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Home » Exercise Programs » Pelotons, Rollerblades and yoga: How NHL players are staying in shape without the ice – NorthJersey.com

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Travis Zajac is one of several veteran players in the NHL who has experienced a work stoppage. The 34-year-old New Jersey Devils center knows what it takes to keep his body in competitive shape during a period of time where he may have to snap back into action at any time, having gone through the most recent lockout in 2012.

This is different.

It's different because you don't have ice anddon't have a group to really work out with, train and push, Zajac said on a recent conference call with reporters. So a lot of it is on the player "to really get motivated and stay engaged and stay interested and have a routine.

ZAJAC: NJ Devils' Travis Zajac wants to resume season, but only if it's done safel

The coronavirus pandemic shut down the NBA on March 11 and the NHL followed suit a day later. The entire sports world came to a screeching halt seemingly overnight.

Tentative dates were given. Initially, theNHL was hopingto resume play in April and begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs in May. But then the days dragged on asthe COVID-19 curve began to spike.

The leagueis still hopeful for a summer restart, with teams spread out through four regional neutral sites and fans excluded from the equation. The Devils are just as hopeful but some players from other teams have hesitations.

There are a number of challenges that come along with restarting the NHL and every other sport, for that matter. The virus and the spread of it will determine when normal life can resume.

Feb 18, 2020; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac (19) handles the puck during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.(Photo: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

The top athletes in other sports should be fine when competition is ready to resume. Yankeesace Gerrit Cole has been playing catch in his backyard with his wife Amy, a former UCLA softball player, and manager Aaron Boone has been able to oversee some home bullpen sessions. Some basketball players have courts as part of their home gyms. Even for those who are not as lucky, their off-field or off-court training can mirror what they do in games.

But hockey players face a unique challenge: Getting on the ice.

I don't think there is anything you can do to replicate what's done on the ice, said Mark Fitzgerald, a strength and conditioning coach who runs the Elite Training Systems facility in Whitby, Ontario, and counts former Devils forward Adam Henrique as one of his clients.

Its difficult for NHL players to know what theyre training for right now. Play stopped at a time when many were starting to increase their off-ice training in anticipation for the postseason, which tends to be a long, arduous battle with increasing physicality throughout.

Players like Zajac and Henrique, now with the Anaheim Ducks,were long out of the playoff chase but still have to stay in season-shape in the event the 2019-20 season is completed.

Standings aside, Fitzgerald first encouraged his clients to get rest but now he has them in a maintenance type phase to be ready to play whenever its safe to do so.

Until they announce that it's not going to come back, we have to keep them on the verge of being ready, Fitzgerald said. If we let it slide too much then they are going to get de-conditioned. The same goes for another month or so and they don't do anything, then yeah, that's not a good place to be.

Anaheim Ducks center and former Devil Adam Henrique (14) celebrates with right wing Ondrej Kase (25) after scoring a goal against the New Jersey Devils during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, in Newark, N.J.(Photo: Kathy Willens, AP)

The NHL is planning on giving teams a short training camp period but falling out of playing shape could result in injuries. Some players will be ahead in their training, like those training in Sweden who have access to ice, but many otherswill be behind.

Dr. Michael Alaia, a sports medicine specialist at NYUs Langone Orthopedic Center played hockey for several years and previously spent time on the Islanders medical team. Without the ice, its impossible to avoid becoming somewhat de-conditioned.

I've played hockey my whole life and there was a time when I was good but that's long gone, Dr. Alaia said. But these players are going to come back and they're going to be a little bit de-conditioned there. They are not going to feel as though they're ready to go. But that detriment is probably going to be felt around the entirety of the league or the entirety of whatever collegiate league is going on as well.

So everybody is going to be put at a disadvantage. The only question is, how disadvantaged will some be compared to others?

When play resumes, Dr. Alaia expects to see some specific injury patterns relating to lower-body muscle strains, particularly in the groin and hamstrings.

These are muscles that are very often injured in hockeyplayers when they're not really activating them and not really undergoing an exercise program, he said. I don't particularly think there's going to be a higher incidence of fractures, let's say collarbone injuries orinjuries from checking, because those usually stay relatively constant regardless of whatever time of the season, except for potentially the playoffs because as you know, those are played at an intensity level higher than the regular season.

Fitzgerald is emphasizing mobility and flexibility. Hes also encouraging clients to look at their weaker aspects that they may now have the time to build up. The one thing he cautions against is overtraining.

Programming, in my opinion, has to be pretty smart right now, because you don't want to want to put athletes into a hole that they can't get out of by overtraining them during this period, he said. Theres nothing else to do, so we do too much, right?I think it's fair to say that it was initially a little bit of a recovery (period) and now we're in that kind of maintenance phase waiting for that next kind of wave of news.

The NHL has debated multiple scenarios for a return, but in order to resume the season safely, Fitzgerald recommends a training camp period of at least two weeks.

"I cant see the NHL saying Hey, we're going to start in a week. Get your teams ready,'" the former Ducks trainersaid."Thatwould be catastrophic. They need a 14- to 30-day ramp-up for it to be safe, in my opinion."

Hockey players typically train in groups in the offseason. But obviously thats not possible right now with non-essential workers forced to stay in their own homes. Each player has a different setup in their home. Zajac and his teammate, P.K. Subban, have extensive home gyms. Others, however, may be extremely limited in their equipment.

