Eight weeks to real legs.
The pre-season program. Two short workouts a week, built for people with jobs, kids, and old-ass knees. Zero excuses that hold up in the room.
Boys,
We’re in a good league now, and every fall it’s the same story: three weeks of feeling like near death. Someone’s groin detonates in game two, Blum collapses during the second period, and we spot the standings six points before our legs show up. Not this year.
This is not a bootcamp or 2-a-days like in high school. It’s two 35-minute workouts a week, plus some optional stickhandling in your garage while your sad dinner is in the microwave. If you do even 80% of it, you will feel the difference on the first shift of game one, and so will the other team.
— Your Captains
Small commitment. Compounding returns.
Equipment: one pair of dumbbells (or anything heavy — a full growler counts), and something that gets your heart rate up: a bike, a hill, stairs, a rower, or your own two feet.
Three phases towards one very smug October.
Wake the Body Up
Same every time, this is the boring part that keeps your groin attached to your body. By week 3 you'll do it on autopilot.
- Adductor rockbacks10 per side
Kneel, stick one leg straight out to the side, rock your hips back. Your groin's insurance policy.
- 90/90 hip switches10 total
Sit on the floor, both knees bent at 90°, swivel them side to side. Ugly to watch, great for hips.
- Glute bridges× 15
Lie on your back, drive hips up, squeeze at the top. Wakes up the muscles your office chair put to sleep.
- Leg swings10 each way, per leg
Forward/back and side-to-side. Hold a wall. Don't be a hero on the range of motion.
- Bodyweight squats× 10
Slow and controlled.
- Goblet squats× 10
Hold one dumbbell at your chest like a chalice of victory. No dumbbell? Bodyweight is fine this phase.
- Split squats× 8 per leg
One foot forward, one back, drop the back knee. Hold something for balance if needed; nobody's judging.
- Romanian deadlifts× 10
Dumbbells in hands, hinge at the hips with a flat back. This is a bow, not a squat. Hamstrings are skating muscles.
- Lateral lunges× 6 per side
Step wide, sit into one hip. This is literally your skating stride on dry land.
- Calf raises× 15
Off a stair step if you have one.
- Plank + side planks30 sec + 20 sec per side
Your core is what lets you win a puck battle without ending up on Instagram.
- Steady cardio20–25 min
Bike, brisk incline walk, easy jog, rower, whatever. Pace check: you should be able to talk, but not want to.
Yes, Dan, walking counts, we know hustle isn’t your strong suit. The guy who “hasn’t skated since last April”: this phase exists specifically for you. Do not skip to Phase 2. We need you in November.
Build the Engine
Same every time, this is the boring part that keeps your groin attached to your body. By week 3 you'll do it on autopilot.
- Adductor rockbacks10 per side
Kneel, stick one leg straight out to the side, rock your hips back. Your groin's insurance policy.
- 90/90 hip switches10 total
Sit on the floor, both knees bent at 90°, swivel them side to side. Ugly to watch, great for hips.
- Glute bridges× 15
Lie on your back, drive hips up, squeeze at the top. Wakes up the muscles your office chair put to sleep.
- Leg swings10 each way, per leg
Forward/back and side-to-side. Hold a wall. Don't be a hero on the range of motion.
- Bodyweight squats× 10
Slow and controlled.
The Phase 1 circuit plus one new move at the end. Add weight if last phase felt easy.
- Goblet squats× 10
Hold one dumbbell at your chest like a chalice of victory. No dumbbell? Bodyweight is fine this phase.
- Split squats× 8 per leg
One foot forward, one back, drop the back knee. Hold something for balance if needed; nobody's judging.
- Romanian deadlifts× 10
Dumbbells in hands, hinge at the hips with a flat back. This is a bow, not a squat. Hamstrings are skating muscles.
- Lateral lunges× 6 per side
Step wide, sit into one hip. This is literally your skating stride on dry land.
- Calf raises× 15
Off a stair step if you have one.
- Plank + side planks30 sec + 20 sec per side
Your core is what lets you win a puck battle without ending up on Instagram.
- Lateral bounds× 6 per side
Push off one leg, land soft on the other, stick the landing for a beat. Skater jumps. This is where the stride power comes from.
- Shift intervals40 sec hard / 2 min easy × 6–8
That work-to-rest ratio is almost exactly a hockey shift and a bench sit. Train it and your body stops panicking when it happens on ice.
Hands homework starts now — optional, but the leaderboard sees all
10 minutes, whenever: golf ball or green biscuit stickhandling in the garage. Shots if you've got a pad. Details in the challenge below.
If we can get ice, our first stick-and-puck slots in around week 5 or 6. Edges, crossovers, and hard laps. All boring stuff. Nobody needs you blowing a hammy dangling for an empty net in a practice that doesn’t count.
Sharpen & Taper
Same every time, this is the boring part that keeps your groin attached to your body. By week 3 you'll do it on autopilot.
- Adductor rockbacks10 per side
Kneel, stick one leg straight out to the side, rock your hips back. Your groin's insurance policy.
