According to the Sports Fitness Advisor, hockey requires a blend of muscular strength, aerobic capacity and aerobic endurance. Further, hockey requires a high degree of balance, coordination, speed and agility. Mr. Assist reports that slide boards can be effective for improving all of these elements. A slide board is a thin, flat board with a slippery plastic surface and two blocks on either side. The blocks are used for pushing off and can be adjusted closer together to reduce difficulty or further away to increase it.
Agility
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, agility refers to the ability to shift directions quickly while maintaining speed. By placing booties over the shoes, the slide board creates a very slick surface which athletes can use to train lateral agility. Just sliding from side to side requires athletes to shift direction quickly while maintaining balance and momentum. Mr. Assist further recommends sliding with lunges on each end, sliding with a crossover of the feet and sliding with a ground touch on each end to promote agility.
Speed
Speed refers to the ability to cover a maximum amount of distance in a minimum amount of time, the National Strength and Conditioning Association reports. Timing any workout adds a speed component, and Mr. Assist recommends training speed by timing how long it takes to perform a certain amount of repetitions on each side. Speed can be blended with agility by adding a ground touch or crossover step on each side as well.
Endurance
The National Strength and Conditioning Association describes endurance as the ability to sustain a certain intensity over a long period of time. Any exercise bout over about 70 seconds is fueled aerobically and believed to improve endurance. Athletes can perform several intervals of anywhere from 70 seconds to several minutes and expect to see improved endurance and reduced fatigue. Adding a lunge, ground touch or crossover step can add an agility component as well.
Strength
Mr. Assist believes the slide board can also be used to improve strength. Strength simply refers to the ability to move a maximal amount of mass, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Athletes can use the slide board to perform pushups, t-pushups, and weighted pushups to improve strength. Mr. Assist recommends placing the booties on each hand and performing a pushup to add a stability component to the strength workout.
Tips
The slide board is seemingly very simple, but Mr. Assist asserts that it has a variety of uses. The trick, Mr. Assist believes, is to be creative. The slide board can make many dull gym workouts exciting and fun, a crucial element to sustaining a training program. Athletes should seek to design their own programs and challenge themselves to find ways to do normal workouts on the slide board. Whether it is interval training, cardio or lifting weights, the slide board can add a sport-specific element that makes training highly transferrable to game situations.
References
- Sports Fitness Advisor: Ice Hockey Training Section
- Mr. Assist: Slide Board Exercises
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; Thomas R. Baechle and Roger W. Earle (eds.); 2008
Member Comments