Quickest way to build stamina

[Quintin 16]

What's the quickest way to build stamina? Recently, in hockey games, I get tired so quickly and even going up my flight of stairs makes me go outta breath!

Any help guys?

Here's my workout regime during the week:

Monday - Light cardio followed by upper body weight lifting

Tuesday - Hockey practise

Wednesday - Light cardio followed by lower body weight lifting

Thursday - Hockey practise

Friday - Lone training (dekes, shooting, hands, quickness, agility)

Saturday/Sunday - Hockey games

[Chadd 916]

Lots of cardio, lower body and plyometrics. And it won't be quick or easy.

[skullplant 0]

Same thing happened to me, turns out I have exercise induced asthma. You might want to get checked out.

[Gongshow11 1]

lots of cardio meaning lots of sprints and lots of shuttle type runs, then top it off with a 15 min jog

[hapamatt122 0]

if this is a sudden thing, as in it didn't happen gradually, you should go talk to your doctor about this.. could be anything from Athsma like the other guy said, possibly your diet, iron deficiency.. many things.. or maybe you have gotten lazier with your workouts.. or taken up smoking?

[gavin 0]

After the season it seems like I can't get enough sleep. I haven't worked out since I ran 5 miles on Sat... I feel like a total bum but I don't have a lot of energy so maybe my body's just recovering.

[cause4alarm 6]

Try to play more hockey. Squeeze in an extra open session sometime if you don't get to scrimmage at practice.

Or maybe spend time playing some other sport with friends like basketball, soccer, frisbee, etc. One simple thing you can do is find 2 friends and have a football catch (QB, receiver, and a guy covering the receiver).

Cardio workouts like running, biking, and swimming all help, but they don't really have the start/stop element that you'll be using in games.

[shute 4]

i say take some time off for once.. spend 3-4 days not playing or anything.. sometimes you just work yourself so hard you body will just want to stop.

[Neo5370 132]

Jesus christ there's not one day of rest in there. Recovery is just as important as excercise. I recover 7 days a week :lol: Seriously though, if you work your body every day and don't give it time to heal you actually hurting yourself.

[BGM 0]

You should take Mondays off since you play Sat/Sun. Plyometrics, sprints along with weights on the other non-skating days. Forget the dekes, shooting, etc--you are getting enough of that by playing 4 times a week.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Are you kidding me?

What he is doing on Friday will really help him in the long run. I would say to continue your hands work and such, but try to find a day per week to get some recovery.

[BGM 0]

Hand/eye coordination, balance, etc is something that should get better with age. I don't know how old Quintin is. If he's playing 4x a week and he's worried about stamina, he shouldn't focus as much on deke's, dry-land shooting, etc.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

You don't only get Hand/eye from working your hands and shooting, you get a better pair of hands and a better wrist shot which is damn important if you are a skill player.

and it's not in playing 4 times a week that you are gonna have a good pair of hands and a good wrister as you don't have the puck more than X minutes or even seconds for some players, so working off ice those 2 things are very very important.

[BGM 0]

I agree. It's that he wants to build stamina---if he's 16 that's great that he has time to work on all those things but if he's working 8-5 and playing in beer league conditioning is more important. Nobody goes and shoots in their garage when they are 29 years old. Like I said if he's young it's ok to practice hand/eye but as you get older you either have it or you don't.

[The Playoff Beard 0]

Jesus christ there's not one day of rest in there. Recovery is just as important as excercise. I recover 7 days a week :lol: Seriously though, if you work your body every day and don't give it time to heal you actually hurting yourself.

I agree, your muscles are probably pooped, especially your lower body. You need to take some active rest about 2 days a week, meaning really light exercises for only about 20-30 min.

[Jim A 4]

rest is rest -do nothing on those days, get a nap in if needed, drink tons of water,..used to see the speedskaters all the on their rest days doing technique work, slow but not rest..

cardio needs to go a couple ways...

1. either be super piano (ie. keep your heart rate under 120 or so..) which will be ridiculously slow in the beginning weeks but it will improve your aerobic system and help you recover quicker...(ie the Lance method)

2. do more tempo cardio. you get enough sprints etc in games and practice...but you need to just go 45min-1hr at a good effort (ie. can't talk easily, 75-80% of max) make sure you get a good warmup/cooldown with this when this gets easeir you can add in a couple hard efforts of 2-3 min in there but recover at your 75-80% effort..(full recovery between each..should be a5-10 min)

[Jason Harris 31]

Same thing happened to me, turns out I have exercise induced asthma. You might want to get checked out.

That was the first thing that came to mind to me, also. If you are over-exercising, your body will feel fatigued, but you don't typically run out of breath.

Since this has only begun to happen recently, I wonder whether you have a change in medical condition. A guy I skate with was diagnosed with asthma at 36, so it's not outside the realm.