Lifts most beneficial for hockey players?

[RangersMoogle]

I've been lifting for a while now, but I was talkin' with a mate about liftin', and I got to thinkin'; What lifts should hockey players focus on?

Right now I'm doing barbell squats, barbell rows, military barbell presses, calf raises, tricep extensions, barbell curls, and bench presses. Anything essential for hockey I'm missin' there?

Another question in regards to weight training; I've pretty much neglected doing any abdominal work. How should abdominal work be treated, just like any other lifts? Say I'm doing weighted crunches, should I just do 5 reps a set, and call that that for that set?

Thanks for the pending answers, dudes.

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[The Tikkanen]

I read a book by a PHD who trains NHLers and he suggested 100 lbs, 8 reps, 3 sets for crunches. I just do as heavy as I can. Most of his reccomendations are for NHL players during the season so they are not in the weight room as often and are injured or beat up. Mainly focuses on explosive muscle building, has worked well for me so far and I never really get sore or feel really tired due to the low reps.

 

[Pensfan86]

One workout i liked alot for hockey that you didnt mention was forearm curls. I would get a curl bar and put 25s or 30lbs on each side. You hold hte bar behind you, like, so it rests on your butt, and simply curl your wrists upward, hold for 3, then bring it back down. Do sets of 8-10, its a nice workout.


Also, with abs, I'd try doing stuff for your obliques (side abs) as well. Being that your abs are the center of your body, you want to be strong there. Reverse crunches work your lower back, and will only add to a stronger core.

 

[sc37]

I totally agree with the abs, obliques, and lower back. I use the machines at the gym for that. Or better yet, if I have a buddy that day I'm at the gym...I use the yoga balls for abs. Do sit ups on it while tossing and catching a weighted medicine ball.

I work on muscles I feel I use the most...and lift doing pyramids. Start low, work high..max out with like 2-3 reps, move down and do a high rep low weight to finish it off. What you got looks good...I might add a leg press. And also depends on if you wanna bulk up or just wanna add some strength, tone up, etc.

 

[nni]

squats above all.

then your abs/core. many different lifts can help there, swedish balls are very useful for core workouts.

and then a variation of curls including reverse curls and forearms curls.

 

[Double O Soul]

dead lifts are really great

 

[aerialis]

i was about to suggest dead lifts as well

 

[RangersMoogle]

Oh snaps, I left deadlifts off my list, I do deadlifts.

I guess I got it all covered minus abdominal work. I tried doing weighted crunches holding a 40 pound weight beind my head. It didn't work. I got work to do.

 

[DevilsSMASH]

Oh snaps, I left deadlifts off my list, I do deadlifts.

I guess I got it all covered minus abdominal work. I tried doing weighted crunches holding a 40 pound weight beind my head. It didn't work. I got work to do.

Careful, doing dead lifts without having a strong core is begging for disaster if you move up high in weight.

Working on your core will help you better work out a number of different areas.

Try to do exercises that emphasize a large range of motion for you abs, as its easy to put the bulk of the load on a few muscles while others get neglected.

I'd probably focus on doing lots of unweighted ab exercises before using weights, but bear in mind that doing the right exercises for your abs can really negate the need to incorporate weights.

 

[SML]

just a side note here...

I don't know how old you are, but you should really watch out for overtraining, particularly doing squats. You do too much too soon and hurt a disc, and you will be lucky to get out of a chair right, much less worry about hockey. When I used to attend hockey camps, they never really worried much about weights. You can look like a million bucks, but if you have no endurance, you're going to be on the bench while the coach goes with the guys who can hang. Plyometrics are really good. Rather than traditional squats, they used to have us line up in front of a chair, with the chair behind you. Bend your foot up in an "L" shape and rest it on the chair. Now with the leg you would be standing on, go forward like you are doing a lunge. When you reach the bottom, you jump up. Repeat that for a few reps, then switch legs. It takes a little bit to get used to without falling over, but the idea is to develope the explosive strength you need for hockey. As for "core" exercises, I would stick with the old Hockey stick over the shoulders, and twist away. That or partner up with a buddy and stand back to back and pass a medicine ball back and forth in a twisting motion. When you lift for weight, what you do is develope size. Size is great if what you are doing is trying to get big. You are trying to be a hockey player. Putting on size for the sake of size is going to slow you down. Getting your muscular endurance up will serve you far better as a player, IMO. These are just my opinions, and I'm no trainer, but I hope that it helps you. You can do a ton of things that will help you with your own body weight without ever going into a gym. It will decrease your chances of getting hurt off the ice and I think it will put you in much better shape on it.

 

[stick9]

For those of you lifting at home. I found a workout online where you only use a fraction of the weight you would normally use, but you do 10 sets of 10 with only a 30 second break in between sets. I've been doing this and while the first 3 sets are cake the last three are brutal.

The reason I do this is because I have no spotter at home and I don't own a ton of weights.

 

[RangersMoogle]

Yeah, I've found unweighted abdominal work is the way to go, for now at least. I've really neglected my abs. I'm 6'4" 300 (Was 280, all right for not working out or eating right during your off season), so I guess that's enough weight for my abs.

As for overtraining, I already learned about that. I took a big jump in weights, did my normal sets for a week with the new weight, and didn't lift for about four weeks. I'm gonna start putting 5 pounds a week on my bar instead of an additional 40 at once.