Offseason Block 1 – Pro Hockey Training

This is going to be the 8th offseason that I’ve prepared this athlete for their upcoming season. Because of this history, I have a very good idea about what they can tolerate, what they like, and what they need.

Last offseason he was coming off of a bad lower back injury after sustaining a hit from behind. This completely altered our offseason. Early on almost everything caused pain, from running, to any sort of compressive lumbar loading.

• So I swapped traditional alactic accelerations/sprints, which caused a lot of discomfort, with alactic prowler pushes (which caused none).
• I swapped traditional linear tempo (pain), to multi-directional tempo (no pain).
• I swapped barbell back squat AND trap bar (pain with both), to unilateral exercises and belt squats (no pain).
• I increased weighted box jumps to supplement reduced MB throws

Last offseason was leading into a contract year, so the injury was plaguing him mentally. I needed to keep him out of pain, limit setbacks, and get the mental aspect on track ASAP.

Somehow, it worked. 

He had a career year, a very long season (82 games), and no issues with his back (I was even surprised by this).

With no injury to worry about, this off-season will be a lot less stressful.

Phase 1

This is going to be an abbreviated off-season due to how far his team made it in the playoffs. So we will start with a shorter GPP period and then slowly work into an accumulation phase.

General Physical Preparation

What it is:

• Prepares the body for the next phases
• The use of “general” means to increase fitness
• Serves as the framework for all future motor skill acquisition

Goal(s):

• Increase work capacity (ability to perform work repeatedly)
• Increase general strength/hypertrophy
• Improve movement quality, mobility, dynamic flexibility
• Address any perceived limitations

Monday – Lower

Ground based warm-up

 Active dynamic warm-up + Some Power/Speed

• Lying abduction iso-hold (90 sec) + TKE variations
• Unilateral Leg Press – 2×15 pair with Hip Mobility (walk overs)
• Banded Hip Thrust – 2×20 pair with Side plank
• Landmine Squat – 2×15 pair with Hip Circles Over a Box
• Hamstring Curls – 2×20 pair with Slideboard Bodysaw x 10
• Toe and heel walks for calf/ankle complex

Tuesday – Upper

Some low-intensity aerobic – 20-25 min

Medball Upper Body Warm-up

• Band Pull Apart Series, External Rotation (4 ECC, 2 ISO),  Wall Slides
• Unilateral Incline DB Press – 2×12 pair with dead-bug variation (ab)
• Unilateral Cable Lat Pulldown – 2×15 pair with MB halo (mobility)
• Band pushdown – 2×15 pair with weighted plank (ab)
• Rope Facepull – 2×20 pair with thoracic extension w/rotation (mobility)
• Hammer curls – 2×15 pair with Bell up farmer carry

Wednesday – Sled/Mobility

Concentric-only sled work (upper/lower)

Additional mobility

Thursday and Friday followed similar patterns with different rep ranges, so maybe 3×8, 4×6, 4×10, etc. You could set this up as a full-body, 3x a week program, but I know him well and he wants to be in the gym more frequently than that, so I just disperse it out over more days.

We followed this sort of a set-up for 2 weeks, which is definitely the longest he would tolerate since he likes to train hard. When he was younger and had different needs, we didn’t use this kind of a set-up as frequently, but as you put years in the league, you need to change a bit.

Phase 2

Now we will slowly start ramping things up. He feels refreshed and has been starting to move better the last few sessions. This is going to be the start of more of an accumulation phase.

• Intensity – 50-70%
• Higher volume of non-specific exercises
• Gradually increase load
• Large exercise selection
• Low volume of competitive exercise at gradually increased intensity for technique

Day 1 – Lower

Ground based warm-up

Active/dynamic + Additional Power/Speed + Hip Swings

• Alactic Capacity – short accelerations – 150yds total volume
• Medball throws – 20 total
• Box Jump – 18 total
• Skater hop
• Slightly elevated open trap bar ECC split squat – 5 count ECC – 50% –  3×6
• Belt Squat – 2×15
• Single leg hamstring curl – 2×9
• Band pull through w/iso hold – 2×12
• Calfs/Abs

Day 2 – Upper

Multi-directional tempo w/accelerations

Medball warm-up (add exercises)

• Band Pull Aparts / External Rotation With a Punch / Forward Wall Slide / Shrugs / Neck
• Swiss Bar Bench – 60% – 3×8-10
• DB Floor bench (pause!!) – 2×10
• DB Row – 3 count ECC – 3×11
• Chest-Supported Rear-fly – 2×12
• Band pushdowns – 35 total reps
• Hammer curls – 3 count ECC – 3×9

Day 3 – Mixed

For this week we did MB throws, sled, and some additional aerobic work

Eventually this will be another sprint day

I will update this program as we ago along. Stay tuned for part 2.