Suggested workouts or drills for a 15 y/o

[caughtontheice 0]

Hi MSH,

I'm new to the forum. heard about MSH through teammates and a family member and thought id start searching the forum.

What i was hoping is to find some help when it comes to hockey training/workouts and/or drills i can do at home.

I am 15 years old but will be turning 16 in the fall. I play rep single "A" travel hockey in Ontario and used to play "AA." The past 2 seasons i only started trying out for "AAA" but would choke during tryouts even though i had many friends who played "AAA" that I could keep up with and even go beyond their skill. either way i always suck during tryouts and would like to change that.

my minor midget season is over this year and some peers of mine who are the same age are trying out for JR.A/Tier 1 camps and are doing well from what they and some teachers are saying. once i heard about this, i've been going crazy for doing more specific and tactical workouts rather than just general gym workouts. With some friends playing triple 'AAA/" they have team workouts and camps opposed to the lesser rep divisions.

I am a strong and very fast sakter and this is by far my best skill set. definitely need to work out my handles and passing during a rush. I;ve been doing workouts but am looking for soemhting that will make me even a better skater and better upper strength for those open ice hits i like and not to be rubbed off the puck as much.and what drills can i do to have better hands and stick handling?

hopefully with the items i have at home i can be better. also are there other small pieces of equipment i should pick up for workouts besides the ones listed below i have.

here are the pieces of eqipment i have at home:

- Stand-up/upright bike

- treadmill (speed and incline adjustments)

- elliptical

- dont know what its called but it's an Ironman home gym (pic: http://www.ironmanfitness.com/product.php?id=400g&cat=hg )

- lightweight dumbells (5lbs. each)

- exercise ball

- skipping rope

Hopefully with ur help and the combination of other workouts i find on the MSH board I'd be able to improve my game and go to a higher level of hockey for the fall.

Thanks!

[furlanitalia 1]

If you're building muscle I can't stress enough that you need to work on foot speed. A lot of guys bulk up and don't factor how much the extra weight will slow them down. Use the rope, run stairs, possibly get a foot ladder to work on quick feet drills. Do explosion drills to make sure your legs are strong and quick.

I'd also focus on forearm drills to improve your stickhandling speed and shooting. Shoot as many pucks as you can, and stickhandle while watching tv with a golf ball to focus on keeping your head up with quick hands.

[Chadd 916]

Don't try and build your upper body for open ice hits. Work on core strength and forearm strength. Lots of plyometrics and working with weighted pucks/sticks.

[shooter27 116]

"Legs feed the wolf."

Lower body and core strength is the way to go. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, plyometics, footspeed work, etc. Back that up with some shoulder and forearm work, as well as working on puckhandling, passing, and shooting.

[gxc999 7]

If you're building muscle I can't stress enough that you need to work on foot speed. A lot of guys bulk up and don't factor how much the extra weight will slow them down. Use the rope, run stairs, possibly get a foot ladder to work on quick feet drills. Do explosion drills to make sure your legs are strong and quick.

I'd also focus on forearm drills to improve your stickhandling speed and shooting. Shoot as many pucks as you can, and stickhandle while watching tv with a golf ball to focus on keeping your head up with quick hands.

Very good advice.

Don't try and build your upper body for open ice hits. Work on core strength and forearm strength. Lots of plyometrics and working with weighted pucks/sticks.

Also very good advice!

"Legs feed the wolf."

Lower body and core strength is the way to go. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, plyometics, footspeed work, etc. Back that up with some shoulder and forearm work, as well as working on puckhandling, passing, and shooting.

I completely agree. Just listen to all of the guys above and you'll be set. If you have to pick one upper body group besides lower back to work on, it should be the middle and upper back. Those areas are extremely important for strength and hits.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Get some personal training sessions. Also make sure you speak to a doctor and have 100% clearance to train at a high level.

Your PT should be able to make some specific exercises, which will target the right areas but also maintain safety due to your age/inexperience. Talk to your PT about your goals and the rest should be all hard work.

Lastly, mix up your training. Get into some soccer, basketball, swimming etc. Boredom can be a big deal and slotting in some casual games is a great way to mix it up and do something not so serious, yet work on your fitness at the same time.

Best of luck and remember to go hard!

[gxc999 7]

Get some personal training sessions. Also make sure you speak to a doctor and have 100% clearance to train at a high level.

Your PT should be able to make some specific exercises, which will target the right areas but also maintain safety due to your age/inexperience. Talk to your PT about your goals and the rest should be all hard work.

Lastly, mix up your training. Get into some soccer, basketball, swimming etc. Boredom can be a big deal and slotting in some casual games is a great way to mix it up and do something not so serious, yet work on your fitness at the same time.

Best of luck and remember to go hard!

Good points, basketball is insanely good for cardio. Play 5 on 5 full court.

[Chadd 916]

Good points, basketball is insanely good for cardio. Play 5 on 5 full court.

Bad for the knees and especially the ankles though.

[caughtontheice 0]

Thanks for all the great tips so far and so quick.

