Hockey specific cardio workouts

[bjlasota 0]

As someone who grew up playing hockey daily, then played daily in college, then hit real life with work and hockey 1-2x per week, my endurance has suffered greatly. I am looking to add some HIIT and cardio to my normal lifting routine and wanted to see if what I have planned will help with increasing my speed, endurance, and needed bursts. Currently play once a week, but will ramp up to 3 days a week at the end of November while skating all the other days on my homemade rink pending weather.

For now, to get my legs prepped for late November, I’m thinking of doing 2 days of HIIT on my spin bike, likely Tues and Thursday mornings. Then on the opposite days, doing an easy cardio ride while I watch hockey(either live at night, or DVR in the morning). Thoughts?

Has anyone played on their stationary bike to simulate a hockey game? Basically watch a game, and mimic on the cardio bike what a shift is for a certain player? I’ve read a lot around that HIIT is ideal, 4-5 min warmup, 20 second burts, 40 sec rest, repeat 10x, then 4-5 min cooldown.

[chippa13 1844]

What I have done, on the treadmill I will alternate a minute faster with a minute at my normal jog for a while wedged between my standard warm-up and cool-down. I have also done similar things on the bike and elliptical. One thing I would recommend is to switch up exercises so you aren't just doing the spin bike. I'll even move from machine to machine during workouts, maybe 15 on the treadmill, 10 on the elliptical and then 10 on the bike.

[salayc 8]

As a former cyclist who has done a lot of intervals, I would add that you need a way to measure your intensity. A heart rate monitor is fine, and do a little research on calculating your anaerobic threshold. Hockey is a high intensity sport, so I think you're on the right track with the type of training. Your duration sounds a bit short, but it probably doesn't matter much. If you can complete a set of 10 intervals above your threshold you're going to hurt.

[vectoranalysisgo 3]

Have you considered just doing sprints (for the HIIT)? I get the idea of trying to simulate the game and it's nice to be able to watch something while you workout... but I have found just doing a set of 10 intervals of sprints gets the most bang for your buck and is the easiest to coordinate since you don't have to deal with changing the resistance on a cardio machine and it doesn't require any equipment. I tend to just find somewhere I have room to sprint at full out max effort for 10-15 seconds (I count in my head but they make nice watches/heart-rate monitors that will count down intervals for you), and then stop and walk back to where I started, which tends to take about 30 seconds... when I get back to the start I sprint again and repeat for 10 intervals. Jog for a bit to warm up and cool down if you want. If you can do it more than 10 times, you're not working hard enough during the effort interval. 20 minutes total, and it's really all you need... the extra (lower intensity) cardio doesn't do much in my experience.

When I do HIIT sprints on a fairly regular basis, it does wonders for my quickness and endurance. Regular, lower-intensity cardio doesn't... although it's not without its own value.

[chippa13 1844]

Warm up and cool down are not optional.

[thorbs 2]

Get off the bike, run some hills.

Don't overthink it, guesstimate how many shifts you take in a game, and then a few times a week do sprints with that in mind. Don't go try and run 20x30/40 yards dashes, as your form will go to s***, but maybe try to run 6. Next week, try to run 7, or change up the distance, etc.

You want to get off the bike as skating changes up how your legs work, sprinting will go towards your body maintaining it's natural movement pattern.

[chippa13 1844]

Yeah, that's why scratches and injured guys that can ride the bike for the first period of games they miss.