Hockey

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JediSwan
JediSwan Posts: 455 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am considering signing up to play hockey next year on the local women's league. My daughter is playing on the local team and it looks like a great work out and lots of fun. I am wondering if any other women play hockey on here and could tell me a bit about their experiences.

Thanks, Sarah

P.S. Of course, men that play could also add their input too :)

Replies

  • Mtfd02
    Mtfd02 Posts: 239 Member
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    Of course I'm going to chime in, it's a great workout you burn over 600 cals and the one group I play with is coed and I do the dryland trng for the womens NMU club hockey team and attend practice, so I would say go for it!
  • daveymac1
    daveymac1 Posts: 784 Member
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    I used to play pro, and its a blast! Great exercise for the full body, plus you meet some cool people.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
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    My wife played growing up in the 80s and 90s. Back in those days, there were no women's leagues, so she had to play with the boys. I think she said she was the only girl in the whole league. Her experiences would obviously be different ;)

    But yeah, it's a pretty hardcore workout, even playing goalie.
  • daveymac1
    daveymac1 Posts: 784 Member
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    Hey now! I was a goalie! Hard work carrying around the extra gear!
  • rapat
    rapat Posts: 108 Member
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    I play in an adult rec league. It's a coed league -- 0-2 girls on my teams (I play on 1 team regularly, then sub in for a few other teams).

    It's the best cardio-like workout I get; and its the funnest sport to play (in my opinion). I would not be able to get myself to workout that hard if a fun activity wasn't involved (ie there's no way I could mimic the intensity of hockey on a treadmill).

    I played hockey thru high school (14 years ago) then stopped ice skating, then started playing roller hockey 7 years ago, then started ice hockey again a year ago.


    Can you ice skate well or at all? That will be a learning curve, but if you have places to practice you should be able to pick it up in a couple of months.

    When I resumed playing ice hockey, I found I wasn't sweating as much as I did in roller. But now I do -- it was just that it took me 3-4 months before I really regained my skills (skating speed, quickness, stick handling, etc).
    The better skater you are, the more calories you'll end up burning as when you don't have great skating control you can't get yourself to skate at a high speed (ie if you're truely a beginner, the workout might be more like a walking; when you get better it'll be more like sprinting).

    It's also low impact -- no real stress on my knees / joints. Except the occassional bump / hit (although I've never been injured in a hockey game)

    Your daughter should be able to help hopefully with the skating and hockey skills
  • STurbs33
    STurbs33 Posts: 134 Member
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    I've been playing for over 15 years and I've always loved it. Even the worst coaches and teammates couldn't keep me from playing. I'm currently playing in a men's rec league with some good friends and their SOs but I played at a competitive level up until last year.

    I think it's great that's you're joining. I know a few women who had never played and joined when they were 30+ years old (my aunt joined in her fifties!) and regardless of their skill level, they still enjoy it. As long as your safe and have some basic skills down, it can be a really great and fun workout.
  • blossom7onice
    blossom7onice Posts: 10 Member
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    I have played hockey since I was 10 (30 years). I've always played on men's teams, but occasionally played on women's as well. It's really fun. I played last night and burned 800 calories. I also play soccer and do Insanity, and hockey burns much more than indoor soccer, close to the same as outdoor soccer, and a bit more than Insanity.

    If you're interested in playing, you should go for it. In my area they have several opportunities for women's hockey and they have plenty of new players every year. It's expensive...really expensive, but completely worth it.

    If you have questions, feel free to message me.
  • RunDoozer
    RunDoozer Posts: 1,699 Member
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    Hey now! I was a goalie! Hard work carrying around the extra gear!

    I second this I played goalie basically from 5 to 24 and will get back into it when I get in a little better shape. That said I was never in better shape in my life than when playing hockey. And I sweated more than any other sport I played (go figure being on ice). More so than any sport I've ever played and I pretty much played them all. I'm all for you or anyone else playing hockey. Depending on your skill level you might have a pretty steep learning curve but you can find leagues centered around beginners. Good luck and I hope you like it. I have also read that players can skate up to 4 miles In a game. Don't know how close you'll be to that in your league but you'll definitely get a workout and it'll be fun. Also there's no checking in those leagues so you're not going to have to worry about that.
  • JediSwan
    JediSwan Posts: 455 Member
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    Ha! I do not know how to ice skate but I can rollerblade. I am going to some open skates at the rinks we have here for a while so we will see. It was an idea that I thought would be fun. I even talked a friend into thinking she would join me. Her son plays on the high school team here so she's already familiar with most of it.

    Thank you all for your replies. :)
  • JediSwan
    JediSwan Posts: 455 Member
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    Went out for the first time last Saturday on ice skates. Its not much different than rollerblading. It was twilight skating. Lights off with disco balls. LOL It was fun. I wasn't the only adult there for the first time either. Although, I found it hard not to feel funny when my 8 year old was skating circles around me and gave me one of the kids' training bars to hold on to.

    I am hoping to go to more open skates and next year offer to help on my daughter's hockey team.
  • Twisted_Wrister
    Twisted_Wrister Posts: 762 Member
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    All I can say is go for it, go for it, go for it! A couple of the others that have chimed in here are on my FL and they're right! It's a great experience and you'll meet some fun people. Us hockey players are a pretty cool bunch :glasses:

    I play 2-3 times per week and it's a great workout. I play in one league, and do a pick-up style game with some guys another night & do another pick-up style game with guys from my office every other week or so.

    It can be expensive but check on the web, there are a couple sites that you can get discount equipment at.
  • adams17
    adams17 Posts: 4 Member
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    I play in a women's league in Wisconsin and it is the hardest sport I've ever done. I love it! The challenge of getting better each game is very addicting. You will not regret playing. Some rinks have beginner Adult hockey classes that will lead into an in house beginner league. I'd look in to that.
  • pound_em
    pound_em Posts: 1
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    I play hockey as well, and its a great workout overall. I Just had a question on what to enter for the time interval when counting calories burned for hockey? Do you include the time you are resting on the benchas well? Or do you only include the time you are actually skating on the ice? I am not sure how the app is calculating this? I assume it is only using the time you are actually skating on the ice?
  • Bowtieguy3
    Bowtieguy3 Posts: 13 Member
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    I play also, but I only count TOI as my hockey workout, although I don't believe MFP's calorie math for playing, although depending on the length of warm-up, I might factor that in as well. I use runtastic Pro to monitor my strength training, and I do pause it in between exercises, but not between sets, so I figure bench time and time in the box count the same as between exercises.
    As for the math factoring part, I spent 25mins TOI and it only says I burned 333 cal., which I see as totally unbelievable, as for runtastic Pro, they don' have a hockey setting, but they do have ice skating and it only credits me with 107 cal.
    I know I'm not skating in a game at an NHL pace, but 25min TOI is a lot, and I know I have to burn more than that.
    Anyone else use any other reference or formula?
  • Bowtieguy3
    Bowtieguy3 Posts: 13 Member
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    I am considering signing up to play hockey next year on the local women's league. My daughter is playing on the local team and it looks like a great work out and lots of fun. I am wondering if any other women play hockey on here and could tell me a bit about their experiences.

    Thanks, Sarah

    P.S. Of course, men that play could also add their input too :)
    I actually played a few different seasons in the Men's Leagues where women teams were totally welcome! I even got my nose broken in a game against one of them!!! lol It's an awesome workout, esp. if you're a forward and hustle on the ice all the time. The only thig I could suggest is a bit of strentgth training and toning, and yoga, pilates, or some other kind of flexibility training just to help prevent injuries. What position you play?

    I also forgot to add, feel free to add me as a friend on here, and I also just joined a group named "Hockey Players and their Fans" that seems like isn't too busy, but I wouldn't mind making it rocking...

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