I’m not sure if you understood the hockey treadmill. It’s different than the running treadmill, as the athlete wears their skates on the hockey treadmill. The belt uses slats made from some plastic polymer that mimics the ice.
You are absolutely correct instating that the Frappier program is GPP. I would never try and convince anyone that the program is sport specific, because it is not. Occasionally we do acceleration runs where the speed is accelerated at a controled pace, but it is maybe once every six weeks or so.
It tries to mimic the ice, but really doesnt. Many athletes have a hard time skating on that surface and on top of that you have to have super sharp skates. Over time this polymer wears away and starts shredding. Not a surface i want to skate on with brand new skates.
Reality of the situation is key and Frit calls it like he sees it.
The treadmill may be the best thing since mail order russian brides but cost and limits are the problem. The OWS might be great but what the hell…who has that cash?
How does it not mimic the ice? Yes, the surface shears with each stride, but what does ice do with each stride? It shears just like the synthetic ice. Yes, skates should be sharp, but they should be sharp for on ice training as well. How would synthetic ice wear down a pair of skates anymore than ice?
Clemson,
If the athlete is worried about cost, they shouldn’t be playing hockey! I don’t know many sports that are more expensive to play. There are team dues, equipment, travel, and ice time is rediculous.
Give me $50,000 and i can build a small rink, a dryland warm-up agility area and small weight room, that fits 10 -15 athletes at once time. compared to buying into some name and machine that can only train one athlete at a time.
Dude, the slats on the treadmill get worn down, chip and fray. Trust me i have been around one and have seen it with my own eyes. Ice does shear but is fixed each period by the Zamboni(spelling?) smoothes it out.
So now only the rich should play hockey? $700+ for the program is ridiculous money. Then dont even get me started on the lifting routines.
I understand and agree (although we train up to 4 athletes at a time)! It wasn’t my money that was used to buy the program and equipment. I just work here.
But when the slats get like that, we replace them. The price will vary for each location, but compared to personal training, it is a bargain. I like the machines, but this is just my opinion.
I understand the Hockey treadmill very well! I used to walk by it everyday when I lifted at the UofA gym! I believe they even have a harness mounted on the roof in case you fall. The name Frappier is on the wall too! CF has posted about why treadmills cannot replace speed work or other track stuff. Do a search and I think it might open your eyes a little bit as to why people are opposed to Frappier.
I am very familiar with why people here are opposed to treadmills. My first posts included many people, very adamently, telling me what they felt was wrong with training on a treadmill.
As a side note, knowing how most polymers show fatigue and handle shearing, i wouldn’t want to be on a treadmill sticking blades in it.
I know that this has little to due with the Crappier/Frappier system…but
In a recent Q&A at Elite, Martin Rooney talks about sprint training his hockey athletes. I agree with his sentiment.
It seems to me that treadmill skating is analogous to punching with dumbells to improve punching speed. It seems like a good idea until you actually try it. Sprinting is cheap (50K could have payed for two to three years of my undergraduate education as an out-of-stater!) and its benefits to hockey are well known.
I’m just curious but has the guy ever worked with hockey players or skaters other than Brian Boitano? Not trying to sound like an ass but I checked his bio and found nothing.
I have been asking all my players if they’d tried the treadmills before and one of them with his agent was responsible for Cornell getting one because of the improvements he had in his skating. He is a goalie btw. Everone there loves the thing too.
I don’t know, I think I’d personally stick with sprints myself. If the guys had a chance to go on there and lengthen their stride I’d say go for it but for overall speed, Sprints and Smith machine squats !!! Lol just kidding.
Can’t get his webpage to load up, to much java shtuff for my crap connection. I am just going on what was said in the Q&A. Generally i give them the benefit of the doubt.
The synthetic surfaces really bust down your skate’s edges. Guys I know will have an alternate set of stell they’ll put in thier skates if they use the treadmills because the edges get so far busted up. The reason they do that is simple, because it actually gets cut, not melted (ice) it will wear down your blades.
From the way it sounds, the treadmill isn’t worth the time, when you can buy a Tuuk rocker chasis to mount to skate roller in a similar way from smarthockey. Even then, you can take it on an extra wide and long treadmill to skate.
As far as not having open ice to practice skills on, it just takes a little determination. Getting up at 5 am takes disipline to go to the local rink to get open ice.
Or in using dumbells for weighted arm swings! LOL! I’m still shocked to see people use this method today! In fact; I saw on another thread here on the forum and I believe it is in that book by Dintiman and Ward, whats it called? Training for speed? LMFAO!
I can’t believe people are arguing the merits of the skating treadmill on this forum. Anyone uneducated enough to use that thing deserves the lousy results.
There has been one in Vancouver here for about a decade. Funny thing is that it is located next to a bunch of ice rinks. What am I missing here - “There’s ice just over there…!” Come on people.
How come speed skaters (obviously faster than hockey players) don’t use them?
There’s 2 or 3 more now around Vancouver and they’re also located in the same building as ice rinks. They’re quite a big thing around here. Over ther summer they’re constantly in use. IS this similar to other places in canada or US where hockey is popular
I’m not sure if you know it or not, but Martin Rooney has trained his athletes using the Frappier system. If you check out his book, “Training for Warriors,” the equipment is seen often and he even has a picture of Ricardo Almeida running on the treadmill.
There is nothing wrong with using sprint training for hockey players. There are benefits to the hockey treadmill that cannot be achieved from sprinting, and there are benifits from on ice training that cannot be achieved on the treadmill.
And what about the opposite ?
so, the use of a “Ride-On” or a “Kick-Scooter” to train muscles need for sprint ?
It´s a good idea ? Does anyone have tryied this before with success ?
I just work here.