The life of a hockey mom can be busy taking care of the needs of a son or daughter during the season. With all the driving to games and practices, preparing for road trips, making meals and washing hockey gear, moms need to take time out for themselves. One of the best ways to do that is to incorporate some kind of daily fitness activity into your schedule whether it’s a spin class, jogging, yoga, or a home strength training program.
Moms can be a big role model for their kids by living a healthy lifestyle and chances are very likely it will have a positive impact on their kids’ future. Making physical fitness a lifestyle for the whole family can leave a lasting impression for the future. I’ve designed numerous home programs for hockey moms that are very simple, easy to follow and produce great results with little or no equipment at all.
My athletic adult conditioning classes are a great way for moms to learn exactly how I develop young hockey players. I use the same systematic program model for adults as I do for all athletes. Within the training system I break it down into customizing specific movement patterns and exercises to suit each individual’s needs and goals. Moms can greatly benefit from the same warm up techniques that athletes do and can help correct any imbalances using effective flexibility and mobility movement patterns.
After turning on the nervous system and specific muscle activation we begin a power development phase that leads into full-body strength training. The last sequence of an athletic training program should be some form on intense metabolic work, or energy system development. When it comes to training athletes it’s important to understand the demand of the sport itself and incorporate the appropriate conditioning work that will benefit the athlete to perform at a higher level. However, for moms, it’s more about simply burning calories and conditioning the heart and lungs to increase the capacity to deliver oxygen. It also adds a variety of conditioning work that increases the metabolism and ultimately leads to burning more calories.
Forget about big boot camps where no one pays attention to you and provides little if any value to addressing your specific needs. My hockey mom programs have become very popular where they feel like they can train like an athlete but don’t have to play a sport to get the same physical fitness benefits. With a maximum of only 6 individuals per class, moms get better attention to their program and the results are even better than one-on-one private training when everyone can challenge each other to work harder.
Here are my top 6 strength training exercises for hockey moms that I use in my classes today and can be done in the convenience of your own home. For more information on the exact execution of these exercises, a complete description of each exercise and how to incorporate each one into a fully functional program please feel free to contact me.
1. Push up with side plank rotation (the most under-rated exercise to develop shoulder stability and core strength)
2. TRX pull ups (attach to a door frame or use ropes or straps instead of a TRX for ultimate upper body strength)
3. Squat with a press (use some form of resistance for the over-head press such as a medicine ball)
4. Air planes (a great exercise to improve hip stability, posture control and glute/hamstring activation)
5. Knee to elbow (incredible core stability and hip flexion exercise that addresses shoulder stability as well)
6. Dead bugs (sounds funny I know, but an excellent core strength exercise that will set your abs on fire)
