Thank you everyone for your comments-keep them coming.  I apologize for the delay in the hockey training and conditioning pictures.  I am the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at SST Vaughan and we are really busy.  Any players in the Toronto area should contact me right away and come in for a free trial sessson.  Our functional, hockey specific training programs are helping our athletes get amazing results.  Three of the last four OHL fastest skating winners have trained with me.  If you are a parent or player who is from around the Toronto area and want to get faster and stronger this is the place to be.  If you are not from the area purchase your copy of the Hockey Speed and Power manual today. The manuals are the next best thing to training with me at SST.

The hockey training pictures have been submitted to the web master and will be going up shortly.  Also a weekly newsletter will be going out with tons of great hockey specific training tips.  Sign up for the newsletter today!!  Also please submit any questions you would like answered.  Kevin Miehm

Hockey fitness is one of the most complex areas of fitness in all of sports. The number of different roles and movements that hockey players have to assume over the course of a game demands a huge amount of fitness in a highly varied number of ways. Rivalled only by skill positions in football for the fitness level required, it’s very important that hockey players focus on the game as a whole, rather than simply focusing on individual aspects and ignoring others.

One of the most important areas of hockey fitness is core strength. This is common to most sports, but is especially important in hockey. Contact sports like hockey always come along with a higher risk of injury than non-contact sports, and improving core strength is one of the most important ways to help prevent injuries. The core also channels the power used for shooting, passing, checking and more.

Another important fitness area for hockey players is cardiovascular endurance. Anyone who’s been stuck on the ice for a long shift knows how tiring it can, and coming back to the bench for a couple minutes doesn’t give you much time to recharge. It’s very important to be able to maintain that pace over the course of an entire game without your output bleeding off. The best way to ensure this is to focus your cardio training on intervals that closely approximate shift times. Do 45 seconds to a minute at full blast, then bring it down for a couple of minutes.

Most importantly, focus on getting a complete workout so that you don’t accidentally ignore any aspects of your fitness training that could have an impact on your performance on the ice. The best way to do this is to consult a hockey specific trainer, or to pick up a book on hockey specific fitness plans.

There are a lot of different opinions on what makes a great hockey workout. This is because there are so many different aspects of hockey, that there are few exercises that won’t help your game. However, for the best results on the ice, there are three aspects that it is absolutely critical you focus on when it comes to your off-ice training and workouts.

1) Core strength – the common factor in all sports.
Core strength is the one area of strength that is absolutely common to all sports or at least all the major sports. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, power is channelled through your core. If you swing a baseball bat, kick a soccer ball, throw a football, whatever, your power is channelled through your midsection. This is especially true in hockey. Your core also acts as a stabilizer for your entire body. This is especially important on skates.

2) Power – a defining characteristic of hockey.
Power is required for almost every action a hockey player is required to perform. Shooting requires power, checking requires power, fighting off a check requires power, even passing which is more of a finesse aspect of the game, requires power. Remember though that power and strength are not the same thing. Power is explosive, and needs to be trained as such. Lift fewer reps of more weight, and push through them explosively.

3) Cardiovascular endurance – meet the demands of a long shift.
People who don’t play hockey sometimes wonder what’s so difficult about a sport where you go out for a 45 second shift and then sit down for 2 minutes. Anyone who plays the game knows better. For the time you’re on the ice, hockey requires you to be able to operate at absolute maximum output, and the time you get on the bench to recharge isn’t much. This isn’t the same endurance that a long-distance runner has it, but it is still endurance because you have to be able to do it consistently for 60 minutes with only short rests in between work. Focus on interval training that approximates shift times. Hit the treadmill or bike and do 45 seconds to a minute at high output, close to your max, and then bring it down for 1.5 to 2 minutes.

Hockey is a complex sport, and so is its training. There are a lot of areas that need to be covered to ensure a player is at their peak fitness level for the game, but focusing on these three areas will always bring good results on the ice. For a complete plan though, it is highly recommended that players either consult a trainer or pick up a pre-planned fitness and nutrition system designed for hockey.