This time of year I constantly find myself looking for any type of mental advantage to get ahead. In the current peek training weeks for a hockey player such as myself I have found that it is not a matter of finding an advantage to get ahead but more so creating the advantage for you.
Rather than going through your daily workout in a typical gym setting, surround yourself with an atmosphere that is meaningful and serves a purpose. For example, running the stadium stairs or early morning sprints on the beach as the sun comes up. Tiger Woods has been spotted on numerous occasions running the cart path of the golf course the morning of competition he uses this activity as a mental tool to prepare himself for the upcoming contest. Using visualization to constantly reminds yourself of your goals both on and off the playing surface I have found to be a useful asset in training. This process comes in handy when training sessions push you past your physical threshold, when your body begins to impolitely raise it’s voice to you and when you find yourself in a place where your competitors haven’t been before.
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One thing for sure is that just like in all conditions of setting goals you need to measure your progress. Somehow, someway, in a calculated manner that can be recorded in order to aid you in reaching your athletic goals.
By the same token, while approaching the summer months I will assume that cardio is becoming more and more of a daily staple for most of the athletic types out there. I would like to advocate a stationary bike drill pattern that I have used to enforce the principle of setting a goal to constantly improve on each time in doing it. I do this once a week usually on recovery days. It something you need to mentally prepare for, however usually only lasting 25-30min, while causing you to approach a mental and physical level that will surely pay off.
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The off-season as it is often referred to as, is far from being anything close to having “time off”. Much like your job or career you may only get a week or two of down time at most yearly to rest your body and recover from the wear and tear of a hostile campaign that is a competitive hockey season.
Obviously training is the most important aspect of a hockey player’s off-season. For some more than others and for those who do not take training seriously it shows when training camp comes around, and your days become numbered. Personally this is something I love to do. I enjoy training for the game as much as I love playing the game itself.
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There is an ongoing debate in the hockey world as to what age parents should enroll their children in minor hockey. Many will agree that because of some of the horror stories you hear in the news around North America regarding hockey parents and in many cases the players themselves, most parents consider this a very intense and serious topic when it comes to choosing the right time to let “little Johnny” go out on the ice and fend for himself.
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The most motivational day in an athlete’s weekly training routine is when he/she trains legs or “Leg Day”. Regardless of what your fitness level is or what regime you have decided to follow, leg day can leave you stuck in bed the next morning with a world of hurt upon the majority of your body. Moreover it is days and experiences like this that for one reason or another make us want to better ourselves to overcome those dreaded recovery days. As I mentioned training legs motivates an athlete, this is an area where you are constantly setting goals and continually raising the bar for improvement. As I am sure most will agree this is also an area that typically will take up the most time, effort and mental capacity to reach your goals. I love to start and finish the weeks training schedule with an extremely effective leg day. This gives me a great start to the week, which will lead to confidence in my following training sessions along with taking steps to reach my goals, and also ending the week this very same way allowing for peace of mind for a solid rest period.
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Achieve Your Goals Every Time
Whether you realize it or not, everyone has goals. Goals can be as simple as keeping your current job for financial stability, or to walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator each day. A goal is something a person desires in their everyday life to simply make life more enjoyable or functional.
An important fact however, is that people who are considered. “A” class achievers are very intentional and focused on their goals, while many people are not. These types of people understand the basic skills for setting and reaching their goals, every time.
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Get Big- Get Strong- Get Fast
Starting phase #3 Get Fast
Training for power inevitably increases an athlete’s speed endurance. During this phase of belligerent training methods where only the front line is welcome and the aggressively determined survive, power and power endurance will combine to fuel your muscles to reach your total maximal level of speed endurance.
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Get Big-Get Strong-Get Fast
How strong are you? I’m too strong! -Gerry Bertire, “Remember the Titans”
Starting Phase #2 Get Strong
While taking into consideration that due to an extremely successful Hypertrophy phase you now have cut the sleeves off your t-shirts and have hung several mirrors throughout the house, resulting in a high level of self motivation to begin phase #2. Get Strong or “Maximal Strength Training” will require you to increase your load. In doing this you will be required to set you repetition goal to 10, while using a weight that is much closer to your single rep max, approximately 85%. Moreover this may appear to be a barbaric task to accomplish and personally I believe this phase will require extreme discipline along with a superb self motivational mind set.
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As an athlete it is extremely important to give your body lots of rest after a long rigorous and physical season. However this can be harder than you may think. Most dedicated athletes are too pig headed to get the proper rest required to readjust the body’s needs for recovery. Personally I believe a week is a minimal staple that should be used to put your body and mind on pace for maximal recovery.
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This time of year I constantly find myself looking for any type of mental advantage to get ahead. In the current peek training weeks for a hockey player such as myself I have found that it is not a matter of finding an advantage to get ahead but more so creating the advantage for you.
