Muscles worked
The hops go sideways, so they train power in a direction that squats and lunges do not cover. Your glutes and quads drive the push-off, while your outer hip and inner thigh work hard both pushing and stopping you on the other leg. Your calf and ankle absorb the landing, and your trunk holds you steady. Done for many hops in a row, it also becomes tough conditioning work.
Common mistakes
- Your hops are longer than you can land. Long hops look good but often end in a wobbly landing. Shorten the distance until you can stand still on the landing leg for a second after each hop, and build up from there.
- The free foot takes the landing. If both feet come down as you land, you are not training balance on one leg. Let the free foot sweep behind you without taking weight. As a beginner, a light touch of the toes on the floor is fine.
- You jump straight up. A high jump does not take you sideways. Push off sideways, so your hips shift across towards the new leg, and keep the hops low.
Variations and alternatives
- The lateral lunge trains the same direction at a calm pace and is a good start before you hop.
- The jumping lunge is explosive forwards and backwards rather than sideways.
- The jump squat trains the take-off with both legs, before you move on to jumping from one.
Sets and reps
Skater hops are usually counted per side or by time. For power, 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 hops per side work well, resting until your legs feel fresh again. For conditioning, you can go for 20 to 40 seconds, but pause as soon as the landings get sloppy. Warm up your legs and ankles first, as the guide to warming up describes. You can read how sets and rest shape your results in the guide to sets and reps.
Progress in this order: longer hops first, then a steady rhythm without stopping on each landing, and more sets last. That is progressive overload for a hop, and it only holds while you stay in control. If your knee or ankle hurts, and it is not just tiredness, stop and get a doctor or physiotherapist to look at it.