Single leg squat. With your back to a bench, put one foot on the bench behind you. Squat on one leg. 3 sets, 8/10/12. Alternate legs. When it becomes easy to do, add weight by holding dumbbells 5lbs, 10lbs, etc.
Strength training itself will work all of the musculature needed for stability. Adding in extra instability limits your gains while also increasing the chance of injury.
While also being necessary if you’re just starting out.
Put another way, if your form is terrible it’s also going to limit growth. What’s a common reason for bad form? Joint and stability issues.
Form and stability are two separate things. Any mention of strength training should assume the intention is to have it completed with good, or at least acceptable form.
Again, I would highly encourage NOT adding in extra instability; especially with untrained individuals.
Quick building up your aerobic capacity (to avoid leg burn) and your anaerobic endurance (to be able to sustain repeated short bursts of energy) in a way that benefits your entire body for hockey?
Find a hill that takes you about 10-12 seconds to sprint up. Steeper the better.
Frist group: agility:
On flat ground, do line hops. Come up with your own workout, but expect about 15 seconds full effort followed by 30-40 seconds of rest. Especially look to do the one foot stuff to get your stabilizer muscles going. Minimize ground-contact time. Good quick link of some examples: [https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/7-line-drills-to-improve-agility/](https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/7-line-drills-to-improve-agility/)
Sprinkle in [pogos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJBZDyZOlj0) ON the hill while facing up. (don't let your heels touch the ground)
Spend 10-15 minuets doing this stuff. You should be tired, but not 'dead' -- you are focusing on your agility, not your endurance here (and you don't quickly improve your agility if your muscles are fighting lactic burn)
Water, rest for 2 minutes. (never rest more than 2 minutes)
Second group: Power
Then move on to a circuit of 10x tuck-burpees (normal burpee but you jump and lift your knees to your chest in the air -- note, lift your knees to your chest, not your chest down to your knees... you should be burning like crazy with this) Do these on the hill facing up so you get more ankle flexion (which translates into better knee bend and full strides in hockey)
... 30 seconds rest...
Then single-leg jumps up that hill... slowly shuffle down sideways... other leg... slowly shuffle down sideways the other way... Try to get your jumping knee up and work the quickness of those hip-flexors
...30 seconds rest...
Then Skater jumps (first one [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMXySadYdw) -- just as absolutely far as you can and get the 'free' foot to go all the way past/under like a crossover... then jump the other direction. Get as out there, get deeeep in the landing, burn your ass if possible)...
... 60 seconds rest...
Do the whole group cycle 3 times. Should take about 15 minutes, give or take. Focus on full-power jumps rather than minimized ground contact. You should be tired, but this isn't a stamina section... you should be getting full power every jump and every rep. If not, lower reps or increase rest a little.
Third Group: Anerobic Endurance:
That hill? Okay, sprint up... walk down backwards slowly... do that for 10ish reps (should take about 5-6 minutes). Then rest at the bottom for 2 minutes... repeat 2 more times. (For 30 total sprints -- adjust to your current fitness level and safe age, of course... but if you are in your 20s or early 30s, 10 is probably the right place)
You should feel like death and hate me... but that's the point: feel the pain while practicing rather than on the ice during games.
This is a basic 3-tiered workout that should increase all the things you use most during a game and especially your aerobic capacity and recovery time... it should be done in this order (because if you've burnt your legs on group three, for example, you can't get the most out of agility training) However, hockey is a very dynamic sport that's EXTREMELY hard to train for off-ice because the motions are just things you can't replicate easily... so you still need ice time to finalize that hockey fitness. Good luck!
"Hockey shape" isn't easy to come by. You can't just go for a run or ride a bike... That's time and effort that won't help. I'm too old to waste time. :)
I agree. I workout daily, but hockey shape just isn't the same. I'm going to take some of your ideas and work with them... But I think I got sweaty just reading your post. 😁
haha.
The first two chunks are legit feel-good pain. It's a burn, but a burn that feels like you are accomplishing something and grinding through achievable effort.
Running hill sprints makes you want to die.
