Off ice strength and conditioning is essential to all athletes performance development. It’s an area of training where I can deliberately push the athletes to move in a series of functional movements that will advance their one ice capabilities.
Functional training has been a very popular term in the past number of years in sports performance training. My philosophies when it comes to training is that it should be 100% functional to the athletes demands and needs for hockey. Therefore, functionality can change from athlete to athlete depending on their needs to improve their on ice performance. When prescribing off ice training I always ask myself, “Does this exercise, movement, or energy system at use, apply to the direct outcomes that we are trying to achieve from this athlete”. The answer must always be YES!
When it comes to off ice strength and conditioning needs for the athlete, I put a heavy emphasis on anaerobic training. I can develop extremely strong athletes with exceptional speed by altering their intensities, volumes and the modality they are engaging in for training. I want to build hockey players that not only produce a high amount of power, but more importantly, I need them to sustain this power output and recover quickly from high bouts of intensive work. Determining an athletes fatigue index (tested during a Wingate), is one of the most critical factors that will effect their physiological strength and therefore, their training plan.
Strength and flexibility training must go hand in hand with all off ice training for a hockey athlete. Building a solid foundation for the athlete’s strength starts by working with their ability to properly move in a full range of motion and kinetically engage every muscle necessary. Once I’ve worked with an athletes ability to move and fire their muscles properly throughout their entire body, I can start prescribing higher intensity strength training. By adapting this systematic approach, the athlete’s peak strength training potential will be drastically higher because of their full neuromuscular capability.
Off ice strength and conditioning programs are one of the most complex out of any sport due to the plethora of skills and physiological demands required of the athlete. My programs for each athletes is very methodical and follows a strict set of guidelines that ensures I’m always correcting athletes deficiencies and pushing them to be the most functionally strong and conditioned athletes once they hit the ice.
