The sport of ice hockey requires athletes to develop optimal strength and conditioning to improve physical capacity and performance. While sport-specific skills are no doubt incredibly important, the level of physical dominance an athlete can assert on the ice separates the good from the great. The key to separating from the pack is simple: athletes must get stronger and faster.

Often, athletes become overly focused on developing sports skills, neglecting their physical capacities. Sure, sports practice and competition will have a positive effect on overall strength and conditioning levels to some degree, but athletes eventually adapt to the task, and the training effect is significantly reduced.

As athletes age and improve their sport-specific skills, the level of competition eventually evens out. Meaning that all athletes at a specific level share similarities in sport-specific skills. At this point, a properly designed strength and conditioning plan must enter the equation to ensure the athlete continues to improve not only sports skills, but the physical abilities and traits that keep the athlete a step ahead of the competition.

However, for the training to be productive, the method must meet the demands of the sport and develop multiple strengths and athletic traits year to year without detraining or regression. This is where the Conjugate System shines.

Using the Conjugate System, we can develop training plans for an entire team or specific players to ensure sport-relevant strengths, traits, and athletic abilities are developed year after year. No matter the circumstances or time of year, we can design training that allows athletes to continue making progress while keeping fatigue under control.

The Importance of Strength and Conditioning

In the world of sports strength and conditioning, we often see coaches focus too much on one aspect of the sport. Some coaches rely too heavily on barbell training, neglecting mobility and conditioning. Other coaches focus too much on conditioning and turn their athletes into marathon runners when their sport requires other capacities to be improved.

Using the Conjugate Method, we can effectively address all aspects of strength and conditioning year-round. Considering the Conjugate Method relies on three primary strength training methods, the maximal, dynamic, and repeated effort methods, we always have a way to manipulate the training approach to ensure it fits the sport, the athlete, and the time of year.

For hockey players, improvements in strength and conditioning will have significant positive effects. Using our training style, athletes will develop absolute strength, explosive power, work capacity, and physical conditioning. This means athletes remain capable of performing at a high level each shift, period, and game.

Our athletes do not fade as time goes on. Even if an athlete faces a few extended shifts, they will be able to recover on the bench and be over the wall ready to go when they return to the ice. This means very little loss of speed, strength, and overall endurance, leading to fast athletes ready to put shots on goal at full power all game.

The Basic Template

At Westside, we follow two training templates depending on the sport. For strength sports, we typically execute a four-day training week. This includes a maximal effort lower day, a maximal effort upper day, a dynamic effort lower day, and a dynamic effort upper day.

When training athletes, we typically modify the schedule, condensing barbell training into a three-day template. This includes maximal effort lower, maximal effort upper, and a combined dynamic effort day. Maximal effort days will be performed 48-72 hours apart, while the combined dynamic effort day will typically be performed 48 hours after the maximal effort upper training day.

The maximal effort training will enhance absolute strength while also benefiting explosive power. This is because high-intensity training not only leads to the largest motor unit recruitment, but it also improves the rate of force development. While some coaches find this training extreme, coaches in the know understand how vital it is for athletic performance and physical development.

Our combined dynamic effort day will kill two birds with one stone. When we perform dynamic effort training, we use submaximal weights while focusing on maximal velocity. Ideally, athletes can execute all reps so that an average velocity of 0.8 m/s is maintained during main exercises.

While this training does not improve absolute strength at a rate similar to the maximal effort method, the dynamic effort method specifically focuses on improving an athlete's rate of force development. Additionally, we emphasize training density on the combined dynamic effort day, resulting in significant improvements in work capacity and overall physical conditioning.

The repeated effort method will be included on each training day. This is the work that continues to build work capacity and helps to improve physical composition.

Our accessory work will include a primary accessory exercise, followed by secondary accessory exercises. Our primary accessory exercise work will focus on multi-joint movements, while secondary accessory exercises will be a mix of multi and single-joint movements. It is important to note that while most of our main exercises will be bilateral, we always include unilateral training as primary and/or accessory exercises when working with conventional sports athletes.

Here is the typical three-day schedule we follow when working with hockey players:

Monday – Maximal Effort Lower

Wednesday – Maximal Effort Upper

Friday – Combined Dynamic Effort

The Advantages of the Three-Day Training Schedule

The standard athlete training plan provides athletes with enough barbell-focused training to make meaningful gains in absolute strength, explosive power, work capacity, and conditioning while also leaving plenty of time for other aspects of sports training. This means that four out of seven days each week can be devoted to developing sports-specific skills and traits.

Athletes at the high school level often benefit most from just a three-day barbell training plan, with the other four days of the week focused on sports practice and rest. As athletes reach the next level of sport, whether it be collegiate or pro, we can start to include additional non-barbell-focused work on the extra days.

This could be posture and plyometric work, or GPP-focused if an athlete is dealing with issues related to their conditioning. We can program an additional two days per week of this type of week, bringing the total training days per week to five, with two days being dedicated to rest. Ultimately, how the method is manipulated will depend on the athlete, the situation, and their current level of strength and physical fitness.

The three-day schedule can also be moved around each week to time correctly with practice or competition demands. While the template follows a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, we can move the training days around to any day of the week, so long as the rest periods between training days are timed appropriately.

No Better Method

When you consider the demands of most sports, you realize that athletes must focus on strength and conditioning. We are in a new era in sports performance, where if you aren’t training optimally, your competition is, and they are preparing to beat you. If you want to be the best athlete you can be, you must find a training method capable of meeting all the demands of the sport you are preparing for.

When it comes to developing multiple strengths and athletic traits simultaneously while managing fatigue effectively, there is no training approach superior to the Conjugate System. Our training style can be endlessly adjusted to ensure all athletes can make progress without interrupting or negatively affecting sports skill development, practice performance, or competition preparedness.

Using our methods, athletes will not only improve their physical capabilities, but they will also become more durable and resilient - traits that are extremely important in collision sports. If you are a hockey player and you are seeking a way to develop all your strengths and physical capacities to reach the next level, look no further than the Westside Barbell Conjugate System.