5 (actually 7) Damn Things with a Rocker Board
- Perform the foot and ankle work from Wendland's Part 2 series before attempting these rocker board exercises to build the necessary brain-foot connections first.
- Touch the rocker board to the ground softly and return — slapping it down means you're relying on the board for balance instead of your own edge control.
- Seven exercises are split into four side-to-side movements (mimicking skate edge work) and three front-to-back movements for comprehensive edge training.
- Switch legs between exercises to manage fatigue and maintain quality of movement throughout the full routine.
- PWHL Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell found the exercises challenging even at the professional level, confirming the routine is genuinely difficult regardless of skill.
James Wendland has already had a massive impact on the InGoal community — and goalies right up to the NHL — with his first two entries into the 5 Damn Things series designed first to improve hip health (and widen your butterfly) and then Part 2 for the feet and ankles.
Wendland, a manual osteopathic therapist and kinesiologist with a master’s degree in exercise/respiratory physiology, a bachelor’s degree in human kinetics/kinesiology, a diploma in manual osteopathy and a strong focus on how the body works and how to make it work better, was also a big hit on Episode 235 of the InGoal Radio Podcast back in late November.
It’s taken far too long given how popular. The segments are but we’ve finally got Wendland back with more off-ice work, featuring PWHL Toronto’s Kristen Campbell demonstrating.
These seven exercises use a rocker board to build off the brain-foot connections built last time and help goalies improve control over their edges, so we’d suggest re-visiting part 2 and making sure you do the foot and ankle work first. Once you have, this routine should become easier for you to balance and control, though as you’ll see, it was tough even for a pro like Campbell:
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