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Off Ice Training Ice hockey is an anaerobic sport. This means that the game is made up of relatively short periods of high intensity activity, after which we spend some time recovering, and then start all over again. The human body can only exert maximum effort (eg. Sprinting) for about 50 seconds, before lactic acid causes the muscles to slow significantly (ever think that the longest running sprint is the 400 meters, which is run in around 50 seconds - give or take a few depending on the athlete!) This is the reason that we are supposed to take short shifts on the ice (around 30-50 seconds) and also why we have a team of up to 20 players and 2 goaltenders. If a player is sufficiently fit, they are able to go at full intensity for their shift, come on to the bench, and by the time they are due to return to the ice, they have recovered. To develop anaerobic fitness players need to do things like sprints, as well as train their muscles to generate as much power as they can - low repetition using moderate to heavy weight training, particularly involving the legs, but definitely not excluding the upper body is a crucial part of the development of a hockey player (over the age of about 15) who is seriously interested in taking their play to the next level. Body checks, hard shots, fast skating all require large, powerful actions. High repetition exercise involving low weights is not overly useful for hockey performance. Aerobic activity, such as running (not sprinting), is useful for overall endurance, increasing a players ability to recover between shifts. A long shift will require using aerobic fitness to keep going. Note, however, that the aerobic energy system will not enable a player to perform as powerfully as the anaerobic system. If you are taking long shifts against a well disciplined opposition who keep appropriate shift lengths (eg. A national tournament) you will find that you are unable to keep up and as the game goes on your performance will drop greatly - you will also most probably lose. Crucial to developing power is the ability to move our muscles quickly. The ability to leg press 400 kilos is impressive, but useless if you can't catch anyone. Activities like downhill sprints (small slopes) will increase foot speed, and, more importantly stride length, enabling you to skate faster. Plyometric exercises which involve rapid "springy" movements help to convert a player's strength to power. Off ice training for ice hockey should be a combination of strength training, sprints to generate anaerobic fitness, long distance jogging to train aerobic fitness, speed training (running uphill to develop power and running downhill to develop stride length) as well as plyometric exercises to turn strength into power. It is worth remembering that Ice Hockey is a relatively
unique sport in terms it's training requirements. While many sports
use similar training methods - like football - none combine the requirements
for strength, speed and overall skill in quite the same way. |