DR: What initially made you interested in strength training?
JM: Growing up I always heard from everyone how I would never be any good or go anywhere with my hockey career because I was too little. I was determined to prove everyone wrong so I worked hard practicing at the rink, working on my skating, speed, stick handling, and shot. I realized this would only get me so far, and I had to do something else to take me to the next level. This marked the beginning of my passion for strength training. I began researching weight training programs for athletes that would help me improve my game. After seeing the results that strength training brought to my game, I was immediately hooked.I began recognizing what my weak areas were in the weight room and on the rink, and began working on them to turn them into my stronger areas. I was amazed at how the progress I made in the weight room translated to the development of my game on the rink.
DR: Do you think inline hockey will become a sport down the road where you will have to train to compete, as opposed to how it is today where it’s kind of a show up and play sport? I guess it’s kind similar to the NHL circa 1980’s compared to now?
JM: I think inline hockey will eventually become a sport where the players will have to train to compete at the highest level. The sport will continue to grow, and the players will be bigger, stronger, and faster than they are today. In order to compete with the competition, players won’t really have much choice in whether they work out or not, because if they don’t they will be left behind. The way I look at it is that if an athlete is involved in a sport, there’s only one thing to have in mind, and that is being the best possible player that they can be. It takes a lot of hard work to become the best player on the rink, and it’s not going to be easy, because if it was easy, then everyone would do it!!
DR: If you had to pick only 5 exercises for your athletes to do, what would you use?
JM: If I had to pick 5 exercises for my athletes to perform, they would be:
- Back Squat: A player with strong legs will be at an advantage on the rink over a player with a strong upper body.
- Deadlift: The development of the Posterior Chain is essential in the development of an athlete.
- Box Jumps: I’m not opposed to Olympic Lifting, but I think it is easier to teach Box Jump variations, and in my opinion jumping is one of the best ways to improve explosiveness
- Pullup/Chinup: Definitely one of, if not the best test of relative body and pulling strength for an athlete.
- Bench Press: When performed correctly, the bench press is a great test of upper body pushing strength.
Conditioning is being done 2-3 days per week right now as I am preparing for team USA tryouts and Narch and Torhs. As I get closer to the summer, I will lower my training volume and increase conditioning even more to make sure I am 110% ready.
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