The Not-Really-A-Program Program General Sport Conditioning

INTRODUCTION

So you want to start a sport conditioning program to get ready for the upcoming season. Whether you play recreationally or are a week-end warrior, it’s good to prep your body during your off-season to give yourself a head start when your season arrives. As athletes, you’ll want to take time off to rest your bodies after the season is over. Taking 2-3 weeks off from anything too physical is great idea and in the world of athletics it’s known as the recovery period. Once you’ve taken a few weeks off though, it’s time to start prepping your body for the long season ahead. There are countless programs designed to get you in shape for the season but even the very best designed programs will fail if they aren’t enjoyable and you end up not doing them or can’t fit them into your summer schedule. Most require a big time commitment during a time where you just want to enjoy your summer holiday so…introducing the Not-Really-A-Program Program! This is designed to require no equipment and takes you through 4 fundamental areas of fitness. You can adjust the program to fit your time requirements and it’s so adaptable, there’s really no excuse not to try it!

For those of you that are looking to prepare for the season ahead, I’ll give you examples of some of the best exercises you can do to get ready that will include core, balance, plyometric and strength/conditioning training without the need for equipment. No equipment means you can do this anywhere and anytime. All you need to do is choose any one of the exercises listed for Core, Balance, Plyometric and Strength and do them one after the other without a rest…that’s the conditioning part!

Don’t have time for all of them? No problem…just pick a couple core and balance moves and do them while you’re watching TV. Anything that you can do from those two categories in the off-season will

CORE

BALANCE

STRENGTH

PLYOMETRICS

All your strength and power starts with a strong core!

benefit you when you hit the ice, field, court or wherever you play and will give you the edge over your competition.

Nothing beats staying flexible. A proper flexibility program can keep you playing at your best and lower you chance at injury. If nothing else, you should strive to incorporate the following stretching program during the summer. The stretches I use here are for those muscles that are usually tight in an athlete…the calf, hip flexors and lat muscles. Stretching before a game can actually limit your strength and explosiveness so you should be doing very little stretching pre-game and when you do, it should only be these 3 stretches. Besides…stretching before a game is so 1980’s!

FOAM ROLLER-STATIC STRETCH: If you don’t have a foam roller you should get one because, well…Ovechkin and Crosby use them so why not you right? If you do have one then great…you are well ahead of everyone else! A good strategy is to foam roll and then right after do some stretching of the muscles that are typically tight in an athlete. To foam roll, hold the roller on a tight spot for 30 seconds and move onto the next spot. You can spend maybe 5-6 minutes per side if you’re short on time. The stretches we do right after foam rolling should be held for 30 seconds. This type of stretching is called static stretching. It all comes together like this:

CALF--- QUADRUCEPS---LAT MUSCLE

THEN

FLEXIBILITY

Instead of the word flexible we should really use “optimal range of motion” You can actually be too flexible and it’s really not a good idea to stretch muscles that don’t really need it.

If that’s all you can do during the summer then you’ve done a good job at increasing your range of motion for some very important muscles and lessened your risk of injury. But there is more you can do if you choose. Let’s get into things by starting with the warm-up

The warm up can help prepare your body as well as your mind for the game ahead. You want to use the warm up as a period where you start thinking about the game. It’s important to start to develop your own pre-game rituals and start to develop your own warm up that best prepares YOU. As a general rule, a good warm up has the following pieces and should last about 5-10 minutes.

1. Foam rolling 2. Static Stretch tight muscles OR if no muscles are tight; 3. Light cardio such as jump rope or jog in place 4. Dynamic stretching

Dynamic stretches will take your body through similar movements that you will see in most sports while moving your muscles through a full range of motion…so think lunging and twisting. Think of the warm up as movement prep so try to do some moves that are similar to what you will use in your activity…like hockey or baseball. There are hundreds but here’s a few top notch moves:

WARM UP

CORE (30 seconds)

Plank Side Plank

Floor Bridge Floor Cobra Quadruped

BALANCE (30 seconds)

Single Leg Balance Single Leg Lift/Chop Single Leg Windmill

Single Leg Balance Reach

PLYOMETRIC (8 reps)

Squat Jump Jump Forward

Jump To The Side Jump Transverse

STRENGTH (30 seconds)

Squats Narrow Push-Ups Jack, Push, Climb Forward Lunge

REST-30 Seconds

Repeat as many times as you have

time for

PLYOMETRIC (8 reps)

Squat Jump Jump Forward

Jump To The Side Jump Transverse

STRENGTH (30 seconds)

Squats Narrow Push-Ups Jack, Push, Climb

Forward Lunge

Here’s how it works…pick one or two exercises from each box below and complete them in a circuit fashion (that’s one right after the other without resting) and then rest for 30 seconds. If you have more energy and time then do 2-3 rounds because you’re an athlete in training and that’s how we roll. Complete each section for 30 seconds except for plyometrics where you will do 8 reps.

JUNE

**Check the glossary at the end of the guide to see the exercises **If the Single Leg Balance is too easy, make it harder by closing your eyes **Hold the landing on the plyometric moves for 3-5 seconds. When you jump, explode with all you’ve got!

The Non-Program Program

REST-1 Minute

Repeat as many times as you have

time for

CORE (1 minute)

Crunch Russian Twist

1-Leg Floor Bridge (30 seconds)

Plank (45-60 seconds) Side Plank with Leg Raise

PLYO (1 minute)

Tuck Jump (8 Reps) Butt Kick (8 Reps)

Lunge Jump (8 Reps) Jump Rope (1 Minute)

BALANCE (1 minute)

Single Leg Squat Touchdown Forward Lunge With Balance

Side Lunge With Balance Transverse Lunge With

Balance Single Leg Balance (Standing

On Pillow)

STRENGTH (1 minute)

Push-up With Rotation Burpee

Pike Press Split Squat Jump Jacks

Wall Sits

JULY

**Time to increase the intensity. Each exercise lasts a minute now. **During the plyometric moves you will no longer be holding the landing. The jumps are done explosively one after the other for 8-10 reps. Still have more of your minute left? Do another plyo move or jump rope to finish off.

