Run Hills to Improve Speed and Confidence

Hill running is a great way to build up power in your legs.  Utilizing bodyweight and gravity, hill running is one of the simplest ways to develop explosive power in all the muscles in your legs. When you improve the strength and power in your legs, you will skate faster by maximizing each stride.

The goal of the hill run is to get up the hill as quickly and explosively as possible.   For hockey, you should pick out a hill that can be conquered in at the start 10-20 seconds.  Short bursts of speed most closely replicate the activity you will perform during a hockey game.  Gradually, you should aim to work your way up to 30-45 seconds by conquering longer and/or steeper inclines.  The 30-45 second hill will match that of a typical shift in a typical hockey game.  The longer the hill, the greater the cardiovascular training element. 

To start, these hills should be sprinted up 10 times to start, with gradual increases in the amount of repetitions.  It is important to note that you should jog down at three quarters speed back to the starting position.  The jog return is an important part of resistance training.

Hill training, is a very simple yet very effective exercise. Always try to push yourself past to your limit, as this is the only way to see results!  NFL great Jerry Rice built his off-season training around Hill running, and had amazing results.  Here is a video: