When there is no pool available and you want to get fit

Hi Everyone!

I know that we have talked about swim sessions and skills on land.
However I was interested in people's opinions on the best way to get hockey fit when you don't have access to a pool?
Let me know what works for you (Doug just UWH related please!)

Cheers,
Tan

Boy you sure make it hard to flirt. But let's see... Best thing I've ever done for out of pool training was to get into imagery. Yeah, hockey imagery, so I can post this and pass your criteria. I even made a tape that I would play each night before bed and on my way to hockey. In it I would talk about situations and what I was doing. It was great in my early years as I had few experiences to reflect upon so with this method I could have whatever experiences I needed. After talks with Marky V, I would have more stuff to think about and I would create a new scenario and use it for a few weeks until it became a part of my game.

What can't you do out of the water?? Well, I guess you are limited living in a cold wet flat country! The hockey specific stuff is pretty difficult but there's plenty of other training to get your fitness and speed up to scratch so that when you do get into a pool you've got something to start with.

I personally hate swimming so am always looking at doing what I can out of water. As with swimming though you should plan what you are going to do and what you want to get out of it. Sure swimming a straight 5km will help to some degree, swimming a planned 3.5km of sets, if done properly, will benefit you more.

Here's a couple of ideas:

Running would have to be the easiest as you can start exercising as soon as you get out the door. You can use running to increase speed as well as endurance. Fartlek training (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek) is a pretty good way to train. This method can also be applied to swimming or cycling too. Doing intervals using lamp posts as markers also works (also works with cycling).

Cycling is good for leg strength and fitness but you need to be doing some swimming at the same time as cycling can develop your leg muscles in the wrong way if that's all you're doing which can be detrimental to hockey/swimming.

Circuit training or boxing is great for high intensity aerobic work outs. You can also alternate circuit classes to do strength training (slower reps/heavier weights) one session, then speed (lighter weights/faster higher reps) the next.

Weights and stretching is also benefitial for hockey. Do overall body workouts but also think about all the muscles you use during hockey and work on them in a way specific for hockey (ie ankles, wrists, sholders, etc).

I also add some varitey with a few games of squash a week plus surfing and spearfishing, however I'm sure the weather's not that great for surfing in Holland!

try splitting stuff into bits... like, aerobic, anaerobic, strength, flexibility, power.

aerobic can be done on the bike really well cos you can track your HR etc easily and hit and maintain whatever thresholds you like.

in the gym for strength obviously, or swissballs (or rock-climbing ay benson) etc etc

power in the gym or you can do plyometric stuff, hill-bouncing and other land based running type stuff, probably heaps you could do there...

anaerobic obviously in the water, or you could maybe do some free-diving techniques? that stuff is new to me...

flexibility, yoga etc.

try some circuit training classes in the gym maybe? i always wanted to try some of those... jumping around, doing unco moves, wearing leg warmers, you know.

Thanks guy's...pretty much tried all of the above. Plus a few other activities :wink:
Was more interested in what you thought was best i.e. is running better then cycling or weights better then running or is cycling better for endurance and fartlek running sessions better for speed!

P.S Liam looking forward to seeing you in leg warmers
P.P.S Gav no need to keep rubbing it in that i am in a flat cold country...I am living the reality!

Hi Tan,

I lived in the Netherlands so I know what you're going through! Great country for cycling as it is flat, full of magnificent bike paths and everybody rides fietsen!

In my experience for best results in hockey cycling is better than running. The reason I orginally started cycling training for hockey was purely for endurance training - to get enough miles up on your legs. To do this in a pool meant hours and hours and hours. Besides being wet and wrinkled it is just hard to get to a pool with enough spare lane space etc and where I came from the pools used to shut during winter.

Where you are based you might also try ice-skating (great for developing power) and of course resistance (weight) training.

When you do get into a pool to play hockey or train with your fins on just use that valuable pool time concentrating on your technique and going flat out everywhere that you swim. Don't go slow anywhere and make sure every time that you take off it is a full burst of speed.

Like Duck's other post about training with correct technique, this will ensure that your body is conditioned to taking off and going at full speed when it is in the water with fins on. The endurance portion can and will be taken care of by the out of water stuff.

Also Liam's point about stretching is important. Very important for maximum power and in water agility, although I'm sure it also has other uses!?!

other uses, ceratinly! octopuses are so flexible you can stuff them into a jar.

Thanks Kelly! Good advice.
Liam you are a nut bag.

hi guys,

I think the key to a good training program is variety.

In the lead up to worlds, i mainly use cross training for recovery sessions but out of season, it is my main form of fitness.

Some of the cross training sessions i do are:

Cycling
Long ride - purely for general fitness, much more enjoyable than a 5km swim.

Interval (one or two minutes), two types first normal than as fast as i can go. the second type is normal, then dropping it down into the easiest gear and peddling as fast as you can.

Running
Agree with Gav Fartleck are great for training. try doing different distances. i.e shorter fartleck for speed, longer for endurance.

Alternatively if you have access to a set route, you could do intervals.

Long run is also good for aerobic, but your heart rate is generally a bit higher than cycling and its higher impact.

I also find hill sprints good, find a hill about 100m and do 10 reps, sprint up walk/ light jog back down, make sure you do a bit of a warm up and cool down run either side.

Another program that Razor uses and i have tried a bit, Trust me it hurts, doing intervals, holding your breath. i.e 100m on, 100m off.

In terms of strength the obvious one is the gym, although i think you can do most of your strength work at home or by making up a bit of a boot camp session where you run, do pushups, situps etc.

While i have never used it, i definatley think rock climbing is a good compliment for hockey.

Other things to try, boxing (upper body), pilates (core strength), yoga (flexiblility and core strength).

Final thing, try and integrate training into day to day activities, like holding your breath going up stairs, tunnels etc or tightening abs while you are on the phone. Eventually they all add up.

Hamish

Good to see someone serious is onto it. Bout time you came to the rescue Hamish.
Tania, the whole problem is your arms are not tough enough. This is because you are not drinking enough with me. Do some proper boys pushups etc for a while as pre-training for April and you will be right.

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