Traditionally hockey players have trained through a combination of traditional weight room workouts paired with a few on-ice skating drills. Recent research, however, shows that a focus on hockey acceleration drills may be more beneficial to building better players.
Successful hockey players all have a few things in common – rink sense, skills, competitiveness, poise, passion – but perhaps the most important of these characteristics is athleticism. Athleticism is itself a collection of traits. It is composed of speed, agility, coordination, balance, strength, endurance, flexibility and, perhaps the most important, the ability to react quickly.
Hockey Acceleration Drills Build Reaction Time
The ability to react quickly is as important in hockey as in any other sport, if not more so. Reacting quickly to unexpected checks, losing an edge while cornering or sidestepping will keep a player on his feet. In fact, in the best players these issues aren’t issues at all and spectators may not even notice they occurred.
This skill isn’t one that is incorporated into most traditional drills, but it is one that is typically developed through on-ice experience. This does not have to be only way, though. Instead of traditional workouts, hockey players should focus on exercises that offer a variety of explosive movements. Drills that require unexpected adjustments and agility are best, especially if they combine strength training with plyometric exercises such as jumping and sprinting.
Not only do these drills increase reaction time and allow a player to react to any given situation, they build quickness. Together these skills give a player an on-ice advantage in cornering and shifting sideways, and even in general skating speed.
It is the combination of quickness and ability to react that we sometimes call explosive acceleration. To many, this is the most important factor for performance on the ice.
Hockey Acceleration Drills Vs. Traditional Workouts
Using kinetics, we can break down acceleration according to the equation force = mass x acceleration. This translates in many sports drills to traditional weight lifting and other slow strength-building activities. This is certainly appropriate for sports that require that type of slow lifting such as power lifting, shot put and weight lifting. Even linemen in football benefit from this type of training. With hockey, however, the focus is on moving less mass – only the player’s own weight – at a faster speed. For this reason, hockey drills should focus primarily on accelerating more explosively with less mass.
Knowing this does not discount the importance of heavy strength training for all athletes. Lifting weights and traditional weight room workouts should be included during the offseason for all athletes. For hockey players, however, they should be in addition to workouts which primarily focus on building greater horizontal acceleration. If you are interested in learning more about hockey acceleration drills, HockeyOT can help.
