SUMMER FITNESS AND OFF ICE TRAINING

Your Summer Fitness Program Doesn’t Have To Cost An Arm And A Leg

By Ken Martel

Off-ice training doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to take over your life in the summer. You don’t even need a training partner or fancy equipment to improve your physical fitness. So the next time you’re sitting around the house with nothing to do, turn off that PlayStation and head outside to get a jump on next season.

The following are some things you can do to improve your speed, strength, conditioning and athleticism. You can customize any of these exercises to fit your needs.

Warming Up
You should never start anything cold, including stretching. That’s why it’s a good idea to go for a short five-minute jog before you start any exercise program. This will elevate your body temperature and your heart rate.
Stretching is not something you do for that day’s workout; it’s an on-going process to increase your body’s flexibility over time. It helps with your range of motion and helps prevent injuries, such as muscle pulls.

Basic Strength Exercises
• Push-ups
• Pull-ups/Chin-ups
• Core exercises, such as sit-ups or crunches
• Body-weight exercises, such as squats or lunges

With all of these exercises, it is important to work on proper form to get maximum benefit.


Quickness & Agility
Short sprints (10 to 20 yards) will help you with your explosiveness. (Your first five or six strides are the most important, and will replicate the motion used in quick starts on the ice.)
• Start from different positions, such as facing forward, sideways, on your knees, on your stomach and backwards
• Swivel hips (run sideways, alternating front foot and back foot)
• After each sprint give yourself adequate rest (one minute)

Remember, whatever you do to become a faster sprinter will help you become a faster skater.

Atheticism/Coordination
• Forward rolls/somersaults
• Hand stands
• Walking on your hands

Athleticism can be characterized by speed, quickness, agility, rhythm, balance, coordination, strength, balance, power, flexibility and endurance. Improving these things during your younger years will pay dividends later on.

Running Around A Circle
• Hopping on one foot
• Hopping on two feet
• Turning in different directions
• Exaggerated crossovers
• Running backward
• Side hops
• Kick up your heels
• Kick up your knees
• Touching the opposite foot with your hand

Soccer Ball Training
• Dribbling in the air
• Kicking against a wall
• Dribbling while bouncing a second ball
• Throw ball in the air, do a forward roll and come up and catch the ball
These things all work on body control and athleticism.

Jumping Rope
• Like a boxer, jumping rope helps with cardiovascular
conditioning, leg strength and feet quickness

Basic Plyometrics
• Squat jumps
• Broad jumps
• Do three squat jumps and a 10-yard sprint
• Two-foot hops over a ball or low barrier
• Box jumps

Conditioning
You don’t need to go for a five-mile run to improve your conditioning. That will only develop slow twitch muscles. Try these fun drills:

• Broken field running – zigzag down the field 50 to 100 yards. Rest for one minute and go again.

• Shuttle run – place a couple of pucks 20 yards away. Sprint up to the pucks and one at a time pick them up and race back to your starting line, place (don’t throw or drop) pucks on the ground and race again to gather another puck. Take a one-minute rest once you’ve gathered all three pucks.

Other Great Summer Exercises
• Inline skating
• Bike riding
• Swimming
• Create an obstacle course that works on jumping, diving, rolling, stooping, bending, etc.

Getting in shape and improving your athleticism doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

You don’t need fancy exercise equipment or a costly membership at a local gym. All it takes is a little creativity and a lot of determination to see results once you hit the ice in the fall.

Prior to taking a position as coordinator for youth ice hockey for USA Hockey, Ken Martel was the scouting coordinator for the National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich.

USA Hockey Magazine June/July 2007