 |
Summer Choices
Hockey-Specific Cond...
Prevent Ankle & Knee
Yr-Round Train. Sched.
Post-Season - May 31st
Quickness & Agility
Balance Training
Improving Player Dev.
Flexibility for Skill
Overload Skating
Proven Training Tips
Anaerobic Running
Youth Strength Training
About Peter Twist
Camps
SportConditioning.ca
 By Peter Twist MPE, BPE, CSCS © 2000, 2001 Peter Twist Peter Twist is President & CEO of Twist Conditioning Inc and the former Coach of Conditioning & Player Development for the Vancouver Canucks. He has authored dozens of articles on athlete development in scientific journals, written two books on conditioning and is currently finishing a third on core stability. Peter Twist runs weekly sport-specific conditioning camps for professional athletes, high school students, and adult recreational athletes, as well as one-on-one training and team clinics. He can be contacted through www.sportconditioning.ca or 604-904-6556. From a seasonal schedule and periodization perspective, each league is unique. From pro to college to minor hockey, different ages and levels begin and end their season at different times of the year. To illustrate a year-round training schedule, I have chosen a sample hockey seasons which begin in September and ends with playoffs in March. The in-season focus begins with conditioning on-ice, learning team systems and getting timing down to a game intensity. Training camp testing is done in September to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each player. Testing is repeated in January or early February to check the mid-season conditioning while leaving enough time to gear up down the stretch for playoffs. Players strength train three times per week and work the energy systems two to three times per week (dryland) from September to November. A progression is made from continuous aerobic training to aerobic intervals and anaerobic sprint training. Towards the middle of the season, in December and January, the volume and frequency decreases and more emphasis is placed on recovery and regeneration to ease players through the 'hump' of a long hockey season. Strength training and energy system work decreases. I prescribe a lower volume of drills, lower frequency and implement variety each and every workout. This is as much for mental rejuvenation as it is for physical growth and repair. After re-testing late January, conditioning is re-emphasized in an effort to gear up down the stretch and into playoffs. The semi-break from full training also leaves the body receptive to being stimulated by workouts to generate improvement leading into playoffs. Proprioception and flexibility work continues throughout in an effort to minimize injury occurrence. Throughout the in-season, movement skills training continues one to two times per week. Because agility and quickness is quality training, targeting the nervous system versus pure physical overload, it can be improved in-season with short and regular workouts. Quickness drills help stimulate the systems used for explosiveness, in drills lasting only 5 to 10 seconds. There is little fatigue and the nervous system is activated for explosive actions, two conditions perfect even for game day! These drills can be used in-season to kick start a tired team in dynamic warm ups. After the season, players need an unloading phase to make the transition from the intensity of playoffs to this rest and repair phase. Up to four weeks in length, players maintain a base of strength and fitness through non-weight room workouts and crosstraining. Outside of that they should stay away from the rink and the weight room for complete mental, emotional and physical regeneration. I do not recommend spring hockey or summer leagues. Kids are already streamlined into hockey at too young of an age at the expense of other sport activities, pick up games and spontaneous play. At age 20, it is the top athletes who turn into the best hockey players, not the ten year old who does nothing but play hockey for the next decade. In the example above, players finish competing in March and begin their post-season in April. This is a month for family and friends, for alternative activities, for rest and relaxation. Participating in other sport activities three times a week, micro stretching three times per week, and body weight strength training three times a week will help maintain a base to work off of in May, so athletes are not starting from scratch in a completely de-conditioned state. May and June are skewed towards aerobic and strength development, then July and August progress to anaerobic intervals, speed agility and quickness, and explosive lifting. Flexibility, balance and proprioception continue throughout the summer. Crosstraining is tapered down at the end of the summer as the hockey-specific phase increases and on-ice activity begins. During the second half of the summer, the volume, frequency and intensity of agility, balance and quickness are increased. These drills are critical to transfer conditioning onto the ice and also to artificially develop well rounded athletic skills that will ultimately give players a higher potential improvement. Frequency Per Week
* Cross Training Activities
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
project© 1999 DavidSport Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer