About Catalyst Hockey

Who We Are: CatalystHockey.com is the culmination of efforts from the Elite Trainers of Catalyst Fitness and Catalyst Gym in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario - the hockey hotbed. Our Trainers and Coaches are at the cutting edge of their field. Highly educated, Catalyst Trainers combine their years of experience training elite athletes with the newest research to provide the best program possible for hockey players.

What we're shooting for: A broadly-applicable program that will elevate the general physical preparedness (GPP) of hockey players. On-ice skills and drills are the domain of hockey coaches; work capacity, speed, power, and strength are the domain of the Strength and Conditioning Coach. That's our specialty.

Will it work for you? Yes. We approach our training with a 'Good - Better - Best' philosophy. If you're doing weight training and HIIT and Olympic Lifting, etc. If you're doing them with a Trainer who has experience both over the texbook and under the bar, that's better. If you're doing them with Catalyst Trainers - elite coaches at the top of their field - that's best!

You can do these WODs (Workouts Of the Day) on your own, at any fitness facility that will permit you.

What if you can't do the weights prescribed? Scale them down. The program is infinitely scalable: there's always an alternative. Can't do pullups? Do bodyweight rows. Don't know how to do a good clean? Get a coach who's an expert. You can replace exercises, but ultimately there are things that you simply need to know how to perform to be a successful athlete.

What's the difference? Most hockey off-season 'dryland' programs are just bodybuilding programs with a side of long-distance running. The theory goes like this: on one end of the spectrum is the lifting of weights in a slow, controlled manner. On the other end of the spectrum is slow, submaximal, paced running. If both ends of the spectrum are trained together, the athlete will magically be pulled toward the middle, where the demands of hockey lie.

Unfortunately, that's garbage.

Your body does not develop individual physical properties independent of one another. The 'aerobic base' does not apply in hockey. Nor do 3-4 sets of 8-12 slow, controlled reps on the Pec Deck. You don't stack physical properties (speed,strength, stamina) up like Lego blocks; you mix them like paint.

Instead, large, multijoint movements executed at high intensity are prescribed, in a variety of 'challenges' that focus on power output (measured in wattage.) We also choose exercises geared toward the development of power - cleans, snatches, throws, and jumps - and prescribe them in ways that will maximize the rate of force development. In short, we use exercises that give the most bang for the buck, and apply them in ways that will help best.

Nothing works for everyone, and nothing works forever. That's why we focus on constant change for maximal stimulus. Give us 30 days, and you'll never look back.