The topic of weight and body image in hockey can be sensitive and often makes coaches, parents, and players uncomfortable. It's important to address these issues openly and honestly to support athletes of all sizes.
Unlike boys' hockey players who often aspire to be tall and muscular, girls' hockey players don't necessarily need to be heavily muscled or large to excel in the sport. In fact, sometimes being a bigger player in the female game can work against you.
Weight training was a game changer, starting in the mid/late 1960s and becoming much more popular through the 1970s and into the 1980s. That's where you start seeing guys get a lot more muscular. The development of modern electronic treadmills and exercise bikes improved cardio/stamina. Weight training has actually been rolled back over the past ~15 years in favor of a more holistic approach to developing lean, agile players who don't have to carry quite as much weight up and down the ice.
Body Image Pressures
Girls are constantly seeing images of “super-skinny size zero” celebrities and there are far too many “Next Top Model” and weight loss shows on TV. Research shows that that 55% of 16-year-old girls believe they are too fat, when in reality, only 20% of them are even overweight. Players are always asking me how they can make their legs smaller and get rid of their muscles.
Despite what girls see in the fashion magazines and on TV, there aren't many women who are 5 foot 9 and weigh 100 pounds. It wasn't that I was embarrassed, it was just that most of my close friends, whether they were hockey players or not, were much smaller than me. To be honest, I just wanted to fit in - and I also wanted to be the best player possible.
Read also: A Look at Chris Simon's Impact
This obviously isn't going to work to their advantage physically, but it is even more damaging psychologically.
I wish I could sit here and tell you this isn't a problem in girls' hockey. I wish I could tell players that they never worry about their weight again and know that the number on the scale has absolutely nothing to do with their ability as a player or their worth as a person. But I know that my influence is tiny compared to the power of mainstream media.
But I also know exactly what it's like to be a 15 year old girl who just wants to fit in and I can't blame girls for this type of behavior.
The Importance of Strength
Regardless of what level you're playing - strength is a fundamental attribute for hockey players. Almost all elements of on-ice performance rely on foundational strength. Whether it's a corner battle, fighting off a hit, or generating more force with each stride into the ice - strength is a physical pillar that should be a focus for all hockey players of the ice.
Saying this, we get a lot of messages from players who ask what they should do to get stronger when they don't have much equipment. Whether it's just living far away from a gym, being a cottage all summer, or traveling with varying access to equipment - we always tell players they don't need much to get a good workout in.
Read also: Ted Donato's Hockey Career
Equipment or access to a gym should never be a barrier to getting in high-quality strength & conditioning.
Dumbbell Workout for Hockey Players [PERFECT FOR AT HOME]
Exercises with Minimal Equipment
Here are five exercises hockey players can do with just one dumbbell. These exercises focus on control and proper form, rather than speed, and can really challenge athletes. By only having one weight, a unilateral challenge is created that is extremely valuable to hockey players. This allows them not only to return balance to both sides of the body, but it also creates a more functional demand.
For these exercises, hockey players can use a dumbbell, kettlebell, or any household object that provides external resistance. Basically, we want to challenge our strength load capacity, so choose a weight that’s appropriate for you. This workout can be performed at home, a hotel room, the cottage, and really anywhere with floor space. Now there’s no excuse to skip workouts while on vacation or when you don’t have time to make it to the gym!
In each workout you perform, it’s important to hit all five movement patterns. In this workout we have a lunge, squat, goblet, push, and pull - so we’ll be doing all five.
Five Exercises Hockey Players Can Do With Just One Weight
While there is an exhaustive list of exercises you can do with just one weight, we've decided to break it down into our five favourite exercises that you could use as a entire workout.
Read also: The Impact of Tie Domi
Exercise #1: Goblet Squat
The Goblet Squat This is a great exercise for hockey players to enhance their lower body strength. While holding a dumbbell vertically with your arms bent towards your chin, sit back as much as you can through your hips, keeping weight on your heels and feet flat on the ground. Use your heels to force upwards through the glutes back to the standing position, and squeeze your glutes at the top for maximum results. Mind to muscle connection is important in this exercise. If you think about feeling this in your glutes, it will help you perform the exercise so that you do, instead of your feeling it in your quads for example. Don’t forget to keep your back neutral in this exercise.
Exercise #2: Half-Kneel Shoulder Press
The half-kneel shoulder press is another amazing exercise, where athletes can improve their shoulder strength while practicing stability through their core. To perform this exercise, start by kneeling on one knee, the other in a 90-degree bend with that foot flat on the floor. Hold the dumbbell in the opposite hand from the knee that is in front. Keeping the dumbbell in the same position throughout this exercise with your palm facing inwards, hold the weight above your shoulder, then press up. Focus on feeling this in your shoulder muscles, and keep your core tight for stability. Repeat on the other side after reps are completed.
Exercise #3: Single-leg Romanian Deadlift (RDL)
While focusing on stability, in this exercise athletes can start to challenge their hip hinge movement. The single-leg RDL is a great exercise for hockey players because it allows them to practice balance and focus on form. While keeping one leg slightly bent, hold a dumbbell in the opposite hand. Keep your back and neck neutral, and lower the dumbbell while simultaneously moving the same side leg backward. Meaning you are hinging at the hip. Keep your core tight to maintain balance, and as the leg comes down raise the dumbbell back to your standing position. For added difficulty try to keep the leg that you are bringing backward raised at all times. So between reps don’t touch your foot to the floor. If this is too challenging, you can always keep both legs on the floor while still targeting the same muscles. Repeat on the other side when reps have been completed. Really try and focus on a slow and controlled movement in this exercise, rather than speed.
