lateral movement, balance and acceleration.

It's also an absolute no-brainer, requires no weights and just needs about 10ft of floor space. To perform this exercise simply jump from your left foot as far as you can to your right, land on your right foot only and tuck your left foot behind your right leg. Then do the reverse (jump off your right foot, land on your left and tuck your foot).

It sounds complicated but the outcome should look just like a hockey stride.

Power result: Jump as hard as you can from side to side, the force which you jump off with provides a dual benefit; both increasing your strength and when landing the pressure of the jump will force your stabilizer muscles to activate which will dramatically improve your balance.