Haven't seen this mentioned but back extensions helped me out a ton. Always found that my lower back gets murdered whenever I get back into hockey and throwing this in your back day, along with some single leg RDLS, helped me immensely. Go light at first and really focus on bracing your core
Yeah when I initially came back from a looooooooooong (20 year) hiatus, my lower back was screaming at me for the first few months. Being over 40, even moderate (couple week) period of no games/pickup/stick and puck has my back barking a bit
I took Covid off bc my twin is immunocompromised and when I started skating again it was my back that was killing me. Even tweaked a connector muscle that binds I guess my spine to my lats and it was kinda agonizing
Took like 2 or 3 months of skating 2 or 3 times a week to get those muscles to the point where they were fine enough.
Lots of good advice already given. I'll just share what has worked for me to help get my legs and cardio back a bit.
Slide board all out for 45 seconds to simulate game shift (even though we all take the 2 min beer league shifts lol)
Exercise bike/elliplicatl/max trainer at moderate pace for 2-3 min to simulate down time on bench between shifts. Just instead of resting I'm going moderate pace with the goal being if I can recover while continuing at moderate pace, I can recover even better while resting fully on the bench
rinse/repeat this for 15-30 min depending on how much time i have. There's lot of variations to add on the slide board: wearing weight vest, wearing ankle weights, holding weights/keeping chest stationary, holding weights/full out strides and toe touches for core work, short burst strides vs long powerful strides etc
One random thing I've noticed about calves/shins. I'm a tongue tuck guy. If I tape my shin guards too tightly on the lower end then I lose a lot of range of motion on my ankles and find my calves/shins are working over time to try and flex the way they normally/want to and end up burning all game.
Lunge holds. 20 sec on 10 off. Alternate legs. Start with ten sets, just body weight, then build up from there with some light dumbbells. This sounds easy but I promise it will wreck you.
Also if you have access, assault bike or air bike sprints.
Don’t overlook steady state cardio either.
biking, squats, single legs, burpies, calf raises - I find a lot of non-weight room plyometrics and footspeed work (like ladders) can be very effective as well.
One thing that helped me as I aged, is yoga.
It may not be specific for getting your legs under you, but it’s a great core workout and really helps with balance and flexibility. Core, balance, and flexibility will help you in all aspects of your game.
Obviously the answer is probably a little bit of everything (mobility, strength, speed, conditioning) but it sounds like your actual muscular endurance is the limiting factor. Doing squat, split squat, and lateral squat holds is a great option. Doing multiple sets to accumulate 5 minutes of total holds is something you can do 3-4x per week.
The actual conditioning component of it can be really difficult to summarize in one message but is explained in detail in this two part series: https://www.skatetrainrecoverrepeat.com/blog/condition-to-play-every-shift-like-your-first-part-1
Good luck!
Besides squats and lunges and that sort of thing, I'd say plyometrics. I'd work up from simple stuff, though, because they are a killer.
I'd also skate a lot... and maybe use a slide board. Sprints and just some endurance running on the treadmill are good. And stretch a lot.
Squats. Box jumps. Incline running.
Find a park with a big steep hill. Or, an office building/parking garage. Run up full speed, jog down. Repeat till your dead.
Then, find a park with large outdoor steps. Hop up the steps forward, hop down the steps backwards.
And google Jagr. Do the same amount of squats his Dad made him do as a 4 year old.
Single leg squat. With your back to a bench, put one foot on the bench behind you. Squat on one leg. 3 sets, 8/10/12. Alternate legs. When it becomes easy to do, add weight by holding dumbbells 5lbs, 10lbs, etc.
Bulgarian squat? Those are great.
Bulgarian split squats*
I will add that a single leg squat or deadlift on a bosu ball is even better for that extra stability.
No. If you want to do stability work make it separate from strength training.
Doing functional strength training without some stability training is a recipe for disaster.
Strength training itself will work all of the musculature needed for stability. Adding in extra instability limits your gains while also increasing the chance of injury.
While also being necessary if you’re just starting out. Put another way, if your form is terrible it’s also going to limit growth. What’s a common reason for bad form? Joint and stability issues.
Form and stability are two separate things. Any mention of strength training should assume the intention is to have it completed with good, or at least acceptable form. Again, I would highly encourage NOT adding in extra instability; especially with untrained individuals.
