Peak For Play-Offs

It happens every year like clockwork, the panic sets in and the emails and phone calls start coming through.

They go something like this… ‘My team’s play-offs start in 5 (2 or 3 or 4) weeks and I need to be in peak shape.  Which program should I do?’

Have you ever heard the saying, “The best time to start you hockey training is 4-months ago.  The second best time is right now?”

So you cannot be in peak shape in only 3, 4, 5, even 6 weeks.  It WILL NOT happen and if someone tells you they can get you there, they are not telling the truth.  You can, however be in 3, 4, 5, 6 weeks better shape over that time frame.

You see hitting your ‘peak’ fitness actually takes years.  That is why the Olympians you will soon see on TV did not just start training for the games 6-weeks ago.  This has been a competition lifetimes in the making.

Here’s how to get better in only 4-weeks.

So now our goal is to get you in noticeably better shape over the next 4-weeks let’s say.  Keeping in mind that you are still in-season and presumably playing games and having team practices we need to boil down the workouts to the things that really matter – power, speed and keeping your healthy, so mobility and stability.  Depending on your team practices, you may need some stamina work, but again, that will be high intensity repeated burst training.

I posted a nice body weight circuit for skaters that includes strength, power and stamina HERE and one for goalies HERE – these would be good workouts to use.  If you are a skater and want a step-by-step blueprint for the next 4-weeks (complete with coaching every step of the way from me) then you should check out the 28-Day Transformation for Skaters – it starts today.

The Schedule…

Here’s how I would set up your schedule.  Let’s say you have two games and two practices per week….

Monday – Power & Stamina (20-30-minutes)

Tuesday – Practice + Mobility & Stability (20-minutes)

Wednesday – Power & Stamina (20-30 minutes)

Thursday – Practice + Mobility & Stability (20-minutes)

Friday – Night game

Saturday – Mobility & Stability (20-minutes)

Sunday – Afternoon game

So the key with the Power & Stamina workouts is on force production and short/medium duration repeated sprints.  You can use some stabilization or stick handling drills for active recovery.

The Mobility & Stability session should include your self-myofascial release, a stretch circuit (like these – http://youtu.be/qxNFHgxz9aA) and some core stability work, such as the exercises that you will find here – http://youtu.be/r_Dq2ucB27Q

So don’t try and over do it.  Don’t train like it is the off-season.  Do short, punchy workouts and make sure to taper back on these about a week before your first play-off game so you have some time to recover.

Hope that helps, best of luck the rest of the way!

Cheers,
M

Click the image to see how it works.