One of the biggest challenges with hockey is figuring out how exactly you can play at home. Fortunately, this problem has a very modern solution that you can use to accomplish your goal. Hockey flooring is one such thing that can make training at home easy, but what exactly is it? Could you fit it into your budget? We’re going to be taking a look at that today, as well as some things that you can do both on and off the rink that will help you become a better hockey player in no time flat.
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What is Hockey Flooring?
There have been a lot of improvements in technology, especially sports technology, over the years. Things are possible now that weren’t even just ten or twenty years ago. With all of this new technology, it’s become easier than it ever has before to get some hockey training in right in the comfort of your own home. Hockey flooring is just one of many examples of things that have come along to make your home training a lot easier to accomplish.
Hockey flooring is slick, but not quite like ice. In fact, you’re not going to want to use your ice skates on hockey flooring at all. It’s designed for inline skates and shoes, but just because you can’t use ice skates on it doesn’t mean you can’t get some solid hockey practice using it. In fact, hockey flooring was specifically created with hockey in mind. You’ll notice, once using it of course, that the flooring tiles are able to give a lot of glide to your pucks, making it very easy for you to get some shooting practice in.
It’s incredibly easy to assemble and you can get different sizes to fit your space. In fact, because it’s modular you can even arrange your tiles any way that best suits your needs. It makes for really easy practice that can be installed and uninstalled in a matter of minutes. That means that if, for instance, you keep it set up in your basement but you’re going to have guests over, you can just uninstall the tiles and put them up somewhere else while you entertain.
The best part about hockey tiles is the fact that you can move them anywhere you like. Let’s say you do keep them in your basement, but one day it’s particularly nice outside so you want to move them into your backyard so you can enjoy the sun and air. Such a task is child’s play, and you can accomplish it in mere minutes.
This exact technology is used in the homes of many professional hockey players every single day so they can make sure that they’re on their A-game on any given day, but it’s useful for more than just professionals No one wants to leave the rink for a few months and come back rusty. In fact, most players would prefer to come back to the rink better than they were before, and training with hockey tiles can make that goal even easier to achieve.
Cardio, Cardio, Cardio
There’s nothing worse than getting winded a few minutes into your match, and that’s why cardio is so important for the game. You can get a lot of cardio training done at home whether or not you own any gym equipment. Cardio is a great way to improve your speed, endurance, and stamina while also helping your heart and lungs have a fighting chance to keep up with the intensity of even your wildest hockey matches.
There are some cardio exercises that you’ll benefit from more than others. When you’re specifically training for hockey, you want to focus on anaerobic exercises. These are the type of exercises that don’t make your body use up any oxygen to break down glucose, which makes them a lot more intense. Sprinting, pacers, high-intensity interval training, and even jump roping are all great exercises to do while you’re training.
With that being said, you should still mix in some aerobic exercises just to make sure that you’re on top of everything. Many hockey players like to go for jogs and add some sprinting into their jog so they can get both types of exercise in. This will ensure that your body is ready for both the more intense parts of the match as well as the parts of the match that don’t require quite as much effort.
Both of these types of cardio are incredibly important for ensuring that your body is in top shape for your next match. As you’re probably aware, any given game requires a combination of skills and you don’t want to get tired out too quickly. Making sure that you have the ability to play your hardest through the whole game can mean the difference between winning and loosin
Get Limber
In the hit 2009 movie Zombieland, there are some basic rules for survival set forth by our protagonist. One of these rules, rule 18 to be specific, is important before doing any physical activity. Rule 18 is, of course, limber up. Getting a good stretch in before and after you train is important for ensuring that your muscles are ready for the activity you’re about to do, reduces the risk of injury, and helps you be more flexible in general.
We’ve all seen those bodybuilders with absolutely insane muscles that can’t scratch their entire backs. While bodybuilders are most certainly impressive, that much bulk with such limited flexibility won’t do you any favors on the rink. Being strong on the rink is important, but sacrificing flexibility isn’t a good trade-off in this game.
What’s more important than stretching is stretching effectively. You always want to be sure that you’re completely stretching out the muscle group you’re going to be using. So, for example, before you go for a run you’ll want to make sure your legs are nice and stretched out, but before you start cranking out pushups you’d want to make sure that your arms, chest, and core are all sufficiently stretched. Stretching can even help you optimize your gains, so make sure that you incorporate it into every training session, no matter what you’re doing.
Get the Gains You Need to be a Threat on the Rink
The last thing we’ll be taking a look at today is strength training. Just because we’re going over it last doesn’t mean that it’s not important, in fact, if you aren’t strong enough it will make most of your games a lot more difficult. There are a lot of things that happen during any game that requires you to have strength, whether it’s hitting the puck or defending your forwards.
There are a lot of strength training exercises you can do that will hit the particular muscle groups that are needed for the game, but you still want to make sure that you’re even getting some training in for the muscle groups that are least often used. Getting your entire body stronger will do you a lot of favors on the rink rather than just focusing on the most important muscle groups.
One of the best exercises you can do for this is pushups. Pushups don’t require any kind of equipment, instead, you only rely on your body weight. However, they still hit a lot of important muscle groups. You can do large sets or variations if you find that regular pushups are too easy. Here are a few variations that you might find useful:
- Military: These pushups are your regular pushups, but you have to take care to have perfect form. This is the same type of pushup that is used in the military, which is where it gets its name from.
- Diamond: This is a tricky variation for many because it gives you less leverage. All you need to do is put your hands together at a 45-degree angle with your index fingers and thumbs touching. This should result in a triangle or diamond shape in the gap between your hands. Once you’re in form, just lower and raise back up as you would usually.
- Dive Bomb: Many people that do divebomb pushups consider them to be a lot of fun. You start in a downward dog position and dive down into your pushup. If you want to attempt this one, please watch a video of someone doing it first so you can be sure you’re doing it correctly.
- One-handed pushups: One-handed pushups are one of the most difficult types of pushups for people because you get twice the weight on either arm. You’ll want a wide-footed stance for this one.
- Handstand pushups: Finally, the most difficult variation on this list. Handstand pushups require you to do a handstand and do your pushups vertically. This requires a lot of upper body strength so it should still present a challenge to most people.
Make Sure You’re Getting the Right Training
Everyone’s body is different, just like everyone’s role in a hockey game is a little different. The things we went over on this list are highly generalized and should be able to help anyone looking to step up their game, but you should still communicate with your coaches and trainers so you can find out what the best exercises for you are. Whether you’re looking into things your kid can do to make them a better hockey player or you’re on a team yourself, there are always ways you can augment your training to make it more effective for you.
