hockey training

[gman 0]

Well this is my first post after lurking for quite a while. I have read tons of old posts on speed training and power training using sprints, running hills and weight lifting. What about skating up hills? I am fortunate enough to live on a cul-de-sac at the end of a relatively gentle hill about 100 yards long. I was thinking about doing as many sprints as I could handle up the hill. I know that runners run hills, and cyclists ride hills. So is there a reason that no one has suggested skating hills (at least as far as I could find with the search function)?

Thanks for any input.

[driz86 0]

on roller-blades you mean? I would guess that you'd be one of the first people to do, so try it out and tell us how it goes. I'm assuming that the reason why nobody else has mentioned skating up hills yet is becuase no one here quite has the imagination that you do

[troybruins89 0]

Depending how steep the hill is your stride wont be the same. If its to steep its almost like walking up the hill with your skates turned to the side...kinda like climbing

[Nick23 0]

good luck stopping on the way down :) Like cycling up hills, it may shorted the calf, which you don't nessecerily want to do. But it would be worth a try, please post results, would be very interesting

[Crazy Otto 0]

I guess there must be some hockey training benefits to skating uphill, since they design those skating treadmills to do that (skating on an incline):

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

I was thinking about doing as many sprints as I could handle up the hill.

Hockey training is not quantity training, it's quality training...

[Jim A 4]

the problem with skating hills on inlines is that the stride is much different...many times you have to use a shorter choppier stride to get up the hill...unless you have a long constant grade, ie. skating the mts in Vail, you are better off running up the hills

if you are looking to work on form/etc

Diane Holum's the complete book of speedskating is a good read and has some good dryland stuff in there, likely similar to many hockey books

[gman 0]

Wow, lots of responses. Thank you. I'll try to address each one individually if I can:

1) I guess there must be some hockey training benefits to skating uphill, since they design those skating treadmills to do that (skating on an incline): I did not even know they existed.

2) good luck stopping on the way down smile.gif Like cycling up hills, it may shorted the calf, which you don't nessecerily want to do. But it would be worth a try, please post results, would be very interesting: As for stopping, I will do swithbacks on the way down so that part of the cycle will be very relaxed. So I can get my heart rate down.

3) Depending how steep the hill is your stride wont be the same. If its to steep its almost like walking up the hill with your skates turned to the side...kinda like climbing:

I had actually though abou that. But the hill is not that steep. It is just steep enough that I will not be able to carry much if any momentum into my glide. Every stride can be full force and my speed will stay low. ALthough I will be able to get enough glide so that my overall stride length should not suffer. I read one post on skating on ice with a training partner being dragged behind. I do not think my stride will suffer any more than with the dragging technique.

4) on roller-blades you mean? I would guess that you'd be one of the first people to do, so try it out and tell us how it goes. I'm assuming that the reason why nobody else has mentioned skating up hills yet is becuase no one here quite has the imagination that you do: Rollerblades-yes absolutely. I live in California. THough growing up in Wyoming I could have almost done tis with ice skates in the winter:) I doubt I would call myself imaginative, just desparate to be better...

5) Hockey training is not quantity training, it's quality training...

I am not saying I can go out and do this for three hours. I am a late thirty something guy with a wife, two kids, a mortgage, and a shiftworking job. Okay I am exactly 37... All of my training in everything I do is centered around quality and not quantity. When I say "all I can handle", I mean all I can do with good form up until I puke...

Thanks again to everyone for the input. Please keep commenting. I will post results once I get started. You replies have me even more motivated.

Thanks

[thenextone96 0]

i have a few hills in my neighbor hood. not mountians but theyre decent. yea i skate up them now and again. but be careful comming down, make sure no cars are comming haha

[chippa13 1844]

I used to skate around the roads of my town a few years back. It is no different than runners who do hill training. Going uphill will work some muscles harder and going downhill will work others harder. As in any other sport, it never hurts to switch up your training regimen. One of the other things I used to do quite a bit was bike around the town streets.

[gman 0]

Well I did my hills for the first time today. It felt like a good workout. I was sitll able to glide on every stroke uphill but I could not get my speed very high up so each stroke has to be pretty intense. Switchbacking back down used different muscles, and my hips really feel like they got worked.