What To Do As Soon As Your Season Ends…

April 6, 2015

It is the same story year after year. Only two teams are going to go all…the…way.

Only two teams will make it to the final game of the season (or maybe a handful go to the championship tournament), the rest of the teams drop off as play-offs roll along.

So what should you do when you find yourself on the outside looking in?

If your season ended prematurely, you may feel you have something to prove. You may be motivated to start training for next season the very next day so you can be even more prepared when the puck drops.

This is a huge mistake!

Your season just ended; here’s what to do…

Take two weeks off your structured training. Your body is beaten down and it needs some time to recover. Your brain needs a little break as well. Trust me, even if you feel 100% ready to go, this is a crucial time.

You don’t have to sit home on the sofa like a sloth, you can still go for a bike ride, a rollerblade, play some tennis, whatever – just no structured training.

This is also the time you will get any unresolved injuries looked after and don’t be fooled if they feel fine after the season ends. It might feel fine because you are not doing anything. That tweak or injury might be lying dormant until you start into your off-season training, just waiting to pop up and derail your training for next season.

Get into see a good sport physio or whomever you see to look after your injuries, get it assessed and get some exercises to work on so you will be ready to start your training again without an issue.

Assess your performance during this two-week period. Don’t worry about the other players on your team – how did you perform. What did you do well and more importantly, what can you do better?

It might be your speed, your stamina or your attitude that needs an adjustment, but be honest with yourself so you understand what you are training for during the next four-months.

After you assess your performance, write out your top two goals for next season and your first three action steps for each goal – I walked you through this process in detail HERE

Have a plan…

Now you are rested and healthy (or getting there), you know your strength, weaknesses and what you need to achieve over the next four months, you need to have a plan. Do not make the mistake of heading into the gym without a clear plan for your off-season training.

You can follow one of my step-by-step off-ice training programs, find the best trainer you can afford and work with them or even pour over the info here at www.HockeyTrainingPro.com and sketch out a program for yourself. Do any of these things, but have a plan.

If you want to have a season like you have never had before then you need a plan. Just like if you were going on a road trip to place you have never visited, you wouldn’t go without directions would you?

Of course not, that would be crazy. And so is trying to train based on what you feel you should do.

If you do what you have always done…

If you did not have the season that you had hoped for last year, then make sure you adjust your training accordingly. I’m not saying you need to change everything; maybe there were some good parts. Maybe you got much, much stronger, but found that your legs felt heavy and slow after the first period.

We can fix that by adjusting the volume of your speed and stamina training. That way we can keep you strong, but give you back your speed and build even more stamina.

I heard Joffrey Lupul talking with Elliotte Friedman before the start of last nights Leafs game saying that he was definitely going to make a change to his training this off-season with more emphasis on staying healthy – he cannot afford to have another season plagued with injuries. He has a plan.

It is a marathon…

Becoming the hockey player you dream of being is a marathon, it will not happen over night, but you can make some huge strides this off-season; set yourself up for success.