The RinkFor the not so ready for prime-time players, coaches, referees, and the people that have to live with them. Discuss experiences in local leagues, coaching tips, equipment, and training.
I suggest searching. Many threads about this topic before. You can also view ModSquadHockey and see what they have about hockey workouts to get as much info as you could.
I watched Frederik Olausson work out at my gym once. He did some rather unusual exercises and almost never rested. I think the best hockey workout is similar to P90X or plyometrics. If you get too big up top you lose your speed so I'd stay away from the body builder workouts which is the majority of information you'll find out there. Like the other posters have said, do the research and find a program that works for you. Some guy in Ohio may say he knows the best way to work out for hockey but it may not be best for your body, everybody is different.
I've been trying to include this into my workout occasionally. Seems to hit a lot of the core strength. Squats are great too. Step ups seem to help my push strength too.
It depends on what your needs are, how much you've trained and your current level of fitness and strength.
As a hockey player, you need to be able to deadlift and squat at least 400lbs though. I think that's a minimum unless you're under 160lbs or recently started doing sports. If you're under 18, forget what I said as well.
I should have given you guys more info. I am currently starting hockey and I'm 16. I just thought it would be good for me to get into shape. I was looking at things I could probably do at home.
Squats are king - make sure you go low too, with your thighs parallel to the ground.
One variation I've been doing is 'Cyclist squats' - basically you go down, come up half way, back down then up all the way - repeat. I think these really help with tendon strength.
The Bike can work great too - I'll manually do intervals, start at like 12 or 13, crank up resistance to 16 for a bit, then go way up to about 20 and try to ride hard for 2 minutes. Keep the rpm's up as best you can. Ideally, do at least 25-30 minutes with good intensity. I found immediate dividends doing this.
I saw a writeup on a Chelios workout recently - he uses suprisingly light weights, but it's like circuit training with no rests. He has like 8 exercises for instance, and just goes from one to the next for an hour. Sounds similar to the Olaussen workout described above.
Last edited by RaoulDuke2k: 06-09-2010 at 10:13 AM.
It depends on what your needs are, how much you've trained and your current level of fitness and strength.
As a hockey player, you need to be able to deadlift and squat at least 400lbs though. I think that's a minimum unless you're under 160lbs or recently started doing sports. If you're under 18, forget what I said as well.
I think I would disagree on you here, I am pretty sure I read in Wayne Gretzky's book that he could barely do push-ups and chin-ups
Of course today's game is more geared towards power forwards, so being in great shape helps a lot
For workouts I like to do a lot of stuff on the swiss balls, they are good for building core muscles
I've been trying to include this into my workout occasionally. Seems to hit a lot of the core strength. Squats are great too. Step ups seem to help my push strength too.
We should all agree with Timmer, he has big sexy thighs that don't quit.
I think I would disagree on you here, I am pretty sure I read in Wayne Gretzky's book that he could barely do push-ups and chin-ups
I don't think that could be right, unless he was either very weak or had a very big body compared to his arms. Chin-ups I could see him having trouble with, but push ups?
I should have given you guys more info. I am currently starting hockey and I'm 16. I just thought it would be good for me to get into shape. I was looking at things I could probably do at home.
You're pretty young for a program like Starting Strength, which calls for heavy weights on the squats and deadlifts eventually. Unless you have a coach, it might be better to look at something else, like a general fitness program.
If you really want a heavy weighted leg exercise, then you could look at Front Squats. They are very sport specific and perfect for hockey. Unlike back squats, they don't stress the spine or at least not nearly as much.
Here's a way of getting the benefits of a back squat without the potential injury issue when you don't have patience (i.e. you're young) or don't have a coach:
Front squats: Works the posterior chain, the core, your upper back, your flexibility with little stress on the spine.
Make sure you raise your elbows as you go down and your trunc upright. Check on the internet for proper technique, but its much easier to learn than a full back squat.
Natural glute ham raises: A bodyweight exercise, will give you iron hamstrings, excellent for generating power (if combined with some plyometrics):
Side bends: your obliques are an essential part of a strong core,
(ignore the homo music), you can also do these standing.
Leg ups and sit ups from back ext. machine with weight BEHIND your head:
Add a dumbell between your legs or get your legs up to your face without adding momentum. The mouvement starts from a stop.
Don't do it like this idiot though, the weight should be BEHIND your head.
Back extensions:
You can add weight in front of you here, but ideally behind you is best (though you should just concentrate on doing reps at your age).
Reverse hypers: absolutely amazing if you suffer from back pain.
One leg squats: Absolutely the best unilateral exercise you can do. Perfect for hockey players and extremely sport specific:
If they're too hard, do them with a bench behind you and lower it gradually.
For your upper body: pull ups, chin ups, dips, push ups. If you want to add some resistance training: bench press (learn how to bench, don't flare your elbows, look for the powerlifting technique so you don't get injured), overhead press, dumbell and barbell rows (though you should wait until you have a base of strength, maybe when you're eighteen for the rows). What you can do instead are horizontal rows, which are very sport specific:
The lower, the harder.
Don't do curls or tricep extensions, they're essentially useless for you.
For power, powercleans and plyometrics do the job.
A sample week could be:
Front Squats
Pull ups
Back extensions
Push ups
Abdominal work
One leg squats
Press
Glute Ham raises
Horizontal row
Abdominal work
Front squat
Chin ups
Reverse Hyper
dips
Abdominal work
To this, you add in some speed work, 1 or 2 days for 15-20 minutes to which you add some anaerobic trainnig (HIIT). Your HIIT Can be 1 or 2 Tabatas at the end of your workout. A tabata is when you go "all out" for 20 secs and rest for 10, then repeat until you get to 4 minutes. Any exercise will do.
