When To Start Your Off-Season Hockey Training
I am thinking of hockey as I write this since for many of you, the hockey season has just ended or it is coming to an end, but the advice applies to any sport.
I see three types of players this time of year:
- Those who want to start their off-season training tomorrow;
- Those who want to take a few weeks off and then get back at it and;
- Those who intend to take a few weeks off and then don’t actually start training until JULY…
Which is the right approach? The second one is the way to go. Your body and your brain need a couple weeks to unwind, recover, relax and re-charge. No mater what your sport and even if you did not have any injuries during the season, your body still needs to repair itself.
With the stress of practice, playing, work, school or life, your body has been in overdrive, give it time to recover.
I think two weeks is a perfect amount of time – you get a good break, great recuperation, but you do not have time to turn into a blob.
For those of you who want to start right back into it, resist the temptation, you can still be active during this time, getting out for a bike ride, play a little soccer, some tennis or maybe some relaxed basketball (just don’t get too competitive with it). Basically, I just don’t want it to be structured training, it just has to be for fun – don’t even keep score.
After the two weeks you should feel ready to go. Remember to start back at it working on your solid foundation of stability and mobility. Do not dive right back into your plyometric training and heavy deadlifts or you are going to be on the fast track to injury.
Happy Training.Cheers,
Maria
