I think you know by now that I don’t really care about how you look, so I am not going to sell you on building powerful, sexy shoulders that will be the envy of everyone at the beach. If that happens…so be it, but my goal is to keep you hockey players healthy on the ice. The contents of this article will help forwards, defensemen and goalies protect their shoulders and improve their performance.
I know you wear shoulder pads, but the shoulder joint still takes a beating.
Drive a guy into the boards? – your shoulder gets jarred
Take a slapper? – your shoulder gets jarred
Get tripped from behind and fall forward? – your shoulder gets jarred
Get run over on a break-away? – you shoulder gets jarred
So it would be great if we could add a little extra armour to that joint wouldn’t it?
Let me show you four exercises that you can slot into your current off-ice training routine that will help strengthen your rotator cuff, improve your shoulder stability and add some mass to your deltoids which are responsible for the big powerful movements at your shoulders AND will give you a little more padding and durability.
Can’t see the video above? No worries, just click the link below…
http://youtu.be/Ldl4Q9y9_EI
How Much? How Many?
- Bungee ‘W’ – do 2-3 sets of 12 reps – start with a very light resistance band
- ½ Kneeling KB BU Shoulder Press – do 3 sets of 8 reps on each side; lower the weight for a count of 3 seconds)
- Sandbag Squat & Pass Shoulder To Shoulder – do 3 sets of 8 each at a steady pace
- DB Deltoid Circuit – Do 2-3 sets of 8 reps each. Make sure you are not using momentum to move the weights; you should be able to pause at the top of the movement without the weights dropping back down at all.
So if you end up filling out your Under Armour shirts a little better so be it – we will consider it a happy by-product of adding more strength and stability to a joint that can be vulnerable to injury in forwards, defensemen and goalies.
Happy training – those Deltoid circuits are TOUGH, start with only 5lbs!
Cheers,
M