Featured PostImages 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking 840x385 - 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking

Although it may seem outdated, lots of hockey coaches still think bulking is negative for players. The reasoning behind this belief relies on the fact that coaches think getting bigger and bulkier will make athletes feel heavy and slow on the pitch.

Bulking will only have benefits to the body, as gaining muscle and growing their frame gives hockey players the chance to make the most out of their abilities. In this article, the reasons why hockey players should start bulking now to improve their performance will be shared and also some resources on how to pick your own fitness equipment.

More Strength for Longer Periods of Time

Featured PostImages 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking More Strength for Longer Periods of Time - 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking

Doing some heavy-weight low-rep training sessions every week will help you get stronger and gain muscle in the process. Adding some hypertrophy periods to your training in order to avoid getting into a plateau translates in you gaining lean muscle mass, thus building stronger and bigger muscles without affecting your speed and agility on the pitch.

Gaining Speed by Fixing Muscular Imbalances

Featured PostImages 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking Gaining Speed by Fixing Muscular Imbalances - 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking

Bad posture and weak muscles are common among hockey players, whether they are professional or not. This is due to the basic skating posture players adopt for extended periods of time: a hunched-over half-squat position which will only damage their muscles. Training the back side of the body, mostly glutes and hamstrings, will help to avoid this.

Avoid Injuries by Protecting the Body

Featured PostImages 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking Avoid Injuries by Protecting the Body - 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking

Currently, some of the most common injuries in almost every sport are groin strains. Protecting the body in order to avoid this kind of injuries by gaining some lean muscle mass and strength in areas like the hip flexors, lower abs, glutes, and hamstrings, is pretty much mandatory.

Gaining muscle on the upper body will also help players to have ‘armor’ against heavy contact situations which are extremely common in sports like hockey.

3 Tips for Bulking

Featured PostImages 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking 3 Tips for Bulking - 3 Reasons Why Hockey Players Should Start Bulking

Now you know why bulking is important if you are a hockey athlete. Next, we provide some handy tips to get your bulking started easily.

Mind Your Nutrition

Nutrition plays an integral role when you are building muscle and doing bulking exercises. You should eat at least 5-7 small meals per day, and each should consist of the right amount of fat, water, protein and carbohydrates.

Focus on Functional Muscles

While bulking can be confused with bodybuilding, the truth is you want to focus on strength and muscles. The purpose of bulking is after all to improve your performance on the pitch, so be sure that you focus on all your functional muscle groups when training.

Follow the Right Training Program

Finally, you’ll need to follow a professional training program to ensure you target all the right functional muscles. This will also include following a balanced diet. The ideal program consists of four phases; Introduction, Hypertrophy, Strength and finally, the Power phase.

Although knowing how to bulk properly may seem easy, it takes some time and effort to actually do it and make it right. The positive rewards from bulking is certainly worth the work put to it, as it grants hockey players better performance and more strength and resistance in the long run.

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time 840x385 - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

The Quad City Mallards, a team formerly-subscribed to the ECHL, ended activities and ceased to exist last season due to financial problems and money losses, almost making the franchise to go bankrupt.

Setting the money issues aside, the team had high acceptance among hockey fans that learned to love the Ducks over the years and was filled with great athletes we will always remember. Here are some of the most important players in the history of the franchise.

Joe Dimaline

The player was the goalkeeper for the 2001 championship, saved 7 shootouts, and had a .908 save rate. He was one of the best goaltenders in the Mallards’ history with 2.52 goals saved against average rate.

Rick Emmet

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time Rick Emmet - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

Scored 48 goals and had 153 assists in 264 games he played for the Ducks. He played during the 1997 and 1998 winning titles.

Andy Fermoyle

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time Andy Fermoyle - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

He helped the team in the 2001 championship title. The player was a defenseman who scored 20 goals and had 79 assists in 275 games.

Steve Gibson

Scored more than 150 goals and had 208 assists in 320 games he played for the team. He was part of the 1998 and 2001 teams which won the championship.

Gary Goulash

The three-time all-star scored 35 goals and had 125 assists in 214 games played for the Mallards. He was also part of the 2001 championship team.

Frederick Jobin

He was a great defenseman in the 2001 championship team and earned all-star status in the 2001-2002 season. The defenseman scored 37 goals and 81 assists in less than 250 games. He also spent 590 minutes in the penalty box.

Mickey Lang

He was considered the Three Stars best player of the year for the CHL back in 2013. Lang scored 60 goals and had 63 assists in only 125 games played for the team.

Carl LeBlanc

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time Carl LeBlanc - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

He was part of the 1997 and 1998 championship teams with all-star performances in both seasons. LeBlanc scored 16 goals in 208 games and had 123 assists for the team.

Brandon Marino

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time Brandon Marino - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

He was the League’s MVP back in 2012, being the only Mallard in history to achieve this honor. Marino played in 196 games and scored 64 goals, adding 108 assists for the team.

