Stepping away from the ice and into the weight room, we will paint the final brush strokes on the canvas to complete the full off-season development picture.
What About Next Year?
It is Monday morning. You are driving to work, the car music on low, you can hardly hear it. Your mind instead is focused on the preparation for next year’s hockey season. This off-season will be the best one yet.
In your mind, you know that to maximize player development, they need to get in the gym and stay active on the ice. They need to get stronger, but apply that to their shot or board play. They need to get faster, but apply that speed to specific situations on ice. You are looking for a complete hockey off-season program.
Fortunately, a friend sent you an article about just that, On and Off the Ice: A Complete Hockey Off-season Template. The Coaches Site never disappoints and continues to provide the answers!
Now that you are bought into the on ice development, the second piece, the gym, is still a little fuzzy. How do you ensure all the oars in the water are rowing in the same direction and players improve as much as possible?
Enter, Part 2 of On and Off the Ice: A Complete Hockey Off-season Template. But first, a review.
Part 1 Review
My goal with this 2 Part Template Series is for coaches, players, parents, and guardians to think of development holistically, rather than all of these different traits in silos. Rather than different on ice coaches and strength and speed programs throughout the week being opposing, contrary, or inhibiting to each other, readers of this series will be able to effectively lay out a week, month, and entire off-season of development.
How is this done? By understanding three principles: The consolidation of stressors, the high-low model, and the short to long approach.
First, the Consolidation of Stressors entails having some days that are high intensity (harder on the central nervous system) and some days that are low intensity (not as hard or fatiguing on the central nervous system). In other words, perform the harder sessions on and off the ice on the same days. This allows for more recovery on the other days.
Next, The High-Low Model, popularized by Canadian Sprint Coach, Charlie Francis, details how to implement and organize stressors as you consolidate them. A high day (Strength, speed, or power focus in the weight room or high speed or skill focus on ice) is always followed by a low day (longer endurance training in the weight room or flow drills and stationary skill work on ice). To optimize recovery and speed, strength, and skill acquisition, high days must always be followed by low days.
Lastly, the Short to Long Approach, also popularized by Charlie Francis, involves working shorter duration drills to longer drills, across the off-season. It also involves shorter length sprints to longer length sprints and endurance work. Get fast first, then fast over longer distances and maintain your speed.
You see, there is nothing wrong with having a weight room coach and a power skating coach or seeing them on the same day. However, if the weight room coach plans an easy, recovery, and stretch type of day and the power skating coach plans a bagger-esque change of direction and conditioning type of day, those are opposing stressors. They both ask the body to adapt to different stimuli. One says ‘relax’ the other says ‘grind’ and the body does not know what you are asking it to do. Those examples violate the consolidation of stressors and the high-low model. For more detail, read Part 1.
Complete Hockey Off-Season Template – Off Ice
Stepping away from the ice and into the weight room, we will paint the final brush strokes on the canvas to complete the full off-season development picture.
Like the On Ice Template in Part 1, this template is written for teams that train on and off the ice 5 days a week in the off-season. It may be modified to fit any player or team’s schedule. A reminder, with the consolidation of stressors, don’t mix a bagger of an on ice session with a speed and power day off ice in the weight room or field. This will signal to your body to take two steps forward, then two steps back, resulting in going nowhere and making zero progress.
Complete Off-Season – Daily Off Ice Emphasis
With Table 2 providing a 50,000 foot view, the below sections will be a closer look at each day. Remember, this template is supposed to coincide with on ice development. Shift and move days around if need be. For example if Tuesday and Thursday are the high intensity days on ice, make those high intensity days in the weight room and have the other days be low intensity. That is okay. Players will still develop just fine.
Just like in Part 1, Tuesday and Thursday will be the hardest days for players and coaches to understand. A trick to consider is on low intensity days, players should be able to breathe out of their nose the entire time. If they find themselves gasping for air and mouth breathing, that particular drill or exercise is too intense.
Low days are essential to player development because they help reduce neuromuscular and psychological fatigue, increase the body’s ability to acquire new skills on high days, and reduce the likelihood of injury. Do not overlook the importance of low intensity days!
Tuesday and Thursday
Tuesdays and Thursdays will have a major focus on restoration and training the aerobic energy system. The aerobic energy system in simple terms is classic, jogging cardio. Being able to just go and go at a slower pace for a long time. This system helps your fast burst and powerful systems (phosphate-creatine and glycolytic) to recover. This is what gives you energy and recovery for the third period.
Even if you are unable to get into a weight room, I highly suggest plugging these days in throughout the week, in between high intensity days. You may simply Youtube “10-20 minute yoga” and go for a 20-30 minute walk and be amazed at the results and benefits.
Key details to off ice low intensity days would be:
- No sprints or high speeds
- Focus on never needing to breath through the mouth, nasal breathing only
- Hip mobility stretches or drills
- Yoga or pilates
- Various bodyweight movements such as bear crawls, rolling patterns, or movement flows
- Longer duration, higher repetition, low intensity speed drills (skipping rope or line drills) or isometric (holding positions) speed drills
- Low intensity (extensive) jumps or hops. Lower effort, higher repetition single or double leg hops or jumps
- High repetition, lower weight aerobic circuits. Exercises selected are assistance or accessory lifts (dumbbell bench vs barbell; goblet squat vs back squat)
- Tempo runs (paced running on a field or track)
Video 1. Hip mobility stretches or drills.
