Squats or Sprints?

[myst3ry 0]

I'm debating a topic here with my Dad.. He's kind of old fashioned about his game and says that Sprinting for 45 mins every day is more beneficial for hockey then doing Squats and doing Sprints afterwards until your legs can't take it. I personally believe that doing Squats to build your muscles first and doing as many Sprints as possible afterwards, then once you have the desired strength after X amount of months of doing it, to Sprint and maintain them once you have the strength.. Any opinions?

[Speed Demon 0]

Yeah, don't over do it.

[steve66 45]

Man your dad can sprint for 45 minutes?

Probably a combination in moderation will give best results. Squats to build muscle and increase power, sprints to help develop anaerobic capacity etc. but again over training can lead to injury, either where you are foucusing your training or those mucles that you are neglecting. Just keep a good balance.

[Chadd 916]

Squats will increase your power but won't help a bit with footspeed or conditioning. Sprints will provide benefits in speed, quickness, conditioning as well as some strength increase.

[gopens67 0]

a combo of both is best... but really instead of sprinting so much, im not saying you shouldnt sprint because that definitely is good for you, but you should really concentrate on plyometrics.... Those are by far the best exercises for hockey players. Squats are also so important for building leg strength because of all the muscles it works, it even gets your posture straight. Just in case you were wondering plyometrics are like hopping, doing squats that lead into a jump, also strides like transfering all your weight on one leg and then striding off that leg to the other. There are many different plyo workouts.

[biff44 0]

Well, you are both right! You need to do exercises like squats, split squats, good mornings, etc to build up the muscles. But after doing the squats, you legs are going to be pretty useless for at least one, and most likely two days. After 48 hours (work on your upper body or core while you are waiting), go out and sprint, 15 seconds all-out, and at least a minute or two rest or slow jog.

The reason for doing them two different days is that you are training two completely different types of muscles, and you want the maximum benefit out of each exercise. Squats train the "slow twitch" muscles that you need for endurance and core strength. Sprints train the "fast Twitch" muscles and brain pathways needed for agility and acceleration on the ice.

You only sprint for 15 seconds, or so, because if you go much longer the fast twitch musles give out and your slow twitch muscles take over--in effect you would be training yourself to have slow agility!

If you really want to get quick, try sprinting uphill.

Also, realize that you do not have to lift heavy weights to get a lot of benefit from squats. Go lighter, but go down slowly (holding the weight back). Also, make sure your knees do not stick out in front of your toes (safety). Get some training in lifting before you go heavy on any lift.

[Cavs019 708]

The only relation they have is the fact that they both work your legs. Sprints work footspeed and cardio, while squats is strictly leg strength. Both are excellent for hockey, and just as important as the other.

[SB39 2]

Keep both of them, but I have a couple suggestions. First, I second that squats and sprints should be done with a mimimum of 3 days in between them. Second, most people have more develped quads than hamstrings or glutes, so I would suggest starting with stiff-legged deadlifts and then hitting the leg press for a couple months (doing this for 2 months of summer I have sped up noticably). Third, Biff, people should generally ignore the rule of not allowing your knees to break the plane of your toes while squatting because in regular sports the knee breaks that plane all the time, especially in hockey. I had a long discussion with several personal trainers about this, and we came to the conclusion that more injuries in sports are caused by preparing wrong, ie lifting with shortened range of motion, etc, than anything else...

[Jim Bob 0]

I'm in the squat first, sprint second camp.