The Devils are taking into account each players individual needs and individual home setups when it comes to strength and conditioning plans.

At this level, most players have their own personal trainer, which is fine, but I think it's important for our strength coaches to get in touch with them, make sure that they have everything they need because they don't have access to facilities, Devilsinterim coach Alain Nasreddine said. We want to be able to give them resources where they can work out, stay in shape. So that's what we've been doing.

New Jersey trainers have sent players yoga workouts and had skills coach Ryan Murphy post workouts online for things like stick handling and shot improvement, so players are still able to work on skills in addition to strength.

So many players are using Rollerblades that ESPNs Emily Kaplan wrote a whole story about it. Wayne Gretzky advocated for it, Jack Hughes and his brothersQuinn and Lukehave been in-line skating around their Michigan neighborhood. Zajac ordered a pair to be able to skate with his kids on the driveway of their New Jersey home.

Fitzgerald, however, isnt a fan.

Rollerblading is a strange one, he said. Its definitely not something that I would like a lot of guys doing at a high volume in the offseason. It is slightly different than the skating stride. I'm being really picky now, but it's not really an activity that I would want a lot of my athletes doing just because you're trying to mimic something that isn't really the same. Its comparable, yes, but it's not the same.

Another popular fitness item has been the Peloton bike. Islanders captain Anders Lee ordered ordered one, as did former Devilsforward Blake Coleman (now with the Tampa Bay Lightning). Dr. Alaia said this is an effective option because spinning is a low-impact cardio exercise that also trains the lower body and core, which is key for hockey players.

Jan 2, 2020; Brooklyn, New York, USA; New Jersey Devils center Kevin Rooney (16) and New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) battle along the boards during the first period at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports(Photo: Andy Marlin, Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports)

Symmetry is important, Dr. Alaia said. If they can strengthen their abductors and adductors at the same time, that's what we're really looking for muscle strength training, low-impact exercise and cardio, sort of like a Peloton, anything to keep the cardiac reserve is going to be exceedingly important.

Fitzgerald prefers the assault bike because it moves the upper and lower bodies at the same time.

I don't really put a lot of bike rides into programs now because biking is incomplete hip flexion and extension, he said. So when you skate, it's complete hip flexion and extension, so the bike isn't really teaching you to be more efficient with your skating.

However, Fitzgerald sees the appeal in the Peloton platform, which allows you to take live classes from your home and view a standings board with other users in the class. It brings the competitive aspect players are missing right now into their homes.

(Former NHL defenseman) Kevin Bieksa got one just so he could beat everybody in the class, Fitzgerald said. He didn't even know these people. Yeah, they don't know who he is but he likes to take pictures (of the standings), he sends them to me every time to say, Hey, I beat all these guys.

Plus, Peloton bikes are more popular with the players' wives than assault bikes.

Dr. Alaia and Fitzgerald both like bodyweight and yoga workouts to maintain strength, in addition to things like spin bikes and sprints. Fitzgerald can give his clients a program to ramp up their fitness in a short amount of time when a date to return finally arrives.

And if an athlete injures himself doing a workout at home, he can still receive care. Non-elective surgeries are still restricted in many COVID-19 hotspots, like New Jersey and New York, but some orthopedic surgeries to repair tendon ruptures or fractures are considered essential.

Telemedicine has made great strides in recent years and athletes of all levels are able to receive treatment, such as physical therapy, virtually.

A lot of people doing telemedicine therapy right now, said Dr. Kathryn McElheny, an assistant attending physician at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Our players with the Mets, a lot of them are doing their sessions remotely on FaceTime with our trainers and our strength coaches and our athletic trainers and our physical therapists, etc. So, I think just the way that technology has developed over the last several years, but also just in the last few weeks, has been pretty amazing.

When all of the professional and amateur leagues start getting underway again, Dr. Alaia, Dr. McElheny and their colleagues will be looking for new injury patterns and data to study. This is a generational crisis unlike any other we have ever seen, so while its easy to recommend certain exercises and treatment plans right now, some of it is just guesswork based on best practices and what we already know about injury prevention.

All of the emergencies that we've had in New York City have been, for the most part, quick, Dr. Alaia said. When 9/11 happened, the emergency response system was activated. Doctors came in, they did their part. And then for the most part that ended quickly, Hurricane Sandy came in, and NYU for one was affected for four to six weeks and there was an end in sight.

There is no end in sight right now.

Fitzgerald sees several silver linings for his athletes. They can take this time to analyze their sleep andtheir nutrition and rehab some lingering injuries they may have been forced to push through in the past. They can spend time with their kids and wives, even if it means competing with them on the Peloton bike.

Its not ideal, but we can adapt and learn from this crisis to make strides in sports medicine even when strides arent possible on the ice.

AbbeyMastraccois theDevilsbeat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to allDevilsanalysis, news, trades and more, pleasesubscribe todayanddownload our app.

Email:mastraccoa@northjersey.comTwitter:@abbeymastracco

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Pelotons, Rollerblades and yoga: How NHL players are staying in shape without the ice - NorthJersey.com

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Home » Exercise Programs » Pelotons, Rollerblades and yoga: How NHL players are staying in shape without the ice – NorthJersey.com