- 90/90 hip switches10 total
Sit on the floor, both knees bent at 90°, swivel them side to side. Ugly to watch, great for hips.
- Glute bridges× 15
Lie on your back, drive hips up, squeeze at the top. Wakes up the muscles your office chair put to sleep.
- Leg swings10 each way, per leg
Forward/back and side-to-side. Hold a wall. Don't be a hero on the range of motion.
- Bodyweight squats× 10
Slow and controlled.
The full Phase 2 circuit — quality over grind. Bounds should feel springy now.
- Goblet squats× 10
Hold one dumbbell at your chest like a chalice of victory. No dumbbell? Bodyweight is fine this phase.
- Split squats× 8 per leg
One foot forward, one back, drop the back knee. Hold something for balance if needed; nobody's judging.
- Romanian deadlifts× 10
Dumbbells in hands, hinge at the hips with a flat back. This is a bow, not a squat. Hamstrings are skating muscles.
- Lateral lunges× 6 per side
Step wide, sit into one hip. This is literally your skating stride on dry land.
- Calf raises× 15
Off a stair step if you have one.
- Plank + side planks30 sec + 20 sec per side
Your core is what lets you win a puck battle without ending up on Instagram.
- Lateral bounds× 6 per side
Push off one leg, land soft on the other, stick the landing for a beat. Skater jumps. This is where the stride power comes from.
- Sprint intervals20 sec sprint / 90 sec easy × 8–10
Shorter and nastier than Phase 2. This is breakaway-and-backcheck fuel.
Week 8 · The Taper
- Early in the week: one light session — 1 easy round of the circuit, 15 minutes easy cardio with a few 20-second pickups.
- Final 3 days before game one: nothing but the warm-up routine and stickhandling. The hay is stacked and the horses are eating. Showing up sore to opening night because you crushed legs on Thursday is a rookie move and we are not rookies we are people who are likely not going to do any of this so we'll be fine.
Ice sessions · Weeks 5–8, if we can book it
- 2–3 stick-and-puck or rented sessions total. Menu: 10 min edges and tight turns, hard lap intervals (one lap hard, one easy × 6), shooting in stride, 2-on-0 passing if enough guys show.
- Late ice beats early ice! This will be what turns bike fitness into skating fitness, and it's why the first three games won't feel like we're moving through wet cement.
Week 8 discipline is the difference between “wow, we look fast” and “oh no our spouses went too hard and now they’re worthless on opening night”.
What the heck is an RDL? — Exercise glossary
- Goblet squat
- Hold one dumbbell vertically against your chest with both hands, squat down keeping your chest up, stand back up. The weight in front keeps your form honest.
- Split squat
- Stand in a staggered stance like you froze mid-step. Lower the back knee toward the floor, push back up. All the work is the front leg.
- Romanian deadlift (RDL)
- Stand tall holding dumbbells at your thighs. Push your hips back and let the weights slide down your legs, keeping your back flat and knees slightly bent, until you feel your hamstrings complain. Squeeze your butt to stand back up. It's a hip hinge — think "close the car door with your butt."
- Lateral lunge
- Big step directly sideways, sit your hips back and down over the stepping leg, other leg straight. Push back to standing. Feels exactly like the bottom of a skating stride, because it basically is.
- Lateral bound
- Stand on one leg, jump sideways, land softly on the other leg and hold your balance for one second. Like a speed skater, or a slow-motion one anyway.
- 90/90 hip switch
- Sit on the floor, one leg bent 90° in front, the other bent 90° to the side. Rotate both knees to the other side without using your hands. If your hips crackle like a campfire the first week, that's normal. Probably.
- Adductor rockback
- On all fours, extend one leg straight out to the side, toes forward. Rock your hips back toward your heel and feel the stretch along your inner thigh. Go gently — this is a groin stretch, not a groin test.
shots before opening night.
That's about 25 a night, most nights, starting week 4. Honor system, but if you don't do this you're off the team.
- Have a shooting pad? 25–50 shots a session. Half wristers picking corners, half quick-release from an imperfect feed.
- No pad? 10 minutes of golf-ball or green-biscuit stickhandling counts as 25 shots. Do it in the garage, in the driveway, on a Zoom call during a 1:1 that you want to ignore.
- Why: hands come back way faster than legs, and they come back at home for free. First guy to 1,000 gets first pick of the good seats on the bench, forever, or until we forget.
Read this part too.
- Sore is fine. Sharp is not. Muscle soreness a day or two after a workout: normal, welcome, character-building. Sharp pain, joint pain, or anything that makes you say "hm, that's new" — stop, skip it, tell someone. Better to miss a workout than a month.
- Missed a session? Just do the next one. Do not double up to "catch up" because that's how 40-year-old hamstrings explode.
- Sleep and water are doing more for your game than any exercise on this page. Boring but true.
- Is beer a recovery drink? Legally, we cannot say yes but also yes. Spiritually, one after Session B has never hurt anyone's plus/minus.
- The obvious disclaimer: we are hockey players, not doctors. If you've got a condition, an old injury, or a doctor who sighs when you mention hockey, check with them first.