Part 6: How Pro Hockey Players
Use Jump Training to Get Faster
(and How You Can Too)
I promised to show you some hard data on how well the E5 System you learned about on the previous page works with REAL hockey players.
So here goes...
Last summer, I had the chance to consult with the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of a pro hockey club.
We created an off-season program around the three main pillars of physical preparation I already mentioned:
1. Lifting
2. Sprinting
3. Jumping
I'd say 95% of this training plan was based on what I had been doing with my own junior, college and pro athletes over the past few years, with some minor tweaks here and there.
The results were nothing short of impressive.
Here's a short recap of what happened to the players' 30-meter on-ice sprint times over a 13-week period:
- 15 out of 15 tested players improved their 30-meter skating time during the 13-week off-season.
(That's a 100% success rate!)
- Biggest improvement was 0.277 seconds.
(Almost three-tenths over such a short distance... HUGE)
- Average improvement was a VERY respectable 0.11 seconds.
- Even a 36-year-old veteran entering his 18th pro season got faster, which is practically unheard of. Most players past 35 lose a step or two each year.
- 9 out of the 15 tested players posted career highs in points the following season.
- Man-games lost to injury dropped significantly from previous seasons.
Faster, healthier, higher performance...
What more can you ask from your off-season training?
But maybe all that was just a fluke?
So I'll give you another example...
Providence College junior Kasper Björkqvist - who has been following my off-ice programs since age 17 - broke the ALL-TIME RECORD in the single-leg vertical jump at the 2018 Pittsburgh Penguins prospect camp.
You know how many times we practiced for that test during the 4+ years he has been training with me?
Zero.
That's because we train for on-ice performance, first and foremost.
A high test result is just a nice side bonus developed by weeks, months, years of DOING THE RIGHT THINGS off the ice.
I'm not telling you all this to try to impress you...
But rather to IMPRESS UPON YOU what's possible when your training is dialed in.
Yes, I realize these are professional (or soon-to-be professional) athletes who get paid to play sports.
They don't have the same responsibilities those of us with "real" jobs do.
So it's easy to dismiss their results as unattainable.
But that's just negative thinking.
Fact is, the principles that drive successful physical preparation don't change whether we're talking about low- versus high-level athletes.
Methods, tactics and exercises may (and often do) vary.
But the fundamental principles stay the same.
If anything, the lower level athlete has even less leeway to half-ass his off-ice workouts because he can't coast on his talent alone.
And unlike so many strength coaches who try to guard their "training secrets" like Gollum his ring, I have no problem sharing how I train my hockey players.
These are the basic parameters behind our jump training system:
- 2 jump training sessions per week
- 2 jump exercises per session
- 3-6 sets per exercise
- 1-6 reps per set
Do the math on that.
A session of high-quality jumping takes about 15-20 minutes.
If you also perform sprints on top of the jumps for extra speed work, then you're looking at 30-40 minutes per session (max) done twice a week.
Doesn't sound like a ton of work, does it?
That's right. It's not.
Yet it works like gangbusters.
My college and pro guys follow this same exact template and they're witnessing speed gains summer after summer.
So instead of coming up with excuses why it possibly COULDN'T work for you, focus on the positive...
There's no reason why you, too, can't achieve similar results if you follow these same principles AND put in the work required to succeed.
If you don't have those 60-90 minutes to invest in your performance on a weekly basis, then reaching a higher level of play must not be that important to you.
Because if it were, you'd make the time. Somehow, some way.
Simple as that.
So how EXACTLY can you experience these speed and power gains that my athletes do?
That's what you'll discover next.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
#1. Our combined strength + jump + sprint program has been proven to produce faster pro hockey players, 100% of the time.
#2. These same off-ice methods work regardless of your previous training experience or level of play.
#3. You can witness great results from jump workouts with as little as 15-20 minutes per session, done 2x/week.