Workout With Professional Hockey Players Off The Ice

Workout With Professional Hockey Players Off The Ice Veronica: Hi, I'm Veronica with Mojo.com and today we’re learning how professional hockey players train and stay fit. So can you begin by telling us about the guys that you’re working with today? Paul Gagne: Well, Ruslan Fedotenko who was with the Pittsburg Penguin, two time Stanley Cup Champion. Francois Bouchard from Washington Capitals, Mathieu Carle, Montreal Canadiens and Tomas Kundratek, New York Rangers. Veronica: So what type of workout do you do for these Hockey players? Paul Gagne: Well, like today it was more upper body. We’re only about three weeks off camp. The intensity is very high. We keep it at 15 seconds time under tension with 30 seconds off to mimic a bit what’s going on the ice. I like to keep the workout very short at that time because they’re on the ice four times a week and also to work on the areas of injuries in the arms and the shoulder blades. Veronica: Now, what's the difference in training between off and on season? Paul Gagne: Sadly in the NHL, there’s not enough of ice conditioning in season. They’re doing a lot of the TRX, a lot of the suspension stuff. A lot of my veterans, they're allowed to do my stuff. They don’t have to follow the team. Most hockey players will have hip problems, knee is a big area and the shoulders then they has to be addressed in season a lot as specific warm ups and specific model -- stretching. Veronica: So I know you’re doing upper body today but what muscles were you focusing on because these are hockey players? Paul Gagne: It’s all a question of posture, balancing the muscle, a lot of abdominals. If there’s one area that they have to really, really take the time is the abdominals and the feet. If you control the balance of the posture through the feet and the abdominals, you have at least 60, 70% of the job done. The first 15 minutes we spend a lot of time on the scapula girdle or the rotator calf then we’ll go to the elbow flexors. Then the last part was more back pectorals, the pushing and pulling muscles, that’s to ensure to them that they have enough power on the ice to either push or pull and also you need a lot of core stability when you do these movements. Veronica: Do you train each player differently depending on his position on the ice? Paul Gagne: Not really. We will modify the program for their injury sites more. Defense men, we’ll change it on the ice a bit. But in the gym, you would take a hockey player. It’s very difficult to differentiate offensive than defensive. It’s more at personal -- based on postural eval and injury allocations. Veronica: Do you still train them even if they’re injured? Paul Gagne: As an example, Ruslan – so you heard his back is a bit jumping stuff and he was still here today. But that’s why spending a little more time stretching because we’re going on the ice this afternoon. But I modified a bit his workout to make sure that he didn’t aggravate what he did yesterday. Veronica: Now, resistance training and cardio training is important. But stretching also important for the athlete’s? Paul Gagne: All my athletes, they do 20-30 minutes after a workout. Then they’ll redo it later at night. You need to. They have no choice. They’re here for an hour and fifteen. They’ll be on the ice this afternoon for an hour and a half. They need a minimum of 30-40 minutes of model – stretching and the cooptation of the vertebrae to ensure that tomorrow, they’ll be ready, because tomorrow we have even a tougher workout. Veronica: Is there anything else you want to leave us with? Paul Gagne: These guys -- after a brutal 82 games and coming here for six to 12 weeks, the transfer will give them a lot more respect because they’re killing themselves in the summer to be good on the ice for you guys in the winter. Veronica: Thank you very much. Paul Gagne: My pleasure.