For cardio on treadmills and bikes what speed or how far should I run in a certain time frame?

how often should I go thru a routine workout a week. And for how long? Right now I've been doing 3 workouts a week for an hour each doing bike, treadmill, home gym machine, push ups, crunches, and long stretches. I only started to do actual squats recently with 5lbs weights. But I think my squat form is off and need help on that lol Ill problly ask my phys ed teacher tmrw how to so I can see it in person instead of youtube. Unless someone knows s person on youtube to learn from...lol

THX again for any help

[gxc999 7]

Bad for the knees and especially the ankles though.

Oh, I know it, that's why I stick to hockey now, haha. Another little idea that helped me out, sprint and rest. How long you rest essentially determines what type of a workout it will be, e.g. less rest between sprints works for more cardio. 

[BucksAway 16]

AFL football

Builds everything... i only recently started playing hockey and i am fastest in my team by a long shot and in the top 5-10 for my league...not bad for my first season

My shot isnt as hard as the others but its more accurate

[Aussie Joe 0]

Bad for the knees and especially the ankles though.

Abit of Bball every now and then should be OK. Think once or twice a month.

AFL football

Builds everything... i only recently started playing hockey and i am fastest in my team by a long shot and in the top 5-10 for my league...not bad for my first season

My shot isnt as hard as the others but its more accurate

Kyle; practice using the flex of your stick to get more power in the shot. For reference look at the Warrior Hockey vids that Kovalev did a year or two back. They can be found on YouTube and explains the best way to shoot. Also look at vids of Sakic and try and do what he does well.

[Hoffer 0]

For cardio I always like interval training, like 45 seconds on, 15 off etc. As already suggested plyometrics are great! Doing them in intervals can be good as well, like 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. The Jump rope is also a great tool. Chang up with different techniques, one foot, skip, etc. The skys the limit! The one thing looked over a lot is flexibility, try looking at it as a workout session all in itself and adding dynamic stretches pre workout and static stretches post workout will help with recovery.

[biff44 0]

Don't let him do leg extensions on the ironman thing--it will groove his cartilage.

You do not have enough dumbells. Get a full set and a dumbell workout poster that shows the top 20 or so exercises, plaster it on a wall, and have him do those.

Get some while tape, paste a big "X" on the ground, and have him do stepping drills on it.

Get two 25 lb kettlebells and have him do a bunch of core exercises with them. There is a guy called Pavel something that has a great video.

Get a bosu balance ball and have him do the exercises that come with the video.

Get jump ropes and have him become a jump rope god.

Use the Ironman for cable pulls and heavier lifts when you are not around. When you are around, have him work mostly with free weights (dumbells, barbells). Seriously, you can get a really good starter set of free weights for small change! Look on craigs list.

Get a ruberized medicine ball and throw with him, or have him throw/catch off a concrete wall.

When it gets nices outside have him do some plyo, but don't let him do any high box jumps until he is in really really good shape.

And, being 15, really watch for growth spurts! When he suddenly grows an inch overnight, give up a lot of the lifting work and work on stretching and plyo until the muscles/tendons all stretch out appropriately!

It would be nice to have some sort of Roman chair to strengthen the core, but that can be done somewhat with crunches and leg raises.

Get two HIGH QUALITY hanging straps so he can do let lifts, etc.

Set up a program to show his sets/weights as he progresses.

And, very important, change up the exercises every month or two.

And being 15, watch out for growth spurts. When he grows an inch overnight, drop the lifting for a week and concetrate on plyo and stretching until the muscles/tendons match the new longer bone length!

[Trooper 8]

You don't say (or I didn't see it) if you have any lifting experience. For the vast majority of people, the basics are the ticket. Total body, multi-joint movements. Deadlifts, squats, bench, heavy back work. Drag a sled if you have access to one, or drag something. A lot of movements are possible with dragging. Kettlebells are good as someone pointed out.

The nonsense about putting on so much weight that you become slow is just that, nonsense. I haven't seen anybody start lifting and just get so big so fast that it's an issue. The vast majority of people have trouble putting weight on as fast as they'd like. If you are playing hockey as you lift, this is a non-issue.

Plyometrics work the central nervous system. That is, once you have strength, they train the nervous system to fire the fibers within a given muscle (intramuscular coordination) and to use various muscles together (intermuscular coordination) in the most efficient manner possible. They are not designed, nor should they ever by used for, conditioning.

[kovyperron5727 0]

Sprints, off ice and on ice. You will become the fastest kid on your team in no time if you do them religiously. I know that first hand

[biff44 0]

You don't say (or I didn't see it) if

The nonsense about putting on so much weight that you become slow is just that, nonsense. I haven't seen anybody start lifting and just get so big so fast that it's an issue. The vast majority of people have trouble putting weight on as fast as they'd like. If you are playing hockey as you lift, this is a non-issue.

I agree! Olympic lifting is all about training the fast twitch muscles and the nerve pathways to be able to react explosively. Unfortunately, it is not the sort of thing you can pick up on your own without a trainer...especially for a 15 y.o.