Mark McFarlane

Featured PostImages The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time Mark McFarlane - The 12 Most Important Quad City Mallards Players of All Time

Scored 103 goals and had 137 assists in 393 games played in his career. He spent 1246 minutes on the penalty box and was part of 1997, 1998, and 2001 championship teams.

Hugo Proulx

The center scored 471 points, had 283 assists, was part of 3 championship winning titles, and worked as an assistant coach until his retirement in 2005.

Darren McMillan

The former Mallards’ captain played from 2009 to 2016, when he decided to retire from the sport. McMillan scored 20 goals, had 98 assists, and 415 games played for the team, winning an all-star title in 2011.

These athletes left a deep stamp as some of the best players in the Quad City Mallards’ history. Every true Mallards’ fan will recognize them as rightful exponents of the franchise’s morals and values.

Featured PostImages The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now 840x385 - The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now

Hockey is one of the most dangerous and violent sports in the world due to players clashing against each other using high-intensity moves at a fast pace on the ice pitch.

In order to help their bodies, gain resistance and get themselves ready, it’s crucial for hockey players to stay in shape. Here are some of the fittest hockey players in the National Hockey League right now.

Tyler Seguin

Since he debuted in the League back in 2010, Seguin has been one of the top scorers and best centers in the NHL.

This is due to the fact that he takes his off-season training very seriously, as he takes care of his body doing yoga, Pilates, weight training, and even beach volleyball six days a week, 4 hours a day.

Featured PostImages The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now Tyler Seguin - The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now

Henrik Lundqvist

The 36-year-old goaltender loves to train his core strength by doing isolated ab workouts and heavy-weight squats, also improving his lower body strength at the same time. He also plays tennis as a way to train his eye-hand coordination, which is vital for his position on the pitch.

Featured PostImages The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now Henrik Lundqvist - The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now

Roman Polak

The 6’2” athlete stands almost like a giant among other players with his 235-pound body. Due to the fact that he likes to train his power by benching up to 350 pounds and doing regular sprinting sessions, he often crushes his teammates on the fit tests ran by the team during the season.

Sidney Crosby

The 5’11’’ 205-pounds athlete shines as one of the top players in the entire league. He trains his body by doing squats, deadlifts variations, and heavy-weighted box jumps in order to build muscle and gain strength in his lower body, thus increasing his explosive response on the ice pitch.

Featured PostImages The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now Sidney Crosby - The 5 Fittest NHL Players Right Now

Michael Grabner

Although being a veteran NHL player, Grabner is proof of great work ethics and physical prowess, as no one seems to want to fight him on the pitch. The player maintains his physique by doing heavy-weight training and jumping out of pools with water up to his waist.

It’s obvious how staying in shape and protecting the body against injuries plays a huge role in athletes being able to stay active in the sport for long periods of time no matter their age.

Let’s hope athletes who are not in shape will start training better to maximize their potential on the pitch.

Featured PostImages 4 Off Season Training Tips for Hockey Players 840x385 - 4 Off-Season Training Tips for Hockey Players

Having a great performance over the entire season is good for every hockey athlete, as it all comes to the fact of them having the right amount of training and resting time after the season has already ended.

In order to assure hockey players a proper level of performance within the team, it’s crucial to follow some of these tips we’ll share.

Fix Posture and Balance

Hockey players tend to end the season with several postural imbalances and muscular problems, as the sport is extremely demanding for the body in all its competitive levels. Tight hip flexors and weak muscles on glutes and legs are the main reason for these problems.

In order to fix them, it’s important to reinforce mobility throughout the entire body by performing unilateral training to gain strength and balance at the same time.

Do Strength TrainingFeatured PostImages 4 Off Season Training Tips for Hockey Players Do Strength Training 300x150 - 4 Off-Season Training Tips for Hockey Players

Gaining strength while focusing on technique, instead of just maxing out in every set, is vital for hockey players. Train strength by doing circuits and include exercises such as squats (both one-legged and regular), deadlifts, chin-ups, push-ups, and lunges with high resistance and lower reps per set to gain strength and build more muscle during summer.

Learning to lift heavy weights the correct way is mandatory to boost both training and results to new heights.

Get ExplosiveFeatured PostImages 4 Off Season Training Tips for Hockey Players Get Explosive 300x150 - 4 Off-Season Training Tips for Hockey Players

Playing hockey demands to be able to be fast and explosive on the ice pitch. Practicing and developing acceleration and deceleration moves like jumping, weightlifting, and sprinting, will only make athletes’ performance improve if done with high-intensity low-rep training circuits.

Forget the Ice

When the season is over, athletes need to stay off the ice to regain mental and physical health after spending countless hours in an uncomfortable hunched and half-squat-like position on the pitch.

In order to relax, most professional hockey players spend their time doing other activities such as golfing, fishing, swimming or playing tennis.

Getting enough time to be able to relax, regain some strength, and build some muscle while fixing minor injuries will help hockey players start the new season clear-headed, faster, and motivated to make their performance on the ice pitch their number one priority.