For speed work, a good way of determining how much work to do sit his:
Plan a 3 week cycle. Choose an exercise (box jumps, power cleans, plyometric push ups), find what your best is at it (say 100lbs for the power cleans or 25 inches for the box jumps), then do the following:
Week 1, do 12 sets of 2 reps at your 50% of maximum, 45 sec rest.
Week 2, do 10 sets of 2 reps at your 60% of maximum, 45 sec rest.
Week 3, do 8 sets of 2 reps at 70% of your maximum, 45 sec rest. You can incorporate speed days in each of your work days at the start. This takes about 10-15 minutes. You can use this scheme for any exercise, as long as you do the reps FAST, but without cheating on your form. 50% is a light weight, keep it that way, even for jumps, it's a small jump. The point is the generate power and speed. So after each 3 week wave, you should be faster and more powerfull.
And also, warm up, that can mean do steady state cardio (bike), dynamic(not static) stretching or mobility work or just use the 45lbs bar and do the exercise you planned for the day at high reps. The goal is the warm up, not strain yourself under a load.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beavboyz
I think I would disagree on you here, I am pretty sure I read in Wayne Gretzky's book that he could barely do push-ups and chin-ups
Of course today's game is more geared towards power forwards, so being in great shape helps a lot
For workouts I like to do a lot of stuff on the swiss balls, they are good for building core muscles
Plyometrics are good as well.
Oh, I don't really disagree that much with you, though I disagree with examples like Gretzky, who was skilled out of this world. I think for fringe players, and 99.9%+ of players are, we need at least some kind of core/lower body/posterior chain base of strength.
I like plyometrics as well, box jumps are excellent.
For core, I usually do a lot of heavy side bends of different kinds, heavy high rep good mornings, lots of squats and deadlifts, standing abdominal work, leg ups with weights, leg ups to face and front squats.
Scotty gave some good advice and videos in his above reply. There are a few things I have to add though: 1)Decide your goal before you begin. If you're a really fast but undersized guy, you need to focus on adding a little mass. 2) Core strength is EXTREMELY critical, not only for strength but also injury prevention. Exercise ball crunches, ab side bends, bent over rows, etc. 3) Deadlifts and squats are nice, but remember, those are focused on building mass. If you're concerned with getting faster, you have to focus on plyometrics, suicidies, etc and use weight lifting more sparingly. 4) Flexibility is important and weight lifting can rob you of that if you overdo it. Remember to properly stretch before and after work outs and hockey. Remember that there are two types of stretching, dynamic and static. Each serves a different purpose. 5) For every minute of off-ice exercise, try to spend about twice that on hockey related skills, whether it's shooting, stick handling, going to open skate, stick time, whatever.
Pretty much agree with everything there, especially the goals part. And like Don said, hockey is skills before it's anything else. Training can give you that little extra edge, but it won't make you a good hockey player.
Unfortunately I dont have the equipment to do half of the stuff. I'll try some of them though.
Since you are just starting hockey and are still at a young age (just as old as me in fact) I don't think it would hurt conditioning yourself with bodyweight exercises. There are a bunch of exercises you can do with just your body, or maybe some makeshift things (find a sturdy enough branch to do pull-ups for example). I'm not the one to be giving advice in this area but you should probably be able to find a couple things that would be very useful for under $50.
Since you are just starting hockey and are still at a young age (just as old as me in fact) I don't think it would hurt conditioning yourself with bodyweight exercises. There are a bunch of exercises you can do with just your body, or maybe some makeshift things (find a sturdy enough branch to do pull-ups for example). I'm not the one to be giving advice in this area but you should probably be able to find a couple things that would be very useful for under $50.
This is also really smart advice. Bodyweight exercises are good for EVERYONE, not just kids or people who won't spring for a gym. There's a reason the Marines do them
This is also really smart advice. Bodyweight exercises are good for EVERYONE, not just kids or people who won't spring for a gym. There's a reason the Marines do them
Thanks. My cousin who is an aspiring Navy SEAL has been training since he was 14 (20 now) and started off and still uses mostly bodyweight exercises.
He uses some supplements and weights, but a lot comes from using just your body and he looks like he was chiseled out of marble. Push ups, inverted push ups, supermans, crunches, planks, squats, one legged squats, back extensions; these are just some of the many things you can do without a piece of equipment.
And if you want to do pull-ups, go to Dick's or Sports Authority and pick up a bar to hang in your door way, or more specifically an Iron-Gym.
This is my workout schedule at the gym. U could do all of these exercises with dumbells so you dont have to go to the gym. Dumbells are great and totally worth the investment
legpress
powerclean
squat
leg curl
upright row
bench press
lying laterals
bent laterals
side laterals
hyper extention
situps
calf raises
Looking at the topic, I'm seeing a lot of complicated workouts. As a 14 year old, what workouts should I do? I'm trying to get into shape for next season, and so I'm starting to run at my local park every day, along with playing a lot of street hockey; at least three times a week for more than three hours each time. Also, I only have one ten pound weight and an exercise ball at home; I'm looking into signing up for a gym membership at my local community centre. What type of hockey oriented workouts should I do for my age? I have never played ice hockey and only played street hockey, as I do not have the budget to get any equipment and I do not know how to skate.
