1. Training like a bodybuilder, not an athlete

A lot of strength training information comes from the bodybuilding world, but that doesn’t mean it’s applicable to the demands of hockey. Body part split training (e.g. chest, back, legs) has its place, but it simply doesn’t do the job when it comes to athletic training. Hockey players need to sprint, change direction and decelerate at high speed. And the body works as a kinetic chain, in synergy. Therefore we need to include plyometrics, high quality speed training, and explosive lifts such as olympic lifts.

2. Not enough strength training

Strength training has a huge number of benefits for hockey players. Some of these include faster sprints, reduced injury risk and better posture. It’s a fantastic means of achieving better performance, and reduced injury risk. But hockey players often just do technical/tactical training and think that they’re preparing themselves adequately for the demand of the game. This simply isn’t true. Hockey is a unique sport with a set of physical demands that have to be addressed through high quality strength training. Aim for at least twice per week as a starting point.

3. Not loading the calves enough

The gastrocnemius and soleus play a vital role in ankle injury prevention for hockey. They’re also a key force producer in acceleration, and stabilise the knee. But they’re seriously under trained in the hockey world. Due to their muscle characteristics (morphology), they need a lot of load to adapt.

The first step is to assess how much volume they can tolerate, and aim to increase this. As a guide, 25-30 single leg calf raises is a good score, but more is better! Exercises such as leg press calf isometrics, seated calf raises and single leg calf raises are great options to effectively train the calves for hockey.

4. Not tracking your loads

It’s so important to keep track of the loads that you’re lifting in the gym. This has multiple benefits, including increased motivation and better long term progress. This principle ‘what gets measured gets managed’ applies to all things, including training. If you don’t track your outgoings, you’ll overspend. If you don’t track your fuel gauge on the car, you might run out! In training, if you don’t measure your progress, you’ll stagnate, or worse you might get weaker over time without realising it. A basic way of doing this is with a written journal, but you can also use incredible free apps like Train Heroic to track your weekly training sessions.

5. Not training consistently enough

The player who trains 3 times per week for 5 years will be miles ahead of the player who trains 5 times per week for only 6 weeks. This is the difference between long term and short term thinking. Ultimately the player who can create fantastic training habits will continue to do so for a very long time, giving them the best chance of success. All meaningful outcomes take time to achieve, so it’s important to not think short-term. Start with something achievable, such as twice per week. And build this up over time, as your habits become more ingrained.

6. Not doing enough high quality speed work

Hockey is a repeat sprint sport, meaning that speed is arguably the most important physical attribute for hockey players. Hockey players often need to perform a high intensity sprint every minute that they’re on the pitch, and often this can be even more frequent than that. So to prepare for this, you need to be sprinting every single week. GPS data shows us that players don’t often hit maximal sprint speed during games. This is because they carry a stick, and are often fatigued or only sprinting over 10-20m. The warm up provides a natural opportunity to get exposure to high quality speed work. Try doing flying 20m max effort sprints from a rolling 10-20m start, and complete 3-5 repetitions with 2-3 minutes rest per set.

7. Lack of planning

Finally, a common error that hockey players make is not effectively planning their training. Training will be very ad hoc if you approach it this way, so try to be as intentional as possible when planning this out. Start with your long term objectives, such as a competition or selection camp. You can then work back from this, to create 4-6 week training phases. Then you can give every block a focus, such as developing power or aerobic capacity. This will set you up for success!

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Henry
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