Exercise #4: High Plank Drag Through
In this exercise, start in a high plank with your dumbbell at one side beside your rib cage. Tighten your core and drag the dumbbell over to the other side using the arm furthest from the weight. It’s natural for the body to want to rotate in this exercise, especially in the legs and trunk, but it’s important to resist and stay strong through your core. Again, practice slow and controlled movements in this exercise.
Exercise #5: Weighted Deadbug
In this abdominal exercise, hockey players use their core strength to raise and lower the dumbbell while laying down. Laying on your back, hold both ends of the dumbbell using both hands, and lower and raise the weight keeping your arms straight. Simultaneously, by starting with your knees bent and at a 90-degree angle with the floor, lower one leg at a time each time you raise and lower the dumbbell. This exercise focuses on trunk stability as well as core strength. Make sure you are keeping your lower back flat on the ground, and that it’s not raising off the floor.
Turning It Into A Workout
Turning these exercises into their own workout is a great way of changing up your routine, or simply getting in a workout when you don’t have access to a gym - most people can find at least one weight around their house, cottage, etc. The reps and sets are largely going to be dependant on the weight you have. If it's roughly an 8/10 in intensity, you should aim for around 6-8 reps, whereas a 5/10 might call for 8-12 reps. You want to choose as many reps as it takes to create that 8/10 intensity and feel like you could only really do 2-3 more reps. Feel free to add on any of your personal favorite exercises to this workout.
These are general ideas, but anything extra that you’d like to add is great. We have a helpful article on how to create your own hockey specific workout that you can use a general guideline.
Hockey FIT Program
Hockey Fans in Training (Hockey FIT), adapted from Football Fans in Training (FITT)16 and including components from the HealtheSteps® lifestyle prescription program,17 is a gender-sensitised lifestyle intervention using the power of sport fandom and affiliation with major junior/professional hockey teams to engage men.
Our pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) showed that participants in the Hockey FIT intervention lost more weight and demonstrated greater improvements in other health indicators than those in the wait-list control after 3 months, with improvements maintained to 12 months.
This study was a pragmatic,19 parallel, two-arm, cluster RCT, conducted in 42 community-based sites in Canada and the US. Sites were randomly assigned (1:1) to either the Hockey FIT intervention (receive Hockey FIT immediately) or wait-list control (receive Hockey FIT after a 12-month delay), after stratification by region [Stratum 1 (S1): province of Ontario, 18 sites; Stratum 2 (S2): all other provinces/states, 24 sites].
Our findings are in line with other sport fandom-based weight loss/lifestyle interventions, suggesting that the incorporation of sport fandom is an effective approach to engaging men at increased risk for non-communicable diseases in health behaviour change for weight loss and to improve other health outcomes.
Fitness Testing Norms
Muscular strength, endurance and power are important attributes in many sports. Fitness testing norms are published for a variety of sports across a range of age groups and playing levels, however they do not currently exist for competitive high school aged hockey players.
Ninety-eight Canadian (U17AAA = 55; U18AAA = 43) high school male participants competing in midget AAA hockey were tested prior to the beginning of each season in September during the 2015-2017 hockey seasons with a host of fitness tests. Means, standard deviations and percentile ranks were calculated for the SLJ, maximum BP repetitions at 75% of body weight (BP-75%), PU, and 3-RM BSQ for both U17AAA and U18AAA hockey players.
Means, standard deviations for each player grouping were as follows.
- U17AAA (SLJ=234.7±15.7, BP-75%= 9.2±5.4, PU= 9.5±4.5, 3-RM-BSQ=108.0±15.4)
- U18AAA (SLJ=235.7±16.6, BP-75%=13.0±6.7, PU=10.0±5.2, 3-RM-BSQ=120.4±21.0).
Ice hockey, at a competitive level, is a game that involves explosive bursts of power while requiring strength to stabilize, absorb, and exert force with each skating stride or maneuver and while taking contact from opposing players, teammates, the boards, and while shooting or passing.
Relative peak 5-s anaerobic power and grip strength, predictive of total body strength (48), have been shown to increase in professional hockey players over a 26-year period (40). Upper body strength, power, and endurance appears to be a crucial factor for forward and defensive players.
The current study attempts to initiate a current normative data set of physical performance characteristics for teenage hockey players. Specific physical performance assessments were examined based on professional hockey sport coach’s and strength and conditioning coach’s identification of physiological performance characteristics with consideration for ease of test re-test repeatability, equipment availability, and efficiency of assessment.
The data presented in the current study was collected over a three-year period and include assessments of lower body strength and power as well upper body strength/endurance.
The 3RM-BSQ (3 repetition maximum bilateral back squat), which places less stress on the adductor muscle group than the front squat (12) and was assessed and considered indicative of lower body strength requirements for hockey players.
The BP (bench press) to failure at 75% of the athlete’s body weight was collected in order to assess to upper body pushing strength/endurance; upper body strength is significantly correlated to on-ice shot performance measured in shot speed.
The PU (pull-up) until failure at a cadence of 50bpm allowing for a maximum of 25 repetitions in 1 minute was collected in order to assess upper body pulling strength/endurance.
Developing such a data set is not to identify sole measures for sport coaches to select their players by, as physiological testing does not assess a participant’s game intelligence, mental performance skills, or the personality traits, which are desired for the given team.
This data was collected at the Ontario Hockey Academy (Cornwall, Ontario, Canada) in strength and conditioning/physical education classes during the September, in the second week of the first educational semester and beginning of the hockey training camp.
All tests were performed in ascending alphabetical order of participant’s last name, in the given class period, to ensure equal rest periods between all testing protocols of all fitness tests.
Participants began with a 5-minute general warm up, followed by a 10-minute dynamic mobility and plyometric preparation routine before.