Should you push the panic button on your off-season goalie training?

So here we are in early July and you see through the calendar to the next page of the calendar and….YIKES!  There is it is, staring you in the face.  Training camp.

Immediately your mind starts racing you think about how you skipped that speed workout on May 3rd so you could watch the Jersey Shore premier, then there was the leg day where you only did 6 reps on your last set of front squats rather than 8 and of course there was last Tuesday when you ate four scoops of peanut butter right out of the jar (that is gross, don’t do that anymore!).

Then the feeling of doom sets in before you come up with the brilliant concept  – ‘I have sinned…I must repent’.  I will train 7-hours per day for the next 8-weeks and make up for the time I have lost.  I also see this ‘must do more’ mentality from those of you who never skip your off-ice training, you stay true to your nutrition plan, in fact every thing you have achieved has been due to your great work ethic.  You are my favourite athletes to train, but sometimes you sabotage yourself with your hard working goodness.

Click on the video to see why MORE is not BETTER…

You see the key to a successful off-season goalie training program is to follow a system and stick to a plan.  The idea is to gain maximum returns with the minimal amount of damage to your body.  Yes, training causes damage – why do you think your muscles grow bigger and stronger with your strength training.  Not because your body wants to just give you a nice reward for your effort, but because the muscle tissue sustains micro trauma which the body repairs by beefing things up a little.

How ‘extra’ training sabotages your success…

1. Your circulating hormone levels change as you exercise.  Growth hormone is what you want when you are training because it promotes – you guessed it GROWTH!  Cortisol is a stress hormone, which has its place – and that place is not with you in the gym.  As your intense workout gets into the 45-60+ minute range the growth hormone will start to decrease and the cortisol will increase.
2. A good off-season program has specific sets, repetitions and recovery intervals to stimulate specific adaptations – kind of like the way your doctor prescribes a specific dose of a medication.  When your doctor prescribes a drug and it makes your stomach ache go away, you don’t figure ‘Gee the one pill made my stomach ache better, I think I will just take three more to make sure’.  Same with your training – programs are designed for specific volumes – doing twice the work will not double your benefit.
3. Adding more than your prescribed volume of training will cause more of the micro trauma we discussed early plus it depletes your energy further, giving you fewer resources to rebuild and repair even more damage.  Which will not only stunt your gains, but could even lead to injury.

So work the plan people – trust in your training.   What you are feeling is normal.  I feel it too – I see where I want my players to be when they are heading to camp and I see where I want more speed, more power, more strength.  But I also see how far we have come since the beginning of May and based on my experience I know the feeling of panic is normal and I also know that as long as I stick to the system they will be ready to go.

Cheers,
Maria