A while back I wrote about about some unique hockey conditioning tools I’ve started using at Endeavor. If you missed the article, you can check it out here: A New Look at Hockey Conditioning.
The idea is that SOME aspect of your hockey training needs to incorporate periods of static holds to build up localized fatigue resistance in the deep hip and knee bends required for effective skating. Because the game of hockey alternates periods of static positions and explosive movements, it’d be ideal to incorporate this in your training. I originally got this idea of alternating static holds with explosive movements from Brijesh Patel (currently at Quinnipiac University). He had some of his athletes holding a squat position and alternating vertical jumps. I thought it was brilliant. A little more specific to hockey, if you have a slideboard, you can do this by alternating periods of either a squat hold or a split squat hold with slideboarding. Check out the video below.
In this video, the hockey players are doing a 10s split squat hold on one side, then 5 slideboards, then a 10s split squat hold on the other side, then 5 slideboards, three times through. You’ll probably notice that the slideboarding itself becomes increasingly less explosive as they go on. I expect that as they fatigue, which they did quickly since this was the first time they’ve done this. The goal is to increasingly emphasize quickness as they adapt to this type of training. This type of “conditioning’ will go a long way toward improving your performance on common tests like the Wingate Test. Plus…look how much fun they’re having in the video.
To your continued success,
Kevin Neeld