REST-1 Minute

Repeat as many times as you have

time for

CORE (1 minute)

Crunch Single Leg Floor Bridge

Russian Twist Plank

Side Plank

PLYO (1 minute)

Ice Skaters Forward Bounding-Single Leg

Line Hops-Forward/Side/Transverse

Forward Jumping-2 Legs

BALANCE (1 minute)

Single Leg Squat Reach Single Leg Hop Forward/back

Single Leg Hop Side to Side Single Leg Hop Diagonal

STRENGTH (1 minute)

Mountain Climbers Burpees

Plank to Sphinx Push-ups With Rotation

Jack-Push-Climb Alligator Crawl

One-Leg Wall Sits

AUGUST

**You’re nearing the end so get your mind into it and give these all you have. Each month builds upon the last. Do this routine for 3 weeks and take the 4th week off with some flexibility work.

**Most movements are shown but some of the more common ones that you would know are left out such as jump rope, burpees etc**

JUNE

Plank

Side Plank

Floor

Bridge

Floor Cobra

Quadruped

Single Leg Lift/Chop

Single Leg Windmill

Single Leg Balance Reach

Squat Jumps

Forward Jump

Side Jump

Transverse Jump

Forward Lunge

Jack-Push-Climb

This is 1 jump Jack-1 Push up-1 Mountain Climber

GLOSSERY OF MOVES

JULY

Crunch

Russian Twist

1-Leg Floor Bridge

Single Leg Squat

Touchdown

Forward Lunge with

Balance

Side Lunge with

Balance

Transverse Lunge with

Balance

Tuck Jump

Butt Kickers

Lunge Jump

Push up with

Rotation Pike Press

Split Squat

Wall Sits

AUGUST

Single Leg Squat Reach

Single Leg Hop Forward

Single Leg Hop Side

Single Leg Hop Diagonal

Ice Skaters

Line Hops Forward

Line Hops Side

Line Hops Transverse

Mountain Climbers

Plank To Sphinx

Alligator Crawl

Forward Jumping

So, the whole program can be done without any equipment at all plus, you can pick your own routine by mixing and matching the exercises…how can it get any better than that? I’ll bet there are a few of you that want just a bit more. Well, welcome to the bonus section. Every athlete knows that no training camp can be complete without some sort of speed, agility or quickness drills.

If you want to take your training outside then try some of these drills. Sometime around mid-July is a good time to start.

Speed: Hockey players rarely need maximum speed training. Instead, it’s best to work on acceleration drills. Pick an area where you have about 10 yards that you can run. The trick is to start your sprint as quickly as possible, accelerate as fast as you can and stop at the 10 yard line. You can do about 8 of these but you MUST rest between each one. Each trial must be maximum effort and you can’t give your best if you are still winded or your legs are tired from the first try. Change your starting position also, for instance start form a laying down position, from a side shuffle start, from a backward peddle start etc.

Agility/Quickness

If you can get outside then these are some great drills you can do with a couple cones.

BONUS—SAQ Training!

These agility drills are great for developing acceleration and deceleration as well as being able to change direction quickly. At first, start off slowly until you get the movement patterns down then slowly increase your speed. Excelling at these drills also decreases your chance of injury.

While doing these drills you should remain in the athletic stance

Body Mechanics: A lot of young players are simply too upright when they skate. Stride length is shortened the taller you stand. You can practice skating lower by both bending at the knee and at the hip. There is no proper depth for every player; the proper depth is individual and based on your own confort. Try getting lower in your stride and find the depth that is best for you. Increase stride force: This is where off-season training comes in. Increasing the force produced by your legs can be done by increasing the strength of your legs using proper exercise selection. Build strength by doing strength exercises like squats (one-leg squats are awesome here so work your way up to doing those) split squats and deadlifts will all work the legs and buttocks (those 2 big muscles you sit on---those are the ones that drive the stride) It’s important to increase the explosive power of your legs as well and this is where plyometric training comes in. There are many but box jumps, split-squat jumps, depth-charges are all good but eventually work your way up to single leg jumps. Increase Stride Frequency: Increasing the quickness in which you can recover your push leg back under your body is the aim. There are exercises that can improve this such as any drill that has you move your legs quickly (fast high knees for instance) but the best way to increase stride frequency is more about making a conscious effort to return your stride leg quickly. Practicing stride frequency on the ice seems to be a better way at creating the body memory needed to move your legs quickly. Cueing vs. training seems to work best here. Arm Swing: Not directly related to stride but I see this a lot. You see a player skating as fast as they can with their arms swinging side to side.

Notes on Increasing Skate Speed

Final thoughts: There’s more that can be done to train in the off-season but hey, we wanted to keep this simple, use as little equipment as possible and not take up too much of your time Besides, you have camping, bike-riding and summer vacations and that stuff doesn’t take care of itself!

What this does is takes away from your forward momentum by introducing side forces which works to slow you down, not make you faster. Arm motion should be similar to that of a sprinter...that is your arm motion should have a pumping action front to back. Increasing skating speed is something that can be worked on both on and off the ice. As such, why not make some time this summer to work on your off-ice work by increasing your plyometric and leg strength workouts