The skater hop is a sideways bound from one leg to the other with a stuck landing: push off the right foot, fly sideways, land on the left with the knee bent and pointing where the toes point, and freeze for a count before going back. It trains single-leg power and, more usefully for most people, the ability to land on one leg without the knee falling inward, which is the position a pickleball lunge, a ski edge change and a hockey stride all end up in.
It is the third plyometric on our ladder, after the jump squat and the broad jump, and the first one on a single leg. The dose is small and the standard is the landing; a set of skater hops that looks like a dance step has lost the point.
What it trains
Lateral push and, above all, the lateral landing: the glutes on the outside of the hip controlling the knee as one leg takes the whole body's weight arriving sideways. That is the muscle group a lateral lunge strengthens slowly and a skater hop asks to work fast. Underneath it, the ankle and foot learn to stick a landing on one leg, which is the single most useful thing a knee can be trained to survive, and the trunk learns to stay upright while the body is travelling sideways.
Setup
- Stand on the right foot with the knee slightly bent and the left foot hovering behind, arms relaxed.
- Push sideways off the whole right foot, swinging the arms across the body, and travel to the left.
- Land on the left foot, toes then heel, with the knee bent and tracking over the second toe, hips back, chest up. The right foot swings behind and stays off the floor.
- Stick and hold for a count of one, then push back to the right. Four to six landings per side is one set, and every landing is held.
The cues we use
- Land on a bent knee pointing where your toes point
- Stick and freeze: one count before you go back
- Push off the whole foot, not the toes, and let the arms cross
Common faults, and the fixes
| Fault | Why it happens | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Knee collapsing inward on the landing | The hip is not yet strong enough to control a single-leg landing arriving sideways, or the hop is longer than the leg can handle | Shorten the hop until the knee stays over the second toe on every landing; if it still caves at a short distance, the lateral lunge and the single-leg RDL come first |
| Landing on a straight leg | The knee locks to feel stable and sends the force into the joint instead of the hip | Think soft knee before the foot arrives, and land a fraction deeper than feels necessary |
| The trailing foot touching down | It is a crutch for balance, and once it is allowed every landing uses it | Reduce the distance until the landing can be held on one foot; the touch-down is allowed only in the step-and-stick regression |
| Bouncing side to side in rhythm | The continuous version feels like a class exercise and turns a power drill into conditioning with tired knees | Stick every landing for a full count; if the rhythm creeps in, the set ends |
| Torso folding sideways over the landing leg | The trunk is leaning to find balance rather than the hip doing the work | Eyes on a spot straight ahead, chest tall, and a shorter hop; the trunk stays stacked over the hips through the landing |
The ladder
Easier: Lateral step-and-stick — The version a beginner meets first: a sideways step rather than a hop, landing on one foot and holding it for two counts with the trailing foot allowed to touch down; it teaches the knee position and the freeze without any flight
Harder: Longer bounds and short continuous sets — When six stuck landings per side are clean at a comfortable distance: lengthen the hop first, then add short sets of three continuous bounds with a stick on the last, never a set of rhythm bounces
How it is loaded here
Bodyweight, with distance as the dial: start with a hop short enough that every landing is stuck and quiet, and lengthen it only when the knee stays honest. The dose is twenty to thirty landings in a session, in sets of four to six per side with a full rest between sets, once or twice a week early in a power or conditioning block. Skaters, skiers and pickleball players see it more often, usually in the weeks before their season on the ice or the mountain; runners get it as a knee-control drill after the single-leg RDL and the split squat are stable. In a group of eight it runs in a wide lane, two people at a time, so the coach can watch every landing, which is the only way a caving knee gets caught.
When we swap it
- a knee that dislikes sideways landings: The lateral lunge at a slow tempo for the strength, and the step-and-stick for the landing shape; the hop waits
- a recent ankle sprain: Two-footed landings only until your physiotherapist clears single-leg work; the jump squat covers the power in the meantime
- no stable single-leg balance yet: Split squats and single-leg RDLs for a block; a skater hop before a person can stand on one leg for a breath is a fall in the making
- carrying extra weight, pregnancy or a bone-density diagnosis: The landing cost is too high for now; lateral strength work and throws train the same qualities without the impact, and the question of when to add hopping goes to your physician or physiotherapist
Common questions
Why does my knee cave when I land?
Usually because the hip muscles on the outside of the landing leg are not strong or quick enough yet to hold the knee out while the body arrives sideways, and sometimes simply because the hop was too long. Shorten it until the knee stays over the toes, and spend a block on lateral lunges and single-leg RDLs; the cave usually disappears as the strength arrives.
How far should each hop be?
As far as you can stick with a bent, honest knee and the trailing foot off the floor, and no further. For most beginners that is well under a metre. Distance is a symptom of a good landing rather than the goal, and it grows on its own once the landing is reliable.
Should the trailing foot touch the floor?
Not in the full version; the point is one leg taking everything. It is allowed in the step-and-stick regression while the landing is being learned, and the moment a person can hold the landing on one foot for a count the touch-down goes away.