Video 2. Bodyweight movement for core, shoulders, and coordination – bear rolls, reaching up and over.
Video 3. Longer duration, isometric (holding positions) speed drills. Most positions held for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Video 4. Low intensity, lower effort, higher repetition single or double leg hops or jumps – line hops and plate hops.
Video 5. 4 exercise aerobic circuit. 4 or more exercises may be chosen. Circuit should be 20-30 minutes long.
Video 6. Tempo runs on a field. In this video, runs are 40 yards (37 meters). Players must complete the run in 7 seconds, then rest 8 seconds before the next run. 3 runs totaling 120 yards (110 meters) are performed per set. See Table 3 for a tempo run progression.
Monday and Friday
Mondays and Fridays will be almost the exact same, except for one major difference. On Friday, after a week of on and off ice training, the body will be less ready to adapt to high speed stimuli. For this reason, heavier resisted sprints are performed on Friday. When the neuromuscular system is fatigued, it is better to work heavier weight and slower speeds. Heavier resisted sprints are just that.
In addition, if an athlete is truly undersized and needs to put on more muscle mass, Fridays are a great day to do so. Typically, when developing speed and power, you do not want to be sore. So performing higher repetition exercises, those needed to put on muscle mass, should be done on the last day of the week, when players have the weekend to recover.
- Sprints along with high effort or intensity weights (either heavy or medium and moved fast)
- Short duration, low repetition, high intensity speed drills (hurdles, skips, and marches)
- 4-6 exercise circuit focusing on main strength exercise (squat or deadlift) followed by various weighted or bodyweight, explosive jumps and sprints
- Within circuit, lighter resisted sprints which may include pushing or pulling a sled. Distances should be less than 20 yards or meters, focusing on acceleration
- Within circuit, high intensity (intensive) jumps. High effort, lower repetition single or double leg jumps
- Strength assistance exercises (RDL’s, bench or shoulder presses, rows or chin ups)
- Hockey specific accessory exercises (forearms, groin/hips, hip flexors)
- *Lactate (burn) conditioning (assault bike, sleds, sprints with minimal rest) starting 4-6 weeks from season or preseason
Video 7. High intensity circuit. 4 exercises – jump, lift, weighted jumps, overspeed jumps.
Video 8. High intensity circuit. 5 exercises – jump, lift, hurdle hops, altitude drops, sprint.
Video 9. Light resisted sprints (resistance using 1080 Sprint machine. May also perform with a sled). Sprint variation using a line and PVC to correct sprint form and mechanics shown in video.
Wednesday
I believe one day a week should be a field or track day where players perform classic sprint based exercises. As you can see, there is a 2-1 short to long sprint ratio (Monday and Friday are short focusing on acceleration, Wednesday is long focusing on top end speed).
If a field or track day is not possible logistically, that is okay. Simply follow the template laid out for Monday and Friday and keep weights lighter and only use bodyweight for sprints. If you are familiar with classic track workouts, today would be considered a “fly” day where players attempt to hit a maximal velocity or speed in 20-40 yards or meters.
- 20-40m sprints
- Short duration, low repetition, high intensity speed drills (hurdles, skips, and marches)
- Before circuit and main sprints, form and technique drills for sprinting
- 4-6 exercise circuit focusing on main sprint exercise (may be a sprint variation such as running with PVC pipe on back) followed by various bodyweight explosive jumps, and sprint drills like sleds, marches, or bounds
- Within circuit, high intensity (intensive) jumps. High effort, lower repetition single or double leg jumps
- If sprinting with a sled as an exercise in circuit, should not slow player down by more than 50% (if it takes 3 seconds to go 20m, shouldn’t take more than 4.5 seconds – 50% speed decrease)
Video 10. Long sprints, outdoors. Sprint variations to work on form shown in video.
Week One to Week Before
Now that a Complete Hockey Off-Season Template has been laid out, one of the next questions is what does it look like week to week? How are things modified? How do they progress throughout the off-season?
Quickly revisiting the Short to Long Approach Principle, the key here is progression. Start small, start with less, start easy, and slowly ramp things up. An off-season is a long time. Take the time to feel good at the beginning and slowly ramp up the intensity.
For example, sprints on Monday. Firstly, you do not need to start out with a traditional sprint, especially if the player’s technique is poor. Different sprint variations may be used such as running over a line, with a PVC on the back, or both, to correct form. Refer back to Video 9 to see this variation again. And as the feet and hips improve and technique looks a little better, things may progress to more traditional sprinting.
Another example, the sled. Perhaps early off-season the weight is a little heavier and players are pushing the sled. When the arms are taken away, the speeds are slower and it allows players to focus solely on applying force through their feet, versus worrying about the arms too.
Next, jumps. Early off-season only perform 2-3 jumps per set. And as the off-season progresses players have adapted to this stimulus, and now they can handle 4-6 jumps per set, all still high force, high speed, and high quality.
