vital exercises for upper body improvement
chest press...
The chest press is the most commonly used and most effective way to increase muscle mass within the chest. This will aid you in all aspects of your game, it will help you stick handle and shoot as well as give and receive body checks. It can be carried out with dumbbells like the photo shows, or using and Olympic bar. The aim is to be able to bench you body weight and beyond!
Pull ups...
The pull up is one of the most robust and easiest to perform as all you need is your own body weight and a bar. The further your arms are apart the more weight is lifted by your back, the closer you arms are together the more is lifted by your arms and chest. You can have an almost full upper body workout just with pull ups!
This photo gives an example of a wide arm pull up which focuses on developing back strength.
within this photo a close arm, pull-up can be seen, as arms are close together the bi-cep and chest are put under a lot of strain.
Simon's top tip for doing pull-ups is;
Try and do a couple of sets of wide arm and close arm pull-ups to give your upper body a good work out, this will aid is a quicker development of muscles.
Pectoral fly
This exercise can aid within hockey performance as it will develop the muscles required for carrying the puck as well as holding of the opposition
. This exercise can be performed on a specific machine, as pictured below or on a bench. Both aid muscle improvement.
Simon's top tip for doing petoral flys;
start light and build up, with each weight try and push out 8 x 3 good sets until you move on.
Bent over rows
These are another great way to increase back strength, this is vital in shooting pucks, the harder there shot, the more likely they are to going in!
These can be further developed, into a bent over row in a press-up position, these also give a good work out to your core
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