Curling Training: Delivery Balance, Sweeping Fitness and Leg Strength

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Watch the Olympic final with the sound up and you’ll hear it: the skip yelling “Hard!” and two sweepers driving their brooms into the ice for twenty seconds that look easy and aren’t. Then the next thrower glides out of the hack, balanced on one foot, knee folded flat under the chest, and lets the stone go without a wobble. Curling looks calm on TV. Up close it asks for balance and flexibility in the delivery, short bursts of hard sweeping, and strong legs to hold it all together. This page shows how curlers train off the ice, from a first-season league player to juniors, college teams and national programs, with simple exercises you can do at home.

General fitness information, not personal medical advice. If you have heart, joint or balance problems, check with your doctor or a physical therapist first. Back to the curling hub.

What curling actually demands

• A league game is real exercise, at a gentle level. In a 2024 study, 110 club curlers in North Carolina (average age 50) wore activity monitors during their usual 90- to 120-minute games. They averaged about 36 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per game, about a quarter of the CDC’s 150 minutes a week, and 2,936 steps. Seconds were the busiest position; skips were the least active. The Compendium of Physical Activities lists curling at 4.0 METs, similar to brisk walking.
• Hard sweeping is intense. A 2009 sports science review of curling calls hard sweeping highly demanding: effective sweeping needs both downward force and brush-head speed, and the review reports elite curlers averaging about 170 beats per minute during 20-second hard-sweeping bouts in unpublished data, with sweep rate dropping as a bout goes on.
• At the top level, it’s a full athletic profile. A 2026 review of Olympic ice sports ahead of Milano Cortina 2026 sums curling up as delivery accuracy plus sweeping strength-endurance.

The 2009 review suggests curlers’ programs include resistance training, cardiovascular training, balance, core and flexibility work, with leads and seconds (who sweep the fast early stones) leaning toward speed and thirds and skips toward strength. Here’s how that looks in practice.

1. Delivery flexibility and balance

A good delivery means sliding on one foot with the sliding knee deeply bent, the trailing leg stretched long behind and the hips low and square. Stiff hips and ankles push you onto your toe or tip you sideways. That matters for your knees too: a 2017 pilot study found the tucked knee took more than double the force in a toe slide compared with a flat-foot slide. A 2026 study fitted 110 young adult curlers with trunk sensors, pressure insoles and muscle sensors during a simulated delivery; steadier deliveries went with stronger oblique (side-trunk) muscles and better trunk body awareness.

• Hip flexor and groin stretches: half-kneeling hip flexor stretch and a wide side lunge, 30 to 45 seconds each side.
• Deep lunge holds: front knee forward over the toes, back leg long, hands on a chair if needed. Build up to 30 seconds.
• Ankle mobility: knee-to-wall rocks, 10 per side, to get the slide foot flat.
• Single-leg balance: stand on one foot for 30 seconds, then do it with eyes closed or on a foam pad like the Airex Balance Pad. Hold the delivery position on the pad for 10 to 20 seconds.
• Slide practice on a towel: on a smooth floor, slide out of a lunge with the front foot on a towel. It’s the closest thing to the ice at home.

A strap like the OPTP Stretch Out Strap helps with hamstring and hip stretches if you can’t reach your feet.

2. Sweeping fitness

Sweeping is interval work: 10 to 25 seconds of hard effort, then a walk back and a rest until the next stone. Train it that way.

• Intervals: on a bike, rower or brisk hill walk, do 20 seconds hard and 60 to 90 seconds easy, 6 to 10 times, once or twice a week. Beginners start with fewer, easier repeats.
• Upper-body pushing and pulling: push-ups (on a counter if needed), band rows and band presses. Sweeping is a push-pull motion with your weight on the broom.
• Trunk strength: planks, side planks and “anti-rotation” band presses (hold a band at chest height and resist the twist). A strong trunk lets you push down without your low back taking the strain.
• Practice both sides. Sweeping from either side of the stone is a team skill and spreads the load across both shoulders and both sides of your back.

A heart rate chest strap shows how hard those bursts really are; see our curling wearables page.

3. Leg strength

Your legs push you out of the hack, hold the delivery position, and walk and run you down a 45-meter sheet for two hours. A 2025 study of elite curlers found the delivery leans on the hip and knee muscles, and its authors recommend targeted strengthening and stability work there. AAOS also points to strong thigh and hip muscles for front-of-knee pain.

• Squats or sit-to-stands from a chair: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12.
• Split squats or reverse lunges: 2 to 3 sets of 8 per leg. This is the delivery position, under control.
• Glute bridges and side-lying leg raises (or banded side steps with loop bands) for the hip muscles that keep your knee lined up.
• Calf raises for push-off and ankle stability.

Two strength sessions a week is plenty for most club curlers. For older curlers, this same work does double duty: the CDC lists poor strength and balance among the fall risks it targets in adults 65 and older, and about 1 in 4 of them fall each year.

A simple week, by level

• New and league curlers: one league game, plus two 20- to 30-minute home sessions (balance and mobility, then legs and trunk). Add a walk or bike ride on other days.
• Juniors and high school curlers: learn the delivery and sweeping technique first, with a coach. Bodyweight strength and balance work two or three times a week, and other sports in the off-season. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises at least one to two days off a week from organized sport.
• Competitive, college and tour teams: on-ice practice with timed draws and sweeping drills, two or three gym sessions (strength, intervals, mobility), and a lighter week before big events. Elite programs track training load; a 2025 study of Olympic curlers found that a simple rating of how hard each session felt, multiplied by its length, tracked well with more complex measures.
• Off-season: most clubs go dark in summer. That’s the time to build leg strength and fitness, then ease back into deliveries in the fall.

Warm-up before you step on the ice

Five to eight minutes in the warm room or behind the sheet: brisk walking or marching, leg swings, walking lunges, hip circles, arm circles and a few practice sweeping motions. Then a couple of easy slides from the hack before you throw for real. Cold muscles and a deep lunge are a poor mix. For the mental side of a long game, our mental training tools guide has ideas, and for between-game routines see game day and bonspiel day.

More on staying healthy: curling injuries, curling recovery and our best resistance bands guide. For another sport built on a balanced one-leg finish, see bowling training.

Curling training: FAQs

Do you need to be fit to curl?

No. People start curling at every age and fitness level, and a league game is moderate exercise. Better balance, hip flexibility and leg strength make the delivery easier and sweeping more effective, though.

How can I improve my curling delivery balance?

Practice single-leg balance (eyes open, then closed, then on a foam pad), hold a deep lunge, and stretch your hip flexors and ankles. Then take it to the ice with slow, short slides out of the hack.

How hard is sweeping?

Hard sweeping is short and intense. A sports science review reports elite curlers averaging about 170 beats per minute during 20-second hard-sweeping bouts. Club sweeping is gentler, but intervals and upper-body work still help.

Is curling good exercise for older adults?

It can be. In a study of club curlers with an average age of 50, a game gave about 36 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity. Balance and strength training off the ice also lower fall risk, which matters on ice.

What muscles does curling use?

The delivery uses the hips, thighs, calves and trunk for push-off and balance. Sweeping uses the shoulders, chest, upper back and trunk, with your legs moving you down the ice.