Hope you had a great weekend, if you are enjoying the Civic Holiday weekend, hope you have an awesome holiday Monday. I am not sure if it is the fallish-hue of the sky lately or the cooler temperatures overnight, but does anyone else have a really hankering for some hockey lately? I wish the NHL season was starting next week 🙂
Real World UGT 3.0 Testing Results
The other day I shared some of the basic testing protocols I use with athletes in the Revolution studio and what I monitor in my top level online training programs the Hockey Training Blueprint for skaters and Ultimate Goalie Training 3.0.
Let me share some real world results from one of our UGT VIP members who just wrapped up all 16-weeks of this challenging off-ice goalie training program.
Chin Ups (relative strength) – 10 (+2 since June; +5 since starting program)
Core Plank & Hold (core endurance)– 3:06 (+34s since June; +1:29 since starting program)
Standing Long Jump (leg power) – 241cm (+7cm since June); +18cm since starting the program)
300yd Shuttle Runs (anaerobic stamina) – 1:01 & 1:02 (-6s and -5s since last test)
It was great 16 weeks and I enjoyed every workout. I’m starting on ice tomorrow so I will post how I feel after first week of ice.
I think you will agree that these are terrific results, wouldn’t you love to double your relative upper body strength and core endurance, boost your leg power and get anaerobic stamina to pro-levels? Thought so.
This player experienced these dramatic improvements over the past 16-weeks for a few reasons.
1) He trained consistently
2) He followed the recipe
He did not dabble with the formula; he followed it to the letter. If I gave you a direct map to a pot of gold, just follow it. Don’t meander through the woods wondering if you will find a better route or a different path – follow the map.
Unless You Are A Chef, Stick To The Recipe
I had a great email exchange with one of you last week that went something like this….
Player: Hey, I am not playing as well as I would like to and I seem to constantly be getting injured. Any chance you could train me privately?
MM: First why don’t you tell me a little more about what you are currently doing for your training, maybe I can give you a few suggestions that will help.
Player: Sure, here is one of my routines – split squats, lunges, single leg leg press, kettlebell swings, foam roll, stretching, 200m sprints, push ups on a ball, TRX rows, squat jumps, deadlifts, bear crawls, ladder drills, 15-minutes on the bike, Bretzel, med ball throws, single leg deadlift….. (I think you get the idea)
MM: Wow that is a lot of stuff, is that a single workout or do you more or less train by feel (meaning – ‘today I FEEL like doing this exercise’)?
Player: No I have a system, so some days I do a few of the core exercises, leg exercises and some sprints, then the other day I might do some of the other core exercises and leg exercises and then ride the bike for 15-minutes or so….yeah I guess I kind of train by ‘feel’.
…I am exaggerating a little wee bit here, but you get my point. I share the story with you because I know many of you are in the same situation. You are training, which is awesome, but you do not realize that you are not following an actually system, you are wandering through the process, not following a map. You are randomly adding ingredients, not following a proven recipe.
It is hard because we all have exercises we like, so we think adding all of those elements to our workout will provide the outcome we crave.
The Fact You Like An Exercise, Does Not Make It Good For Your Off-Ice Training
I really like a good beef stew. I really like peanut butter. I really like orange slices. If celebrity chef Jamie Oliver gave me his prized recipe for beef stew I am not going to ever add peanut butter and orange slices to it just because I like them – I am going to follow the recipe.
So unless you are a chef, stick to the recipe. Here is a sample recipe for you to follow – it is an actually lower body workout taken directly from the UGT 3.0. Now this is not the full tutorial walking you step by step through each exercise, telling you exactly how to do it perfectly, this is just the bonus Quickstart video that you take with you to the gym as a quick reminder…
[fvplayer src=’http://hockeytrainingpro.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/UGTVIPStrengthFTwoQS.m4v’ width=480 height=272]
Note: the videos are protected as part of the UGT 3.0 program, so I hope they will show up fine for you in the players above and below. The are both in .m4v format and I can see them fine on my set up. Just ‘click’ in the centre of the player.
This is only one of the six workouts from phase 2 of the UGT VIP, but chances are it is a lot more functional than what you are doing right now for your off-ice training. I am not saying it is HARDER than what you are doing right now, I am just saying it will transfer onto the ice better than what you are doing right now.
The rep ranges will vary, but typically for this phase we stick to 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps for each exercise.
Now I want to ask you about your ‘recipe’ for off-ice goalie speed drills. Do you have one? Does it look like this?
[fvplayer src=’http://hockeytrainingpro.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/UGTVIPESDFSpeedTwoQS.m4v’ width=480 height=272]
Since this is a speed focus workout we do a max of 10 seconds work with 30-60 seconds of rest for 3-4 sets of each.
So there are two recipes to lead you toward more functional strength, speed and power on the ice. Enjoy.
Cheers,
Maria
PS – if you need more step-by-step recipes for success on the ice then discover more about the Hockey Training Blueprint if you are a skater or Ultimate Goalie Training 3.0 if you are a goalie.
