Happy Valentine’s day! Hope you did not forget your loved one today – if you did there is still time to run out and grab an apple, then take a heart shaped bit out of it as shown on the right…I am sure that will be just as good as roses, jewelry or a fancy dinner! Okay, maybe I will just stick to off-ice hockey training tips and save the romance tips for someone else (although Paul and I have been happily married for 15 years so far so maybe I am not that far off!).
First bit of business before I get to today’s post…I need to apologize because some of you who registered for the free Ultimate Core Training for Hockey Guide by using the optin box at the top right of this page are repeatedly receiving Module #5 of the hockey training mini-course. I just found out about this issue mid-way through last week and I am working with my email distributor to figure out why that is happening. My intention never to spam you, but clearly there is a glitch somewhere in the system. Thank you very much for your patience and I will let you know what I find out and when I get it resolved.
Now on to today’s Question & Answer; each week or two I will select 3-4 of the questions I get each week over at www.hockeytrainingpro.com and share the responses. I figure chances are if one of you has taken the time to ask me the question, there are probably others who have the same question but just have not had the time to ask it. So here we go with this week’s questions. If you don’t want to read the responses, just skip down to the video and watch…
Question #1 – Is it okay to do the self myofascial release 1.5 hours before stepping on the ice?
- If I had it my way, I would rather see that self myofascial release a little closer to game time. This goalie was doing his foam rolling at home before heading to the arena, I would probably pack along a 12” foam roller or The Stick and do my myofascial release, then my dynamic warm-up along with my hand-eye coordination work. I think it would be okay to do the hand-eye coordination work right before putting on your final pieces of equipment and stepping on the ice too.
Question #2 – Any suggestions for an 11 year old goalie who just went through a big growth spurt and now has really sore knees related to patellar tendonitis?
- This is extremely common! When a child grows, they grow from their bones – the muscles do not get advanced notice and the muscles do not grow in length as quickly as the bones. So if a bone grows by an inch, then that muscle is suddenly an inch too tight. This leads to a real lack of flexibility in a hurry.
- When I was the exercise specialist in a sport physio clinic we could relieve a lot of knee and knee cap pain by implementing a few basic stretches on a daily basis:
o Standing quadriceps stretch
o Hamstring stretch
o ½ Kneeling hip flexor stretch
o ½ kneeling hip flexor + quadriceps stretch
§ All are shown in the video below
§ Hold for 30 seconds each – do 1-2 times per day (that is only 4 minutes of stretching)
Question #3 – Is the Techno Gym Wave Trainer an okay piece of cardio equipment to use for a warm-up at the gym?
- This cardio station is a cross between an elliptical trainer and a skating machine – it lets the player use a little more of a skating stride. I think hopping on a machine like this for a 5-minute general warm up before a more dynamic warm up is just fine. You all know that I do not fancy using gym equipment all that much, but I don’t think doing 5-10 minutes on one of these units will be harmful at all.
If you hate reading or want to see videos of the stretching exercises – check out this video…
Thanks for the questions, please keep them coming. If you have a question, I will be happy to answer it – just post it in the comments section below this post!
Cheers,
Maria