Hockey Workout Programs

Hockey workouts must balance the need for strength, speed and endurance. Few sports require the total body fitness that hockey does, which increases the need for workouts that alternate in phases and intensity. An effective hockey workout combines the elements of weight lifting, plyometrics, endurance exercises and stretching. In-season workouts will be more about maintaining strength, while off-season workouts will build strength and power.

  1. Mike Kadar Hockey Workout

    • This workout is quick and targets the total body with specific attention paid to the hips and hip flexor muscles. Mike Kadar is the strength and conditioning coach for the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, giving him credibility on the topic.

      The first section of this workout is rolling your hips on a foam roller for three to five minutes. This relaxes the hip flexor muscles and prepares them for the remaining exercises. The other exercises are skater strides, one-arm dumbbell snatches, step behind lunges, one-legged squats and Swiss ball cross chops. These lifts work together to build individual strength in the lower body by targeting the legs and hips separately.

    Rob Ferris Hockey Workout

    • Personal trainer Rob Ferris's hockey off-season workout targets the larger muscles of the body for six days a week. The lifts themselves are basic and are ones that can be found in many workout programs such as the bench press, squat and dead lift.

      This program is progressive and changes week-to-week over a four-week period. The first week is targeted toward muscle mass with four sets of six to eight repetitions. The following week targets muscle definition and endurance with 12 to 15 repetitions in three or four sets. The next target is power; during this week, do five sets with no more than one to three repetitions. The final week in the progression is a recovery week of eight to ten repetitions for three sets.

      Because of the intensity and time commitment of this workout, it can not be performed during the season. However, the individual focus on the major muscle groups and variation in sets and repetitions during the off-season will keep muscles confused and enhance gains.

    Gladiator Training in Hockey

    • Gladiator training methods are used in many sports, and hockey is no exception. The workout that Ryan Foster (a former player and coach) explains is divided into three phases.

      The first phase is hypertrophy, stressing muscles to their maximum to build size. Similar to the Ferris workout, the exercises Foster uses are familiar, with some variations, such as performing leg curls with only one leg at a time. The workouts are divided among the major muscles and are split up over five days, typically averaging three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

      The second phase is the power stage. This phase involves more generic lifts such as the dead lift and bench press, with several differences from hypertrophy. There are five to nine sets per exercise, with each set having six repetitions. There are just three days to lift, giving the body more time to recover.

      The third phase is speed and speed endurance. This phase incorporates actual skating and on-ice drills to target endurance and speed that is specific to hockey. Weights are much smaller than the other two stages, usually not more than 50 percent of someone's one repetition maximum. The exercises rotate from plyometrics to hockey sprints to weight lifting over six days a week.