Warm Up For Hockey

So why warm up?

The warm up is often a hurried exercises of a quick jog and a few stretches but the warm up is a very important part of the  pre-match preparation. A warm up has two main aims:

Prepare the body to play - and thus prevent injuries

Prepare the mind to play - and enhance your game.

The main benefits of a good effective warm up are:

  1. Muscles that are warm are able to contract more effectively creating more force.  They are also able to relax more easily. All areas of your game will obviously be improved when your muscles are functioning at their optimum.

  2. Joint range of movement is improved after a warm up so stiffness and restriction will be reduced.  This will not only help to prevent stresses and strains but also improve your dynamic movement.

  3. Warm up causes vasodilation which enhances the carriage of vital oxygen to the active muscles.

  4. The nervous system is primed following a warm up - so is ready for the activity about to happen.

As you can see from the above points a warm up is critical for injury prevention and sporting excellence.

So what should you do?

The basic principle of a warm up is to:

  1. Get everything generally warmed up - especially on a cold morning in January!

  2. Start slowly with slower stretches progressing to dynamic work increasing intensity and speed.

  3. Strength activation exercises.

  4. Game specific activities.

1. Get warmed up:

10 minutes of brisk walking progressing quickly to light jogging should be enough to get the body ready to exercise. 

2.Stretches and dynamic stretching

Research (Page, 2012) shows that for athletes involved in running sports, such as hockey and football, dynamic stretching may be the best method of stretching. Whilst for those involved in sports requiring flexibility such as gymnastics and dance, static stretching may be more beneficial.  Therefore the stretches suggested below are dynamic. However it is important to start these stretches slowly and build up the range.

Standing on the spot:

  • Hip Swinging - Swing the leg forward and back  and side to side. X 20 each movement 

  • Knee bends and heel raises - Bend the knees and them raise heels, lower the heels and bend the knees with arm reaches. x20

  • Knee lifts and hamstring curls - Lift each knee to chest. Then bend each knee to bring the foot to bottom. x20 each

  • Roll down  and reaches - Rest hands on the thighs and nod the head and roll the spine down to reach the toes - if you feel tension in the back allow the knees to bend slightly. Uncurl as you roll up and reach for the sky. Try to move vertebra by vertebra.  x5

  • Hip Swivels - Rotate the hips in both directions. x10 each direction

  • Cross body arm reaches -Take the right arm across the body to the left - palm up, repeat with the left arm. Then repeat with the palm down. X 10 each movement.

  • Trunk twist - Cross the arms across the body, keep the hips facing the front and rotate the trunk to the right and left. x10


See the below videos to help with the above exercises.


Start to build movement:

  • “A” skips - Skip forwards knees to chest.

  • “B” Skips - Skip forwards extending the knee.

  • Back Skips - Skip / Jog backwards. 

  • Skater skips - Hop onto 1 leg at an angle in front and to the side of you., then hop to the other leg.

  • Hamstring curl skips - Move forwards bringing alternate foot to the bottom.

  • Carioca -  Run sideways alternating one foot in front and one behind. Ensure to turn around halfway to lead with the opposite side.

I suggest doing each exercises for half the width of the pitch and repeating x 2 - 3

See the below videos to help with the above exercises.

3. Muscular activation.

Hockey requires a high level of asymmetric muscle work and a common finding in my practice with hockey players is tight hamstrings (back of the thigh) and weak glueals (Buttock muscles).

We have addressed the hamstring tightness with the dynamic stretches but activation of the gluteal muscles will improve stability and help stabilize the core.

  • 1 leg dips - stand on 1 leg ensure the hips are level and bend one knee - keeping the knee cap over the second toe, ensure to “squeeze” the buttock on the stance leg. x 20 each leg.

If you can invest in some theraband, this can really help wake up the gluteal muscles.

  • Crab walking -  Tie the band around the ankle. Position the feet in turn out and keeping knee cap over the second toe walk right and the left. - 1 minute.

  • Squat to lateral lift - Tie the band just above the knees, feet hip width apart.  Squat and push the bottom backwards. Stand tall and lift the right leg to the side. Repeat squat and leg lift to the left. X20 reps.

4. Game specific:

Now is the time to start to gear up for hockey. Stick and ball work in a small area - ¼ for  5 mins. Progress to ½ pitch for 5 mins and then to position specific drills - corners passes etc. 10 mins.

You should now be all set for a great game!

The above programme is given as a suggested warm up for those with no specific concerns and does not take into account any previous injuries.  You should not feel any pain with any of the above exercise and should seek advice from a doctor or professional if you have any symptoms or concerns.  

Victoria at ThamesPhysio would be very happy to guide you through a warm up for hockey or address any individual needs.

Reference:

P. Page: “Current concepts in muscle stretching for exercise and rehabilitation”.

Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Feb; 7(1): 109–119.