At home interval workout for hockey players

By Maria Mountain 

 Hockey Training Pro 

 
Hope you had a great weekend!  Looks like March is going to be coming in like a lamb around  here and you know what that means…”out like a lion”!  That is okay, we have had a super winter and I am having a ton of fun skiing, so I can handle another four weeks.  How about only 6 more weeks before hockey play-offs start in the NHL?  Wow!  Time flies.  Most of the high school kids I train are already in their play-offs and like every year some of the coaches want to throw in extra practices and extra  conditioning sessions to get the players ‘ready’ for play-offs.  I typically think this is a bad idea, however I know sometimes teams have to wait 4-7 days for a series to wrap up before they know who they are playing in the next round.  If the team cannot get on the ice for some scrimmages, it can be a long lay-off.  So I put together a quick article outlining off-ice interval workout that you can do at home without any specialized equipment.  Here it is…

How long do you think a conditioning workout for hockey players should last?  90-minutes?  60-minutes? 30-minutes? 15-minutes?  I think somewhere between 15-30 minutes is right.  If you are a skater and look at the actual amount of time you are on the ice it is likely in that range.  Even goalies who are out for the entire 60-minutes, if you look at the amount of time you are actually exerting yourself it is likely toward the higher end of that range as well.  Guess, it depends quite a bit on your team – some of you may get way more!

Today I want to share a quick interval workout that you can do at home in only 15-minutes.  Is it the perfect off-ice energy system workout for hockey? – no, given more time, space and equipment I might do something a little different, but if it comes down to doing this workout or doing nothing to improve your performance on the ice, you are better off doing this one every single time!

If you are currently doing no energy system training to supplement your practices and games, then this is about a million times better than that!  Okay, here we go – this is the workout:

• Begin with a 5-10 minute dynamic warm up – you can see a sample dynamic warm up here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpZkRS0Lz9U
• Dig out either your old jump rope, Reebok step or tape out an agility ladder pattern on the basement floor (ask your parents first) or just do stair stepping on the bottom step in the basement.
• You are going to go as quick as you can (using whichever mode of exercise you chose) for 15 seconds then rest for 45 seconds (do some core planks and oblique planks during the rest interval)
• Repeat this pattern 5 times, then take a 3 minute rest.
• Repeat the 5x (15 hard: 45s rest) pattern one more time.
• Finish with a stretch for your calves, hamstrings, hip flexors and quadriceps.

There you go a quick 15-minute interval workout for hockey players that you can do at home without buying any equipment!  Enjoy!

Cheers,
Maria

PS – if your season has wrapped up, make sure to enjoy a couple of weeks away from structured practices and training.  Then, if you want to be ready to play at the next level this fall, you should be following a hockey goalie specific off-ice training program.