Endurance sports such as Hockey are high energy sports involving endurance and strength for optimum results.
Weight training is beneficial to enhance performance in lots of sports and is certainly being used now at many levels. It assists to increase muscle strength, muscle power, and endurance all of which are necessary for sports. A lot of sports uses both arm and leg coordination and therefore it may be important to train both upper and lower body. Upper body strength will help improve force output and maintain correct posture and technique during the game. Weight training also increases lean body mass which causes an increased metabolic rate which assists in weight management. This doesn’t mean that the development of huge muscles with weight training. It takes long hard hours in the gym to develop large muscles and in most cases increased muscle tone will occur. Females in particular due to androgen levels will not suffer large muscle hypertrophy or enlargement. However, this can be the reason females don’t go to the gym as they think they are going to look like female bodybuilders. But the likelihood of this happening is minimal. Unless you are training excessively and /or taking drugs will this occur. Other good effects of weight training are improving self -confidence and psychological strength. So it can actually give you a powerful mental approach to training and competition. Weight training also plays an important role in the prevention of injuries that may occur due to anatomical imbalances, particularly around the knees and shoulders.
In summary, weight training is of definite benefit to sports of all types including cardiovascular sports such as hockey. Make sure professional advice is obtained in setting up a gym program to ensure maximum benefit.
