Five Exercises Every Athlete Should Do

Here are five exercises that I think are extremely effective for athletes at any level. They all have tremendous carryover to the playing surface, regardless of what sport you compete in. Though these are only a snap-shot of what a good training program consists of, they are some of the major lifts that can make a huge difference in developing your athletic qualities. The best part about them is that they are also exercises that consist of using minimal equipment including barbells, dumbbells, and weights. Most gyms have these three types of equipment, so you can put them to work immediately in most of your settings.

1. Trap Bar Deadlift – Though I am an advocate for doing most lower body work unilaterally (on one leg), I really think that improving bilateral leg strength (on two legs) is important for athletes. Although athletes do compete in sport on one leg most of the time (skating, running, changing direction), there is also a good portion of most sports that an athlete is on two legs (gliding phase of skating, jumping, battling for loose puck). The trap bar deadllift is unlike other bilateral leg work (back squat, front squat, leg press, straight bar deadlift) because it is much safer and it is easy to do correctly. The bar is essentially part of the athlete, so all they have to do is hip hinge and pull the bar up. The biggest advantage: there is zero spinal compression from the load. All the other variations I just alluded to involved spinal compression, which I am extremely against.
2. 1-Leg Squat – This is the king of all single-leg work in my opinion. Our squat pattern is progressed so that an athlete can technically complete the 1-leg squat. This is the only squat variation we program that truly is one on leg, without assistance of any sorts from the non-working leg. They are excellent because they are tri-planar because though the athlete moves in the sagittal plane, their stabilizers (glute med, QL, etc) are working to prevent valgus medial knee collapse in the frontal or transverse planes of movement. Because of this, they are great exercises that really help us in the injury prevention process. Thus, we are exhausting more muscles than in any bilateral leg exercise because the stabilizers are hard at work in their true role. There is no spinal compression, and any load added for progression is in the athlete’s hands, so we truly are working the legs and sparing the spine. That is a recipe for a strong, healthy athlete.
3. Hang Clean – Young athletes need to be developing power. When most people think of developing power, they think only of plyometrics. However, this is only one aspect of the strength-speed continuum. For us, the best way that has worked over time is Olympic lift variations. We will do cleans, and snatches (both barbell and dumbbell) from the hang position. I am a fan of starting from the hang position, and not the floor (as in the traditional Olympic lifts) for safety purposes. Too much can go wrong when pulling from the floor. We eliminate back injuries both acute and long-term, by pulling from our knees. After all, we aren’t training Olympic weightlifters. Simply, we ask our athletes to move the weight as fast as possible with great technique.
4. 1-Leg S.L.D.L. – This is another staple in our strength and conditioning program. We call it a 1-leg S.L.D.L. However, as the name suggests, we do not keep a completely straight working leg. The reason behind that is because when the leg is straight, we cannot contract the glutes to their full potential, so when we perform it, we keep a slight knee bend. We are able to get a good exercise for the posterior chain while balancing on 1-leg, which allows the stabilizers to work in the true anatomical role.
5. Chin Ups – Chin ups and the other vertical pulling variations are a must in a strength & conditioning program. Athletes need more upper back strength, which helps increase speed and power due to the fascial connection that exists between the posterior shoulder and the contralateral glute. Research has also shown that chin ups exhibit one of the highest EMG readings in the transverse abdominus, so this definitely delivers some form of core work. Clearly, these two reasons make the chin up a great bang for your buck exercise. The inability to do pull ups is an indicator of weak upper back strength. People with weak upper backs are more prone to injury, especially at the shoulder, which is important for athletes in contact sports such as hockey. In my experience, the athletes who don’t (or in their mind can’t do pull ups) are the same athletes with bad shoulders.

You will notice that ALL of these exercises I have alluded to are posterior chain-based exercises. Many young athletes only work the anterior musculature (“mirror muscles”). It’s no wonder why we have so many bad backs, shoulders, hips, and knees. The key to being a strong and healthy athlete is to develop the posterior chain. This is where all speed and power originates from, and it is also important in terms of structural balance to staying healthy.