Do Hockey Players Need Aerobic Fitness?

With the continued growth in the popularity of the sport of ice hockey, there is an increased need on the part of coaches and trainers to provide these players with training programs that will optimize their skills. A common practice within this sport is to utilize aerobic conditioning as a method in which to prepare these athletes for game-time situations. Furthermore, many hockey athletes are evaluated based upon their aerobic capacity. Is this practice optimal for the training and assessment of ice hockey athletes?

The primary objective of this study was to correlate aerobic capacity (VO2max) and fatigue from high-intensity skating in college hockey players. Eleven female collegiate hockey players agreed to participate. Subjects skated 5 1-lap intervals around the hockey rink at maximal intensity with a 30-second recovery period between skates. The VO2max test was performed on a motor-driven treadmill after a modified Bruce protocol. A fatigue index was calculated by measuring the total increase in skate time from trial 1 to trial 5. This fatigue index was then correlated to VO2max. This correlation coefficient was not significant and indicated that only 17.8% of the variance in VO2max could be explained by the fatigue index. It was concluded that ability to recover from high-intensity intermittent exercise is not related to aerobic capacity.

Coaches and trainers probably do not need to include aerobic training in their practices, because the high-intensity interval training commonly seen in hockey training also improves aerobic capacity, as reflected in the high VO2max values of these subjects.

Carey D, Drake M, Pliego G, Raymond R. (2007). Do hockey players need aerobic fitness? Relation between VO2 max and fatigue during high-intensity intermittent ice skating. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 21(3): 963-966.