Question:  With hockey I have one or two games each week and practices almost every day, should I still workout with weights?

Answer: It is important to workout all year to prevent injuries and to maximize your performance.  Being on the ice everyday can be tiring, but if you want to be the best athlete you can be you have to dig deep inside to find the energy to workout in order to keep your muscles strong and balanced.

Hockey is great for strengthening many of your muscles, but many still get left out.  The problem with this is that the muscles that don’t get worked end up losing strength while the other muscles keep getting stronger.  When this happens your joints become out of balance and then you are at a higher risk for getting an injury.  In hockey the most common injuries are to the groin, knee, lower back and shoulder and your workouts should reflect this.  Exercises for you hamstrings can help to prevent knee injuries, exercises for you lower abdominals and core can help to

prevent groin and lower back injuries, and exercises for your postural muscles and rotator cuff can help to reduce shoulder injuries.

Working out during the season not only helps you prevent injuries it will improve your performance.  Many hockey players workout hard in the summer but stop working out during the season and as a result as the season progresses their strength declines. Of course you don’t have to workout as hard during the regular season compared to the off-season, you just shouldn’t go from one extreme to the other.  A good rule during the regular season is to make sure that your off-ice workout doesn’t make you sore where it affects your on-ice performance.  The simple goal of you season workout should be to keep your muscles strong and balanced.  You don’t need to set any personal strength records; you just don’t want to lose strength.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800 or visit their web site www.karpfitness.com.