Probably one of the big things we do differently then other hockey programs ➡️ we don’t bench press with a barbell in-season nor did we bench press with a barbell much this off-season. The last year we have done very little barbell benching.

Why❓

In my opinion most hockey players don’t have the best posture in the world, living in that classic shoulders rolled forward posture, in large part because of the demands of the sport.

Because of that, we tend to focus more on what we would consider more shoulder friendly pressing movements;

💥Landmine Press variations
💥DB Bench Press and DB Incline Press
💥1DB Bench Press and Alternating DB Bench variations (flat and incline)
💥Push Ups

When the season ends and the athlete spends much less time on the ice and we can clean up some of the sport related posture issues we may consider adding back benching with a barbell, though I don’t think we’ve lost a bit of strength by using other pressing variations and may stick to leaving it out of the program all together. Unit then, it’s a simple risk:reward scenario for us, especially in-season.

If you are looking for more information on in-season training with hockey, check out my Ultimate In-Season Training Guide for Hockey!

In it, you can find everything we do in-season, including a complete in-season program!

You can grab a copy HERE!