Do You Need More Training Time Off or On The Ice?
No athlete is the same. Some need more reps on ice working with their skills coach, or more video work, while others may need to focus on their mental game or spend more time in the gym. While it’s likely that these are all areas that could benefit from focus and improvement, this article can help you recognize whether your strength and conditioning is a limiting factor to your performance and/or if you’re at a higher risk of injury.
How much pain is okay?
The first question to ask yourself is simple: do you have pain? While there will always be one-off acute “injuries” — was ran into a post, took a slash on the wrist, a puck to the finger, or one to the arms if you’re wearing a standard Vaughn chesty — what you want to be aware of is chronic pain. This is pain that starts seemingly out of nowhere, or from movement on or off the ice. Don’t accept it as part of the game and shrug it off, or assume that you need to spend some time on the therapy table. Chronic pain is a sign that something is wrong (1). If you’re seeing a professional for it and it is improving, then trust the path they have you on. But if it goes away briefly only to come back, or never seems to subside, consider consulting other options and opinions.
From a strength and conditioning standpoint, the most common pain areas that we see with goalies are the knees, hips and groin. We’ve seen success in reducing this pain by transferring the stress out of suboptimal muscle groups and into more optimal ones. In doing so, these muscle groups are able to handle the higher loads of in-season demands on the hips and knees.
Remember, pain is not a part of the position.
Are there imbalances in your game with lateral pushes?
Do you find that it is easier, and that you travel further, by pushing to your left than your right or vice versa? Or that lifting your leg up on one side is easier than lifting the other? This could be technical and addressed on the ice with your goalie coach. Or, it could be due to an imbalance in stability and co-ordination between your left and right hips.
If you’re struggling to correct this with on-ice work, then it may be worth looking into off-ice options. In the gym, we identify imbalances through three assessments: the amount of force an athlete produces, how quickly force is created on both the left and right side and a loaded movement pattern. Some quick tests to try at home include a single leg horizontal jump, a single leg vertical jump and a single leg lateral jump (landing on the same leg you jumped off of). After measuring, if the difference in height or distance is less than 15%, there is less of a concern for injury risk. However, if the greater the percentage over 15%, the more potential for injury (2).
Are you tactically or physically slow?
Do you find yourself reaching to make saves instead of being able to stay with the shooter and square up? Or are you falling behind the play and simply getting beat? This may be an issue with not recognizing threats on the ice, in which case more time may be needed to review video and work with your goalie coach. It may also indicate poor movement selection on the ice that is putting you behind the play, or that you are slower than your competition. A good initial measure includes both a timed 10m sprint (3,4) and a 2m x 4m x 2m change-of-direction test.
The 10m sprint test is straight forward, and Science for Sport has a good write-up on it. Start by measuring out 10m. Start the timer on the athlete’s first movement forward and stop it when their chest crosses the 10m line. Anything over 1.8 seconds is slow, and faster is anything under 1.6 seconds.
To test your change of direction, a 2m x 4m x 2m test will do the trick (5). Set up three cones at 2m apart. Starting centre with the middle cone, the athlete can decide to go to the cone to their left or right first. After breaking the plane of the chosen cone, the athlete should then sprint to the far cone, again breaking the plane, before finishing back at the starting middle cone.
2m x 4m x 2m agility test set-up
The athlete must face the same direction at each turn. Start the timing on the athlete’s first movement to their chosen cone and stop it when their chest breaks the finishing cone line. Anything over 2.3s is slow, and anything under 2.0s is faster. While a stop watch will work for these tests, two great options for improved accuracy include the My Sprint app on IOS or Coaches Eye on both IOS and Android*.
Keep in mind that these are a few of the many tools that can help assess your athletic performance. At the end of the day, you’re the one ultimately responsible for your development and surrounding yourself with a team of like-minded coaches to help guide you towards your goals.
Citius Strength and Conditioning is in no way affiliated nor paid to promote these products.
References
1. Melzack R. Gate control theory. On the evolution of pain concepts. Pain Forum 1996;5:128–38
2. Myer GD, Paterno MV, Ford KR, Quatman CE, Hewett TE.
Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: criteria based progression through the return-to-sport phase. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2006: 36 (6): 385–402
3. Duthie, G.M., D.B. Pyne, A.A. Ross, S.G. Livingstone, and S.L. Hooper. The reliability of ten-meter sprint time using different starting techniques. Strength Cond. Res. 20(2)246:–251. 2006
4. Marques, MC and Izquierdo, M. Kinetic and kinematic associations between vertical jump performance and 10-m sprint time. J Strength Cond Res 28(8): 2366–2371, 2014
5. Stewart, A.F., Turner, A.N., & Miller, S.C. (2014). Reliability, factorial validity, and interrelationships of five commonly used change of direction speed tests. Scandinavian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports. 24, 500–506.