Hope this post finds you well and ready for the season which for some of you has already started with exhibition play. We had a lovely weekend here in Southern Ontario – great temperature for running or working (or napping) outside.
Goalie Specific Training: In-Season
Today I want to talk to you about your in-season training. I know you just spent the past 4-months working out, building your flexibility, stability, strength, speed and stamina. You battled hard and got a spot on the team…now what?
Will you be like 90% of the players I work with who come back after the season in worse shape? Weaker, slower and yes…often fatter?
Is that how you want to face play-offs – weaker, slower and fatter than you are now? Probably not. At the very least you would like to maintain your current level so you are ready to perform your best when the season is on the line. If you are smart, you also want to reduce your risk of injuries during the season so you can stay on the ice and off the bench. Finally when you return to your off-season training program next year you want to actually build on your success of this year, not spend the first 8-10 weeks just trying to get back to where you are now.
I know you will be busy with practices and games, I get it. I know you will not have time to train like you did in the summer – I get it!
But you do have time to stay in shape and for those of you who skipped the whole off-season training thing this year, you have time to get in shape. The key is making the most of your time. You really can maintain or improve your strength and conditioning in 20-40 minutes working out 2-4 times per week.
Is it ideal – well, yes it is ideal if you only have 20-40 minutes to spend working out. What use is having the most comprehensive training program available – like the Ultimate Goalie Training 2.0 system if you do not have the time to get the workouts done?
Here is how to set it up:
1. If at all possible, do your workouts at home. Saving that extra 20-50 minutes that it can take you to get to and from the gym can make all the difference. You really do not need much equipment at all. Let me show you below how you can get a great goalie specific workout using just some dumbbells, a stability ball, a jump rope and resistance band.
2. Cut out all the fluff – only do exercises that are must-do exercises. Anything that is a ‘nice to have’ exercise gets cut out.
3. Work hard, work efficiently and set up your workout so you can quickly move from one exercise to the next without resting so that even your resistance training will give you an aerobic benefit. This is what people are calling metabolic training these days – I call it working hard.
Sample goalie specific in-season workout:
This is what I am talking about:
- Push Up to Leg Lift at Top (chest, shoulders, triceps, abdominals, hips) x 20 seconds
- Resistance Band Standing Single Leg Row (mid back, biceps, hip flexors, hip rotators, lower leg & balance) x 20 seconds
- 1/2 Kneeling Knee Recovery Lateral Push (leg power, lateral speed) x 20 seconds
- Glute Bridge with Leg Lift – Shoulders on Stability Ball (posterior chain, glutes, hip rotators) x 20 seconds
- High Knees Jump Rope (hip flexors, anaerobic lactic energy system, coordination) x 20 seconds
- Dumbbell Split Squat (leg strength/muscular endurance, hip flexor mobility) x 20 seconds
Do not rest at all between exercises, but rest 2- minutes at the end of each circuit, you can do some juggling off the wall here to make the best use of your time.
If you repeat this circuit 4 times – you will be quite fatigued and you will have only spent about 20-minutes training. Do you think this will help you be a more effective goalie than sitting around belly-aching about how you don’t have any time to workout? Yes, me too.
Enjoy.
Cheers,
Maria