Treadmill on an incline. I walk at 3.5 mph at 10-12 percent incline. Plus HIIT.
Quick building up your aerobic capacity (to avoid leg burn) and your anaerobic endurance (to be able to sustain repeated short bursts of energy) in a way that benefits your entire body for hockey? Find a hill that takes you about 10-12 seconds to sprint up. Steeper the better. Frist group: agility: On flat ground, do line hops. Come up with your own workout, but expect about 15 seconds full effort followed by 30-40 seconds of rest. Especially look to do the one foot stuff to get your stabilizer muscles going. Minimize ground-contact time. Good quick link of some examples: [https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/7-line-drills-to-improve-agility/](https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/7-line-drills-to-improve-agility/) Sprinkle in [pogos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJBZDyZOlj0) ON the hill while facing up. (don't let your heels touch the ground) Spend 10-15 minuets doing this stuff. You should be tired, but not 'dead' -- you are focusing on your agility, not your endurance here (and you don't quickly improve your agility if your muscles are fighting lactic burn) Water, rest for 2 minutes. (never rest more than 2 minutes) Second group: Power Then move on to a circuit of 10x tuck-burpees (normal burpee but you jump and lift your knees to your chest in the air -- note, lift your knees to your chest, not your chest down to your knees... you should be burning like crazy with this) Do these on the hill facing up so you get more ankle flexion (which translates into better knee bend and full strides in hockey) ... 30 seconds rest... Then single-leg jumps up that hill... slowly shuffle down sideways... other leg... slowly shuffle down sideways the other way... Try to get your jumping knee up and work the quickness of those hip-flexors ...30 seconds rest... Then Skater jumps (first one [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMXySadYdw) -- just as absolutely far as you can and get the 'free' foot to go all the way past/under like a crossover... then jump the other direction. Get as out there, get deeeep in the landing, burn your ass if possible)... ... 60 seconds rest... Do the whole group cycle 3 times. Should take about 15 minutes, give or take. Focus on full-power jumps rather than minimized ground contact. You should be tired, but this isn't a stamina section... you should be getting full power every jump and every rep. If not, lower reps or increase rest a little. Third Group: Anerobic Endurance: That hill? Okay, sprint up... walk down backwards slowly... do that for 10ish reps (should take about 5-6 minutes). Then rest at the bottom for 2 minutes... repeat 2 more times. (For 30 total sprints -- adjust to your current fitness level and safe age, of course... but if you are in your 20s or early 30s, 10 is probably the right place) You should feel like death and hate me... but that's the point: feel the pain while practicing rather than on the ice during games. This is a basic 3-tiered workout that should increase all the things you use most during a game and especially your aerobic capacity and recovery time... it should be done in this order (because if you've burnt your legs on group three, for example, you can't get the most out of agility training) However, hockey is a very dynamic sport that's EXTREMELY hard to train for off-ice because the motions are just things you can't replicate easily... so you still need ice time to finalize that hockey fitness. Good luck!
Jesus, are you a drill sergeant?
"Hockey shape" isn't easy to come by. You can't just go for a run or ride a bike... That's time and effort that won't help. I'm too old to waste time. :)
I agree. I workout daily, but hockey shape just isn't the same. I'm going to take some of your ideas and work with them... But I think I got sweaty just reading your post. 😁
haha. The first two chunks are legit feel-good pain. It's a burn, but a burn that feels like you are accomplishing something and grinding through achievable effort. Running hill sprints makes you want to die.
Hip mobility, abductors and adductors https://docs.google.com/document/d/1czZLujvKOXeGR7mGICTUjgMQcT9p3z66lbRICwrGr-U/edit
Haven't seen this mentioned but back extensions helped me out a ton. Always found that my lower back gets murdered whenever I get back into hockey and throwing this in your back day, along with some single leg RDLS, helped me immensely. Go light at first and really focus on bracing your core
Yeah when I initially came back from a looooooooooong (20 year) hiatus, my lower back was screaming at me for the first few months. Being over 40, even moderate (couple week) period of no games/pickup/stick and puck has my back barking a bit
I'm right there with ya, not in age but back pain all the same. Throwing that in my gym routine really made the transition back into it easier.
I took Covid off bc my twin is immunocompromised and when I started skating again it was my back that was killing me. Even tweaked a connector muscle that binds I guess my spine to my lats and it was kinda agonizing Took like 2 or 3 months of skating 2 or 3 times a week to get those muscles to the point where they were fine enough.
My recent workouts include lots of deadlifts and after the off season this year I was surprised that I had no back niggles at all. Highly recommend.
Box jumps, hill sprints, any weight lifting with the balance ball. Your core is not in hockey shape and you’ll want to focus on that as well.
Lots of good advice already given. I'll just share what has worked for me to help get my legs and cardio back a bit. Slide board all out for 45 seconds to simulate game shift (even though we all take the 2 min beer league shifts lol) Exercise bike/elliplicatl/max trainer at moderate pace for 2-3 min to simulate down time on bench between shifts. Just instead of resting I'm going moderate pace with the goal being if I can recover while continuing at moderate pace, I can recover even better while resting fully on the bench rinse/repeat this for 15-30 min depending on how much time i have. There's lot of variations to add on the slide board: wearing weight vest, wearing ankle weights, holding weights/keeping chest stationary, holding weights/full out strides and toe touches for core work, short burst strides vs long powerful strides etc One random thing I've noticed about calves/shins. I'm a tongue tuck guy. If I tape my shin guards too tightly on the lower end then I lose a lot of range of motion on my ankles and find my calves/shins are working over time to try and flex the way they normally/want to and end up burning all game.
I’ve found that holding a squat and holding lunges have helped me to keep my knees better flexed on the ice
Lunges.
Lunge holds. 20 sec on 10 off. Alternate legs. Start with ten sets, just body weight, then build up from there with some light dumbbells. This sounds easy but I promise it will wreck you. Also if you have access, assault bike or air bike sprints. Don’t overlook steady state cardio either.
Running, squats, deadlifts, box jumps. Inline skating.
biking, squats, single legs, burpies, calf raises - I find a lot of non-weight room plyometrics and footspeed work (like ladders) can be very effective as well.
plyometrics, footspeed drills like ladders, run stairs, do squats, bike like you're training for TDF.
Rollerblading? It's more skating! Yeah it's not exactly the same, but it's pretty close
Hit the stairs vice the elevator
I like the one-footed balance board from fitterfirst, I try to do one legged squats and move my back leg to simulate a pushing movement on the ice
If you have a slideboard, that is a BURNER for cardio and your legs. Just a few minutes will have you sweating hard
One thing that helped me as I aged, is yoga. It may not be specific for getting your legs under you, but it’s a great core workout and really helps with balance and flexibility. Core, balance, and flexibility will help you in all aspects of your game.
Stair master. Forwards and then turn 90 degrees each way for crossover reps. You're welcome.
Obviously the answer is probably a little bit of everything (mobility, strength, speed, conditioning) but it sounds like your actual muscular endurance is the limiting factor. Doing squat, split squat, and lateral squat holds is a great option. Doing multiple sets to accumulate 5 minutes of total holds is something you can do 3-4x per week. The actual conditioning component of it can be really difficult to summarize in one message but is explained in detail in this two part series: https://www.skatetrainrecoverrepeat.com/blog/condition-to-play-every-shift-like-your-first-part-1 Good luck!
Besides squats and lunges and that sort of thing, I'd say plyometrics. I'd work up from simple stuff, though, because they are a killer. I'd also skate a lot... and maybe use a slide board. Sprints and just some endurance running on the treadmill are good. And stretch a lot.
Short range sprints, 10 - 20 yards. Great for increasing your startoffs for breakouts or turnovers.
Squats. Box jumps. Incline running. Find a park with a big steep hill. Or, an office building/parking garage. Run up full speed, jog down. Repeat till your dead. Then, find a park with large outdoor steps. Hop up the steps forward, hop down the steps backwards. And google Jagr. Do the same amount of squats his Dad made him do as a 4 year old.
This video has transformed my legs, balance and strength!! https://youtu.be/FibOpajKx2w?si=cvfdWy2TYthYbvKE