Seems appropriate that we are talking hockey “Warm-Ups” today since we had our first snowfall last night! Remember when you used to have to warm up the car before you could go anywhere? I barely remember it but, it seems like my Dad had to warm up the red Buick convertible (to me it looked like the Batmobile – other than the fact that it was red) he had when I was just a wee girl. In case you were wondering it did have a name and her name was ‘Bessie’
Your body is a little bit like ol’ Bessie – it needs to warm up. You may not think of your body as a sequence of electrical and chemical reactions, but that’s what it is. It takes a little time to get things up and running as efficiently as possible.
Your brain needs a warm-up too…
I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty, but let me summarize in a sentence or two. Nervous impulses are electrical impulses and with learning and ‘activation’ those can follow a more direct pathway, which means your movements might get a fraction of a second faster. That can make a big difference when you are facing a shooter.
Your energy system works very efficiently with fat as a substrate, but it takes a while for your body to mobilize the free fatty acids that it can use for energy during lower intensity times, so a good warm up can help prepare your body to use fat as an energy source right from puck drop, rather than having that 10-minute lag heading into the game.
I know your situations will differ – when you get to the rink, how much time you have before puck drop and what space you have for warming up, but here is a general outline.
Get to the rink…
Do your foam rolling or myofascial release – 5-minutes or so.
Do your static stretch sequence – I described this HERE – yes, we static stretch before the game.
Do your dynamic warm up sequence. I think it is best to do this in just your long-johns rather than doing it with your pads on. Again, it might depend on your particular situation, but I do not feel there is any benefit to doing it with your pads on – that does not make it more ‘sport specific’.
Here are some exercises you can include in your dynamic warm up – you can do them either traveling or stationary, if you have the space do them traveling:
If you cannon see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/lYJ1UOhuanw
- Knee Hug
- Quad Stretch
- High Kick & Reach
- Lunge & Rotate
- Greatest Stretch
- Down & Back
- Side Step & Rotate
- Over The Fence
- High Knees Skip
- Lateral Push
- you could add in some agility drills or a read and react drill at this stage as well.
Do each exercise for 4-5 reps on each side.
Ideally you will finish this warm-up, then go put on your gear – get the final thoughts from your coach and step out on the ice for the on-ice warm up (or as you may know it – ‘ducking while being shelled by slappers from your team’).
So there you go – your formula to step out on the ice ready to go from the second the puck drops.
Cheers,
M
Your step-by-step follow along goalie specific mobility system AND complete off-ice warm up >> CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS.