Girls Hockey Training - 3 Things You Must Avoid This Summer (Part 2)

By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

In Part 1 of "3 Things You Must Avoid This Summer", we discussed the importance of players performing functional exercises in their summer training programs. In this article, I will talk about another training problem that is far too common with girls hockey players - and young female athletes in general.

BIG PROBLEM #2: There is far TOO MUCH AEROBIC training

One of the biggest problems I see when I look at the off-season training programs of young female hockey players is that they involve entirely too much aerobic training. A varsity training program I recently reviewed had players running for 45 minutes three times a week at a relatively high intensity. Not only is this type of training not hockey-specific, but it can potentially lead to a decrease in performance and an increased likelihood of injury in young athletes!

The term 'aerobic' means requiring oxygen. The aerobic system provides players with the energy they need when performing activities at low to moderate intensity level over a long period of time, such as long-distance cycling or running.

But...

The game of hockey is characterized by short, explosive, high-intensity efforts interspersed with periods of complete rest. The best hockey players in the world are the ones who are strong, fast, agile and powerful - not those who can run at 10 miles in the fastest time. Hockey is simply not an endurance sport.

The challenge is that players feel as though they are becoming more fit for hockey by focusing on increasing their endurance in the off-season. Players who go for long slow distance runs over the summer will definitely develop their endurance, but this enhancement will come at the expense of their ability to perform at the highest intensity level consistently throughout the game.

Bottom line: When players focus on doing long slow distance training instead of high-intensity interval-based training, they are quite often training themselves OUT of hockey shape. Long slow distance training makes players SLOW. Instead, players need to train like they play - fast and quick.

Interval Training: The Key to Hockey Conditioning

Interval training is the most efficient and effective way of conditioning hockey players. Interval training involves high-intensity efforts interspersed with periods of rest. The key to effective interval training for hockey is to 'work hard and rest easy' by adhering to similar work-to-rest ratios used on the ice and to incorporate multiple changes of speed in direction seen in every shift a player takes.

For example, shuttle running is a type of interval training that allows players to mimic the time, intensity and movement specificity of the average hockey shift.

Shuttle runs are much more demanding on both the athletes' cardiovascular and muscular systems than going for a long run or mindlessly running sprints around a track. The changes of direction in shuttle runs require that players be able to accelerate, decelerate and change direction effectively - which is exactly what they need to do on the ice.

Proper conditioning in off-season training will allow young female players to be faster once they get back to the ice in the pre-season instead of making them slower.

In Part 3 of "What to AVOID This Summer", I will explain how using a complicated off-season training program will often lead to fatigue, frustration and injury in the summer instead of increasing performance and confidence.

© Total Female Hockey 2008

Kim McCullough, YCS, MSc, is a Athletic Development Specialist and founder of Total Female Hockey. In addition to training and coaching girls at all levels of hockey, from novice to the National team, Kim has also played at the highest level of women’s hockey in the world for the last decade. Kim’s female player development website features a state-of-the-art Complete Off-Season Training Program and her blog gives the coaches and parents of aspiring young players access to the most up-to-date tips and advice on how to help their players take their game to the next level. To learn more about female-specific player development, get your Free Report: The #1 Mistake Female Players Make in the Off-Season at http://www.totalfemalehockey.com