The end of the summer signals the start of another season of arguably the fastest and most demanding sport in the world, ice hockey.  Hopefully you took some time away from the game this summer and relaxed and had some fun.  The summer should not have been all video games and television however.  Those players that spent part of the summer exercising and training to improve their athletic peformance will have a distinct advantage when the referee drops the puck.

     For those of you who did little or no running, biking, lifting or jumping, it is time to start now (better late than never).  For those of you that did exercise over the summer to better prepare you for a successful season, you should continue to train throughout the season.  Avoid making the mistake of believing that the conditioning benefits from a week or two at a hockey camp will last into the season if the training is not continued.  In fact, the benefits gained from training even a few months over the summer will be lost rapidly if an in-season program is not implemented.

     One of the most common misconceptions of the public in regard to conditioning is that it is done in the pre-season and stops when the games start.  If this were the case, the performance of the players would be high at the start of the season and gradually decline throughout the season, until performance would be at its lowest by the end of the season, at playoff time!  In-season training is critical to mid and late season performance and success.  Proper in-season training guarantees that a player will continue to make improvements throughout the season and will "peak" at the most important time, playoff time.  While in-season training is different than off-season training, it must occur, and does at all high levels of play.

     The mistake that leads some young players and coaches to discontinue training into the season is the belief that skating during games and practices is the best method of conditioning for the game.  Unfortunately this assumption is absolutely false.  While anaerobic endurance improvements can be attained on the ice at the end of practice with sprints, "suicides", and other all-out, recover and repeat activities, improvements in strength and power can not occur from skating.  To increase strength or power, resistance must be added to the body in some form.  Continually moving a light resistance (your own body) over and over, as is the case when skating, improves muscular endurance rather than strength or power.  To increase the speed of your shot, to improve your top skating speed, or to improve your ability to change direction quickly, you must improve your strength and power, not muscular endurance.

     In-season training is very different than off-season training.  One primary difference is the frequency of training.  Since energy must be at its highest levels for games and practices, the number of training sessions per week is significantly reduced, depending on the actual game and practice schedule.  The second major difference is in the training volume per workout.  Again to save energy for hockey, the number of total sets and exrcises performed is significantly reduced, whether in the weight room or performing plyometrics.

      Another major difference between off and in-season traing is in the amount of weight used and repetitions performed in the weight room.  Contrary to public opinion, the amount of weight lifted increases as the season progresses, and the number of repetitions decreases.  The reason for this is twofold.  First, hockey is a game of all-out efforts interspersed with recovery.  For this reason, strength and power are more important to the players than muscular endurance.  Heavy weight performed for a low number of repetitions, with adequate rest between sets, best improves strength and power.  The second reason why the amount of weight increases while the number of repetitions decrease throughout the season is because of the effect on the body.  Muscular endurance training, characterized by high repetitions with a fairly light weight and a short rest between sets, results in a lot of soreness.  Muscular soreness reduces athletic performance and must be severely limited during the season.  Lifting heavy weight for a low number of repetitions, with an adequate rest between sets, minimizes muscular soreness and muscular fatigue while maximizing strength and power benefits.

     The new season is here, make the most of it.  Proper in-season training can continue to enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury, without seeping you of energy for hockey itself.  After all, the purpose of training in the first place, and what parents, coaches, and players all desire, is for better and safer hockey.
 

     Ed Kubachka is an exercise physiologist and certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).  He currently teaches fitness classes at West Chester University, and runs a privately owned business, Optimum Performance Training.  He works with athletes and teams from the mite through professional level in the areas of performance enhancement and injury prevention.  He currently lectures for USA Hockey, and has produced two videos and a manual on conditioning for hockey.  You can visit his website at optimumpt.com, or e-mail him at info@optimumpt.com.