Hockey warm ups are a crucial part of both training and on-ice play, yet countless players do them the wrong way every single time! The vast majority of players, do static stretches to loosen up and get ready to either train or play.
What they don't know is that doing static stretches is sure-fire way to reduce your performance.
That's why you need to be doing dynamic stretches including these 3 great dynamic warm-ups.
Jumping Jacks The simply jumping jack is one of the absolute best dynamic warm ups you can do to get your blood pumping, your heart rate up, and your muscles and joints loosened up and ready to go.
Just find an open area you're free to move around and jump and perform a few sets of 10 to 15 jumping jacks.
(In case you aren't familiar, a jumping jack is simply going from a standing position, jumping and landing with spread legs while raising your arms, and then returning with a jump back to the starting form) Push-ups You probably never thought of the simple push-up as a warm up exercise did you? Well they are, in fact, great for that purpose.
The push-up is great because doing a low number will get your muscles working and your heart rate up, while loosening up the muscles and joints in your upper body.
Don't go crazy with them at this point though, you're not using them as an exercise, just as a warm up to get your upper body ready for action.
Leg swings Leg swings can be done wither forward and backwards or laterally from side to side.
They're a fantastic warm up for your lower body as they really get your joints and muscles stretched and loosened up without reducing their ability to perform like almost all static stretches do.
Simply swing your leg back and forth (or laterally), adding some bending at the knee.