I have a 16 yr old player who was drafted to the OHL this year. I train his strength and flexibility. In team testing he did well on both areas. However, his recovery runs were dead last. He is highly explosive. He is one of the quicker skaters on the ice. He squats 365 for 4 parallel reps at 175. I don not understand why the coaches want the kids to be able to run 3 miles in under 20 minutes. Sems that this training will take away explosiveness. The kids skate for 40 secs and rest for 5 minutes. Whay train long and slow. Any suggestions as to how to pass test without comprimising his speed?
If the test is a must, and no way to avoid it.
Get him to run it in 19mins 59 secs.
A slight hammy strain on the day of test might help;)
Even better: buy Charlie’s seminar videos and give your the coach a shot (makre usre you get them back). Then direct him to this website.
The problem is that hockey training is among the most primitive of all sports. i’ve had great success working with hockey players- precsely because if you do ANYTHING right you’ll do better than the rest. As they say: “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!”
Good one Charlie. It is almost insane how steeped in tradition that sport is. It’s like a 50 year old coach who’s former 70 yr old coach who was coached by Methusela is passing on info from the stone age. It seems pretty self eveident to anyone with a room temp IQ that hockey is using a completely different energy system than a 3 mile run. I have the chance to be the strength for an OHL team, but worry that I would end up killing the very people I was working for. Talk about a sport that could use a paradigm shift in a major way. It reminds me of something Ian King once said. “fatigue masks fitness”. The coaches see a kid who can skate circles around his teammates, but sucks in a distance run and immediately the solution is to run the kid to death, thereby negating his greatest strength. Sounds reasonable to me!:shoot:
For energy system work CT over at t-mag uses 400’s with his hockey players. I’ve recently started helping a hockey player. We’ve been using 400’s for a month now with good results. I think that 200’s and 400’s are very energy system specific. For more info check out CT’s running man article @ t-mag.
101
Don’t be so afraid; without running anything over 200 yards/meters for a year I ran a 5:15 mile for lacrosse fairly easily. Well actually I felt like I was going to die but it’s still not that hard.
Good luck, Great sport,
Adam Marshall
101pro:
The 400’s approach you mention is used quite a bit for other team sports such as soccer -
personally I’m not convinced about using such long distances for any kind of a long period at all.
Here is a question?
Can a team be prepared NOT using anything above 120-100 metres from pre - to close season?
I think it can be done.
And I think the team would be faster, sharper and have a better speed reserve.
I think it could be done. As a matter of fact, I may well try it with some of the OHL guys I train. It seems as though people involved in hockey need to move forward in the training of the sport.
ideal
… and most team sports.
I must admit Hockey is one sport I know little about - other than about the ‘Great One’ - but then again who doesn’t?
I think the problem lies in the structuring of training.
Proper use should be made of Intervals, Fartlek, Tempo agility and of course SPEED!
But the only reason I see for running very long distances might be for training variety.
Coaches like prescribing 400’s for hockey because it makes the players vomit and it hurts like hell. But what are the overall impacts of implementing such work over numerous reps, without appropriate recoveries? Do the players actually get faster? Lactic acid tolerance is not the limiting factor in hockey. Speed and power (demonstrated over short distances for short durations) and skill is the difference between the top players and the scrubs.
personally i think running such long distances for such events are stupid.ok hockey involves alot of endurance but also alot of explosive spurts of speed.fartlek would be excellent,training both energy systems and adding variety to the session.keep the long running for the long distance people,there are numerous ways to build endurance rather than running for rediculas amounts of time.
rowing can build immense endurance and is ideal for working the entire body
Two excellent posts …
Just one point that No2 touched on -
The pain vomiting etc.
Many coaches also do this too to build a mental toughness and to encourage players to break thru the pain barrier, suffer and develop a hard work attitude etc.
I think if coaches knew how to develop mental toughness and team spirit in other less destructive approaches there would be less vomitting, more endorphins and better feelings!! all leading to better more relaxed performances …
Take a leaf from the John Wooden approach.
hmm,vomiting.the only thing that vomiting does to an athlete is mentally tell the athlete,hey that was too much…that thought will stay with the athlete and will not want to go as far the next time.thought programmes will stay after bad expereiences
Originally posted by idealimage
I have a 16 yr old player who was drafted to the OHL this year. I train his strength and flexibility. In team testing he did well on both areas. However, his recovery runs were dead last. He is highly explosive. He is one of the quicker skaters on the ice. He squats 365 for 4 parallel reps at 175. I don not understand why the coaches want the kids to be able to run 3 miles in under 20 minutes. Sems that this training will take away explosiveness. The kids skate for 40 secs and rest for 5 minutes. Whay train long and slow. Any suggestions as to how to pass test without comprimising his speed?
Back to the original question. Do you prescribe tempo? It may kill two birds with the one stone: aid in the conditioning of your athlete and aid in his recovery between the elements of his training that really count, the high intensity elements.
It continues to baffle me how games such as Hockey, where performance is defined by its high intensity elements (a jump, a sprint, a tackle, a side-step, a kick, a swing etc.), do not physically prepare their athletes for the real demands of their sport!
Also … what format will the Tempo take?
Can Tempo be of a Fartlek format so long as the %'s are kept low and recovery legs very easy?
Hey Xman should have a view on this one too …
The worst example of the foolish attempts of the integration of science into soccer was the releasing of a ‘Fact’ a number of years ago which said that ‘a soccer player covers up to 8km’s in a game’ …
Since then every soccer player has been encouraged to take up c-c running
Well, if Science said so…
Yes - GF - this is where I’m starting to loose ideas -
What do Xlr8, David or some of the other guys involved in such sports think?
Lets hear the theories …
Might be best if I post a sample session and let the Wolves devour!
Sample Session (Speed Repeatibility)
3-4 x 50m (90-120 secs recovery)
Repeat 2 - 4 times (Longer recovery between sets)
Speed Volume: 300m - 500m
David, xlr8, 23. Thoughts?