Hey Weekend Warriors!

Play Hard, Play Smart

For so many of us, participating in recreational hockey is an important part of a well-balanced Canadian lifestyle, and a life-long pursuit for that breakaway goal, or game-winning save! But engaging in sporadic vigorous exercise of this type without proper preparation can lead to a variety of physical and cardiovascular problems.

Whether you’re a professional or an amateur, every hockey player wants the same things: speed, power, and stamina. You achieve this by building a strong foundation of aerobic endurance, muscle strength & endurance and flexibility.

So let’s take a look at a few things you can do so you’re ready to play hard and play smart!

AEROBIC ENDURANCE

When we talk about endurance we’re not talking about how many beers you can throw back after the game! Aerobic endurance is the ability of your heart, lungs & blood system to feed your muscles efficiently. Simply put, if you possess good aerobic endurance you won’t be running out of gas in the 3rd period.

An easy way to improve your aerobic system is by challenging it to withstand lengthy, continuous, full body activities like running, cycling, rowing, or water running. For those of us ‘veterans’, water running provides a solid cardiovascular workout while reducing impact on tendons and joints.

Start by performing an aerobic exercise for 20 minutes twice-a-week at an easy pace, and then each following week try adding an extra 5 minutes at a more intense pace.

MUSCLE STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE

It goes without saying, the more strength you have the more likely you are to execute hockey skills at a high level. For instance, a weak set of leg muscles results in poor starts & stops on the ice. Similarly, your ability to perform skills at a high level over the course of 3 long periods will give you an edge to dominate your buddies on the other team!

For the first week, begin with a combination of stable bench and machine exercises that work all the muscle groups you need to perform hockey skills successfully, (which just happens to be all of them).

For week two, try to perform them on an unstable surface like an Exercise Ball or BOSU Ball.

FLEXIBILITY

Flexibility: the fitness component too often forgotten. Hockey players of all levels require a good range of motion in every muscle group and elasticity around every joint in the body.

Flexibility is what provides fluid motion and minimizes your risk of injury. Simply put, the more flexible your muscles are the less chance you have of limping into work the next morning.

It’s important to always remember to leave 15-20 minutes for stretching at the end of every workout and before and after each game!

What makes hockey one of the truly great sports in the world is how it pushes all fitness components to their fullest potential. As Canadians, we all enjoy playing hockey from the moment we get on the ice for the very first time, until we’re teaching our kids and grandkids the joy of the game. So let’s make sure you can play our great game for as long as you can. Play hard & play smart!