Off-ice training for curling: build balance, trunk strength and muscular endurance, protect hips and knees and still deliver cleanly in the eighth end.
The answer up front: for curling you train three things — balance, trunk strength and muscular endurance. Exactly those three were named by the support staff of the Canadian Olympic team as the sport's primary trainable performance factors [1]. Not maximal strength, not jumping power. Balance, trunk, endurance.
And that is no feel-good statement, it follows directly from the load. The delivery markedly raises peak hip abduction, knee flexion and the associated joint moments and depends on coordinated work by hip abductors, knee flexors and extensors and external rotators — which is why the research explicitly recommends targeted strength and stability training for hips and knees [2].
The second construction site is the upper body, and it is more brutal than curling looks. In elite athletes, sweeping produced a mean vertical force of around 632 newtons in men and 407 newtons in women [7] — roughly 64 and 41 kilograms respectively, pressed into every single stroke, several hundred times a match.
Curling does not reward a strong person. It rewards a person who is as stable in the eighth end as in the first.
Balance is where elite measurably separates from sub-elite: the best control speed and equilibrium better during the slide, with greater ankle dorsiflexion and therefore a larger sliding-foot contact area [3]. So train single-leg and unstable: single-leg stance on a balance pad, single-leg squats to a bench, wobble-board holds [1]. Three sets, 30–45 seconds per side.
The delivery demands a trunk that does not give way while hips and legs work. So anti-rotation and anti-extension: Pallof press, plank with weight shifts, dead bug, side plank. Trunk strength is one of the three core pillars of the Olympic programme [1], and a strong trunk is simultaneously the most effective back protection in the sport [6].
This is the most direct transfer to the delivery. Bulgarian split squats, glute bridges, standing banded hip abductions, slow step-downs — all exercises hitting exactly the muscle groups the delivery calls on in coordination [2]. Two to three sets, 8–12 reps, twice a week.
The match overall is moderate — curling is listed in activity compendia at around 4 METs, the order of brisk walking. But the sweeping intervals push the pulse into the region of 170 beats per minute in measurements, and a lead or second covers up to about a mile sweeping per game [4]. Which is exactly why the Olympic programme combined an aerobic base with interval training to improve recovery between hard sweeping phases [1].
The Canadian programme moved stepwise from general strength to sport-specific drills and checked progress at fixed intervals — after two and after four months, among other things with a wobble-board balance test plus endurance tests for upper body, abdominals and legs [1]. Copy exactly that: general in the pre-season, specific in the build-up, measure every two months.
Off-ice training should make you more robust, not more broken. The complaint zones in curling are known: in the only larger survey, 79 % of competitive curlers reported musculoskeletal complaints, mainly knee (54 %), back (33 %) and shoulder (20 %) [5]. Your strength training therefore shares an address with your prevention — hips, knees, trunk, shoulder.
Two practical rules: increase either load or volume, never both in the same week. And if you are new to instability work, start on the floor, not on the ball — balance exercises with poor trunk control are a back risk, not progress.
And as always: this guide provides principles and examples but never replaces individual programming or physiotherapy assessment for existing knee, hip or back complaints.
Build yourself a curling-specific fatigue test: measure your single-leg stance time on a balance pad once fresh and once immediately after three minutes of hard sweeping or rowing. The difference is your actual construction site. Almost every club player stands fine when fresh — and collapses under fatigue. That drop is exactly why the stones scatter in the seventh end, and exactly what the combination of balance and muscular endurance trains [1]. Don't train your best delivery, train your tired one.
Above all hip abductors, knee flexors and extensors, external rotators and the trunk — the delivery calls on precisely those in coordination [2]. Plus trunk and upper body for sweeping [7]. Training: split squats, glute bridges, hip abductions, Pallof press and planks, twice a week.
Two strength sessions per week plus one to two endurance sessions is enough for recreational and club level. The mix matters: the Canadian Olympic team's programme combined strength, balance and instability work with an aerobic base and interval training [1].
Yes, it is the core variable. Elite curlers differ measurably from sub-elite in controlling speed and equilibrium during the slide, supported by more ankle dorsiflexion and more contact area [3]. Balance was also one of the three core factors trained in the Canadian Olympic programme [1].
For the match: little. Curling sits at around 4 METs, the order of brisk walking [4]. For the sweeping intervals: very much so — hard sweeping pushes the pulse into the region of 170 beats per minute in measurements [4], and an aerobic base plus intervals improves exactly the recovery in between [1].
A Training Year, Not a Training Day: Periodising Off-Ice Work and Steering Your Load