Cornavirus Social Distancing Hockey at Home Guide

28 Mar Cornavirus Social Distancing Hockey at Home Guide

The Coronavirus has forced us all to develop ways to play Hockey at Home as we practice responsible social distancing we are essentially in need of virtual hockey training. Leagues have been cancelled, hockey camps on hiatus, spring hockey has been pushed back and so have try-outs and the possible start of the hockey season. Not only are we all practicing social distancing, scared of getting the Coronavirus, but we are also petrified that we will lose our edge going into the start of the 2020 hockey season. Strides, shots, agility and timing on lateral movement will all fade away because of the Coronavirus unless we structure our Hockey at Home workouts with intent. Keep these 5 Hockey at Home suggestions in mind when developing your workouts.

Hockey at Home Principal 1: Stretch it out

Ice is expensive, game preparation is rushed… lets face it, there is never any time to stretch. Practicing social distancing as we wait for the Corona virus to disappear, there is no reason to rush. It’s a great time to focus on something different. Doing large ballistic movements is not the only way to gain new abilities.

Hockey at Home Principal 2: Plyometrics save strides

Jumping, squatting, bounding and nervous system activation exercises are your best bet to keep your edge. They can virtually be done anywhere with limited space and don’t require any fancy equipment. Getting into and exploding out of mid range of motion exercises is great for muscle fiber recruitment without injury. Be sure not to be a hero explode from over exaggerated range of motion positions that will cause injury. Be sure to stretch and increase body temperature with a good warm up before any plyometric exercise.

Hockey at Home Principal 3: Install new software

No proper foundation is ever built in a rush. Thing about it… if you were typing code for a program into a computer in a rush to get it done, there would so many mistakes that the program would not do what you intended. Developing skill is the same. We all want to look like Pavel Barber and do what he does in his videos at lightning speed. What most people don’t see, is the countless hours he spends in slow detailed concentration. Letting the brain compute and understand what you are asking it to do. Letting it put the requests into your body to start developing the proteins, muscle fibers and nervous system resources required. Doing everything at full speed makes it difficult for your brain to keep up.

Hockey at Home Principal 4: Explore your shot

It’s great to go to your happy place and fire biscuits for hours, but again… are you pushing your limits? Explore new grips (narrow/wide), leg positions (in front of puck, behind puck, one leg, 2 legs) and add another shot to your arsenal (get on the snapshot train). There’s no one looking… try everything and you will develop something!

Hockey at Home Principal 5: Plan your workouts

The worst thing you can do is just aimless random stuff. Studies show people that don’t plan workouts tend to stay in their comfort zone and only do things they enjoy and can already do! Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than sitting around, but set some time aside to strategically work on improving abilities outside your comfort zone.