Lastly, taking note of the asterisk in the details of Monday and Friday, 4-6 weeks before the season or preseason starts, players should begin performing hockey specific conditioning. This is the classic hard, aggressive, getting sweaty stuff we see in commercials. Starting this type of training too soon, hard lactate conditioning, will stifle the development of speed, strength, and power. A hard bike workout that develops acid in the legs is an opposing quality to short sprints.
The best example of a progression would be tempo runs. A tempo run is a paced run on a track or field. See the table below for more details.
When the Template Does Not Fit
As mentioned in Part 1, not all players or teams will have 5 days a week access to the ice or a weight room like the college hockey players I work with. Fortunately, a template is not carved in stone and may be modified to fit players or teams.
When modifying the template, do your best to stick to the principles outlined in this article. Remember, it is okay to have 2 low days in a row, but do your best to not stack 2-3 high days in a row.
Undoubtedly for readers of this article, there will be a point when schedules will not fit this template. The weight room coach holds sessions on Monday and Wednesday and the power skating and skills coaches hold sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. Each coach is unaffiliated, they do not communicate, and therefore it is nearly impossible to consolidate the stressors.
If something like this does happen, fear not. In season, players can handle multiple high intensity practices and games in a row and still get better. However, it just is what it is, in the off-season a schedule like this will leave some development on the table. The alternative, skipping the weight room or on ice sessions, is not a good one. Stick to the schedule the world has given you and focus on high, high quality sleep, nutrition, and hydration.
Many weight room coaches are also flexible and understanding of schedules outside of the weight room. Especially if you are paying them, a private trainer or something along those lines. Begin the conversation by stating concerns over burn out if you have too many high intensity on and off ice sessions a week. Most likely, a quality trainer will be able to modify for your needs. And if anything is going to be modified or the intensity reduced, let it be the off ice work.
Addressing Conditioning
It’s hockey. And if everyday does not look like Miracle, people get worried. Fortunately, the Complete Off-Season Template will cover every facet of conditioning and prepare players like they have never been prepared before. Once players, parents and guardians, and coaches understand some basic physiology and how energy systems work within the world of hockey, they will begin to understand the conditioning effects players are getting everyday.
First and foremost, low intensity days. These days are absolutely essential to conditioning. These days will develop the aerobic energy system, described as classic, jogging cardio in the low intensity days section above. The better the aerobic energy system, the more stress a player can handle. This means they may be pushed or push themselves harder on and off the ice.
Improved aerobic systems lead to more high quality sets of drills, more high quality sets of strength exercises, and therefore more development. This system helps endurance with higher heart rate drills and exercises, but also helps restore, replenish, and recover the neuromuscular system in between sets, sessions, and days.
Do not overlook the power of lower intensity circuits and tempo runs to create a phenomenal base of conditioning.
Next, the high intensity days train the body for exactly what the sport of hockey is: quick burst, lower intensity, repeat. Very rarely is every second of a 30-45 second shift maximal effort and intensity. Rather, it entails a quick burst to the puck or a position, then a scanning of the ice and gliding, on repeat.
And on high intensity days, the repeated high effort lifts, jumps, and sprints, all train the body to repeat explosive bursts. Your fast burst and power system (phosphate-creatine) may be conditioned in the same way your jogging, cardio system may be conditioned. This conditioning results in players not only lifting more, sprinting faster, and jumping higher, but doing more and more of that each session and week of the off-season.
Remember as well, high intensity days follow the short to long approach. Max speed and power is built first (short). And naturally over the off-season times and distances are increased so this new found speed and power may be displayed for longer (long).
Finally, lactic acid tolerance training should start 4-6 weeks out from the season or preseason starting, depending on the level the player or team is at. In short, high intensity conditioning, say sprinting on a bike to the point it develops acid and burns in the legs, will degrade speed and power qualities worked on that day. If this type of conditioning is performed throughout the summer, players will not hit the highest peak possible for their speed, power, and strength.
By following these conditioning concepts, players will enter the next season being able to repeat high speed efforts, recover between shifts, periods, and games, and be able to tolerate the acid accumulated during drills in practices and shifts in games.
The Complete Picture
Coaches, players, parents, and guardians may now step back and see the off-season in full light, as a complete picture. Part 1 addresses on ice development and in Part 2 a template for off ice training helps fill in any gaps as to how both templates work together.
Through the process of consolidating stressors, following the high-low model, and taking the short to long approach, players will maximize their development in the off-season. The Complete Off-Season Template addresses skill development and when and how to do it, it addresses speed training and when and how to do it, and gives thought to conditioning and progressing throughout the off-season so players and teams may hit the ice ready to go.
To finish things off, I have provided video examples of high and low intensity days working together on and off the ice. This should help readers by providing further examples of how effective this template can be.
Video 11. Low intensity day example: Full ice skating and tempo runs.
Video 12. Low intensity day example: Stationary shooting and low intensity line and plate hops.
Video 13. High intensity day example: Short sprints on and off the ice.
Video 14. High intensity day example: Long sprints on and off the ice.
