| Most youth hockey programs get 1-2 hours a week | | | | If you consider all of these things while designing your |
| for off-ice training. In the last two articles I've gone | | | | agility drills, you should be able to maximize the |
| over dynamic warm-ups and core training, the most | | | | effectiveness of your speed, agility and quickness |
| important two forms of training that every hockey | | | | training while minimizing your training time. Switching |
| player should be doing. Taken together, the warm-up | | | | gears a bit, a lot of these same concepts can be |
| and core training generally takes the first 15 minutes of | | | | applied to a hockey specific conditioning. Again, |
| each session. That doesn't leave much time for | | | | analyze the demands of hockey. Do hockey players |
| everything else. This makes it that much more | | | | skate at a low or medium intensity for several minutes |
| important that hockey players don't waste their time | | | | at a time? Not if they're any good! |
| with garbage training. | | | | Most players and coaches recognize that the average |
| While speed, agility, and quickness training and | | | | shift is 30-60 seconds, followed by atleast twice that |
| conditioning are generally viewed as separate entities, | | | | much time of rest. This means that hockey specific |
| they can be combined in the interest of saving time. | | | | interval training would involve work to rest ratios of 1:2 |
| The key is to really understand the demands of | | | | at the low-end and 1:6 at the high end. However, while |
| hockey. Speed is one of the most important skills of | | | | a shift may last 60 seconds, shifts almost NEVER |
| the game, but top speed is rarely reached and when it | | | | involve maximal effort skating throughout the entire |
| is, it's almost never maintained for very long before a | | | | duration. Usually there's a quick sprint, then a glide, then |
| player will need to change direction. As a result, the | | | | lighter skate to a new position, then another quick |
| abilities to start explosively, stop quickly, and change | | | | sprint, etc. In other words, most shifts are |
| direction rapidly are much more desirable than simply | | | | characterized by multiple short, high-intensity sprints |
| being fast in a straight line. To be overly simplistic, | | | | followed by brief resting periods. |
| hockey-specific speed is really just well-designed agility | | | | To maximize the hockey specificity of your |
| training. | | | | conditioning, high intensity multi-directional movements |
| When designing hockey-specific agility drills, you'll want | | | | should be used. As an example, I've used 10-yard |
| to: | | | | repeat sprints from a push-up starting position as a |
| 1) Include what I refer to as proactive and reactive | | | | conditioning exercise. The athletes explode up from a |
| drills. Proactive means that the path and direction | | | | push-up position, sprint 10 yards, then walk back and |
| changes are pre-determined. The player must move | | | | immediately repeat for 4-6 reps. Then they take a |
| through the drill as quickly as possible. Reactive means | | | | few minute break before repeating the interval. That's |
| the player's movement is in response to some other | | | | just an example. You could also use a partner mirror |
| stimulus, usually in the form of a partner (mirror drills) or | | | | drill as a conditioning tool. Have one player be a leader, |
| coach (command drills). | | | | another a follower. |
| 2) Include movement changes specific to hockey. | | | | The leader can move within a pre-determined area or |
| Hockey players often have to transition between | | | | along a pre-determined path and the follower must |
| forward, backward, diagonal and lateral movements. | | | | mirror the movements exactly. Let them go for 15 |
| Agility drills should reflect these movement changes. | | | | seconds or so, rest 15 seconds, then switch roles for |
| For instance, you could design a circuit of agility drills | | | | an interval, then rest for a couple minutes before |
| that involve a 5 yard back pedal to a 5 yard sprint in | | | | repeating everything again. Depending on the length of |
| the diagonal forward direction (45° turn); then a 5 | | | | the work intervals, I generally keep conditioning down |
| yard back pedal to a 5 yard sprint in a lateral direction | | | | between 3-8 work intervals. I may use 3 work |
| (90° turn); then a 5 yard back pedal to a 5 yard | | | | intervals for something like a 300 yard shuttle run with |
| sprint in the backward diagonal direction (135° | | | | cones at 0 and 25, and 8 intervals for something like |
| turn); etc. You could also mix in shuffling, crossover | | | | 20s lateral mirror drills (4 repetitions as the leader and |
| steps, and different starting positions (forward, | | | | 4 as the follower). Starting to get the picture? The idea |
| backward, lateral, push-up position) to maximize the | | | | is to build a higher work capacity by maintaining a high |
| on-ice carryover. | | | | workload, while still providing adequate rest to maintain |
| 3) Include speed changes specific to hockey. While I | | | | a high intensity. Usually conditioning should last about |
| made it a point to acknowledge that top speed isn't | | | | 10-15 minutes. |
| maintained for long, it's important to understand that | | | | If you follow all the principles outlined in this article, you |
| many of the direction changes in hockey occur at | | | | can effectively improve hockey-specific speed, agility, |
| near-top speeds. Also, many max effort sprints don't | | | | quickness, and conditioning in less than 30 minutes. By |
| begin from a stationary position. Your off-ice training | | | | incorporating a well-designed dynamic warm-up and |
| should reflect this. Include longer range accelerations | | | | core training program, you can drastically improve |
| (20-30 yards) with a quick deceleration and direction | | | | on-ice performance in less than two hours a week. |
| change (similar to a pattern a wide receiver may run). | | | | Now with all the tools, the only missing ingredient in the |
| Include agility circuits that start with a speed build-up. | | | | success formula is your unparalleled determination to |
| This allows the athlete to practice accelerating from a | | | | outwork your opponent. Keep working hard. Your |
| moving position, which is usually the way it happens on | | | | results will speak for themselves. |
| the ice. | | | | |