Quitting sport to lift

darreneatschicken
darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
edited June 2018 in Fitness and Exercise
When I fix my muscle dysfunctions, I'm going to get back into Starting Strength.

But with hockey season coming up in September, I don't know how I'm going to balance the two.

Has anyone here made the hard decision to quit their sport in order to focus on building muscle?

I can't imagine quitting hockey, but I know that I'm never going to make it to the NHL, so I rather build muscle, which will benefit me more in my everyday life.

The day after a hockey game, my legs are usually very sore, and I feel both mentally and physically fatigued. I cannot imagine dragging myself to the gym to squat 3x5 when I'm in this condition, meaning that I'll probably end up skipping workouts.

I know some people will say eat more, stretch more, rest more. But seriously, I already have a hard time hitting my daily caloric goal, and I'm always sore the next day, regardless of how much I stretch, so I dunno, it may be time to put away the skates for good...

Replies

  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    At what level are you playing hockey? High school? College? Travel?

    I have a hard time believe there isn't a happy medium... a middle ground... some balance you can find that includes both hockey and lifting.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited June 2018
    I'm only playing beer league, so it's not that serious. I'm just worried I won't be able to stay consistent in the gym, if I'm playing hockey like once a week.

    For example, if I lift Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but I have a game on Thursday, then there's no way I'll be able to lift on Friday.

    Also, if I lift on Wednesday, but I have a game on Thursday, then my legs will still be sore from squatting, so how will I be able to play to the best of my ability?
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    My legs aren't sore from squatting as long as I stay on my weight-lifting plan. If you are squatting at least twice a week, I suspect your legs won't be sore after the first couple sessions either.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    My legs aren't sore from squatting as long as I stay on my weight-lifting plan. If you are squatting at least twice a week, I suspect your legs won't be sore after the first couple sessions either.

    Starting Strength requires you to squat 3x a week though.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Dern420 wrote: »
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    My legs aren't sore from squatting as long as I stay on my weight-lifting plan. If you are squatting at least twice a week, I suspect your legs won't be sore after the first couple sessions either.

    Starting Strength requires you to squat 3x a week though.

    Exactly. One time a week = DOMS every week. Twice a week or more = probably no DOMS once you're used to it.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    You should be fine. It may take you some time to adjust, but any soreness you experience should go away. Worst case scenario, don't skip and entire day, just dial back the squatting.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited June 2018
    Ok, so you guys are saying that the soreness will go away once I get used to squatting 3x a week?

    I'm just worried because I'm a beginner, so I tend to get sore really easily. And if you're constantly increasing the weight, then won't your body never be able to adjust?

    I'm always sore the day after a hockey game, despite having played for almost 10 years.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    edited June 2018
    Dern420 wrote: »
    Ok, so you guys are saying that the soreness will go away once I get used to squatting 3x a week?

    I'm just worried because I'm a beginner, so I tend to get sore really easily. And if you're constantly increasing the weight, then won't your body never be able to adjust?

    I squat 3 times a week. The weight is variable and progressive. Unless I take a week off or something, I never get DOMS. YMMV
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Don't understand why you have to give up hockey to lift.

    Starting Strength only takes an hr a day 3x a week to do. You should be able to vary the workout to git your schedule. If you can't manage that then just do what's most important to you.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,741 Member
    You said hockey season doesn't start until September, so do you still practice every week during the off season? Either way, if you start a lifting program now you'll adjust to it, as others have stated, and should be fine once hockey season starts. I say, definitely do both.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Dern420 wrote: »
    Ok, so you guys are saying that the soreness will go away once I get used to squatting 3x a week?

    I'm just worried because I'm a beginner, so I tend to get sore really easily. And if you're constantly increasing the weight, then won't your body never be able to adjust?

    I'm always sore the day after a hockey game, despite having played for almost 10 years.

    Yea, you should be fine. You're out-thinking yourself. Take a step back, take a deep breath, and squat.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Side note: Exercise actually helps my DOMS. So if you're sore (not injured, just sore), the exercise will probably help.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    I am a runner trying to incorporate lifting into my schedule. I lift two days per week and what works for me is to lift on my hard running days (speed work and tempo). It does make those two days a bear, but that way it does not interfere with my rest and recovery. My easy days are still easy and I am able to recover.
  • shor0814
    shor0814 Posts: 559 Member
    Why are you giving up before you start? Before you determine a conclusion you should try doing both and see how it works. If you feel that you are too sore to continue both, drop the lifting, finish the hockey season. After hockey you can start lifting and not sign up for hockey next year.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited June 2018
    shor0814 wrote: »
    Why are you giving up before you start? Before you determine a conclusion you should try doing both and see how it works. If you feel that you are too sore to continue both, drop the lifting, finish the hockey season. After hockey you can start lifting and not sign up for hockey next year.

    Well, there's been times in the past where the day after I played hockey, I was too fatigued to go to the gym.

    There's also been times in the past where I squatted 5x5 and was too sore the next day to play hockey.

    People here are saying that the soreness from squatting will go away with time (even if I keep increasing the weight).

    But what I'm worried about is hockey: I'm always sore the next day, despite having played for almost 10 years.
  • Erik8484
    Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
    Having DOMS doesn't mean that you can't squat. Its not an injury that you need to train around. It just means that it will ache.

    I wouldn't quit a social team sport to lift weights solo, but that's just me. If you can't motivate yourself to do both then you should choose whichever one you enjoy the most.
  • Rose18l
    Rose18l Posts: 147 Member
    Maybe get on an another program than starting strength. If the squatting is a problem pick a program that squats less. Also plan your leg days a few days away from game days if recovery is a problem. You don't need to quit sports to be able to weight lift. I used to sail competitively (very core and leg intensive) while weight lifting. Weight lifting helped me to get better in sailing because I had more strength to keep the boat in control. It is all about finding the happy medium.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    gym monday, wednesday saturday, hockey thursday gives you plenty of rest days.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    At some point, you'll either have to give it a legit go for a month and see how you do, or you'll have to keep making excuses about why you can't or what you're worried about. There are lots of people here that have multiple priorities/goals/sports and do just fine. But you have to try.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited September 2018
    So I played hockey 2 nights ago, and I'm still sore as hell!

    Definitely affecting my ability to do Starting Strength: I don't think I can squat the day after I play.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    I decided not to play baseball this year for the first time in over 10 years to devote my focus my training on powerlifting. Last year, was just too stressful on my muscles as a 48 year old catcher and squat 3x a week and recovery was a problem. I decided to part ways as I'm my health is deteriorating quickly and I want to compete nationally before things happen.

    Starting strength wasn't designed for sports as written. Of course you can bastardize it and have great results. I believe the stat was of the people who actually logged workouts on the Starting Strength site only 2% actually do the program as written and the other 98% all progressed, ALOT. That being said its a balancing act to do both and it's not optimal.

    If I was coaching you, I wouldn't have you do a LP while playing hockey. It's really not that important as long as you do train and get stronger without effecting your sport. Squatting twice a week would be sufficient for training if in season. I would switch to RPE based programming to start and this will help you auto regulate your training based on how you felt that day. Too many times lifters get caught up in the numbers and push to hard when it's not best for the long term.

    Good luck bud.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Dern420 wrote: »
    So I played hockey 2 nights ago, and I'm still sore as hell!

    Definitely affecting my ability to do Starting Strength: I don't think I can squat the day after I play.
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    gym monday, wednesday saturday, hockey thursday gives you plenty of rest days.

  • cqbkaju
    cqbkaju Posts: 1,011 Member
    edited September 2018
    I currently run a modified MadCow5x5 ("MC", advanced StrongLifts5x5) focusing on OHP instead of Bench - Mon, Wed & Fri.
    I'm in my second 12-week run now.
    I train and coach full-contact Boxing, Submission Grappling, and Combatives on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and some weekends for about 2 hours per session.

    No problems with recovery or performance in my fights or classes (actually improved, IMO) but my diet is nearly on point and I try to get plenty of rest.

    On StrongLifts5x5 ("SL"), if you eat enough to gain about 1/2 to 1 lb per week (250 - 500 calorie surplus) while drinking plenty of fluids then you should be fine, presuming you aren't trying to cut.
    You also do barbell rows in SL instead of power cleans in SS, which I prefer.

    In Starting Strength ("SS"), Coach Rip doesn't seem to think you are a man sometimes unless you are tipping the scales at over 200 lbs.
    Simply put, if performance is suffering, eat more and rest more on SS.
    You usually need to choose what is more important on SS: strength or hockey.

    Remember that SS is mostly intended for younger guys.
    If you are in your mid 30's or over, you might want to look into something like "The Barbell Prescription" instead.

    Figure maintenance at about 15x bodyweight & bulk at 17x or 18x bodyweight.
    0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Yes, I said it. Deal with it.
    About 25% or 30% of your calories from fat & the rest, carbs.
    Adjust these macros as necessary while tracking your performance and progress.

    Run it for about 3 weeks, adjust macros and calories as necessary & run for another 3 weeks, repeat.

    I have a Starting Strength coach on my staff but we usually encourage our fighters to do something like StrongLifts, MadCow, HLM, or 5/3/1 instead of Starting Strength.
    HLM/GGW (Heavy Light Medium/Garage Gym Warrior) works great on a cut and is simple to recover from, BTW
    We have strength standards (and body fat maximums) for our fighters based around their body weights.
    If they want to run "hypertrophy programs" they are allowed after they hit a few of the strength standards.

    Recovery is just too tough for some people on Starting Strength who have a life outside of increasing raw poundages.

    Your Mileage May Vary.

    FWIW: Deadlift 315#x5, Barbell Row 170#x3, Squat 270#x3, Bench 170#x4, OHP 115#x5 at 157 lbs body weight.
    Also weighted Dips (+45#)x7 and Weighted Chin-Ups (+15#)x5, body-weight Chin-Upsx10
    All while recovering from surgery and still coaching/competing.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited September 2018
    First off, I'd question whether SS is the appropriate routine for you, given that your primary goal is hypertrophy, and that it adversely affects you playing hockey.

    Squatting is essential if you have goals of competing in powerlifting at some point, but it's not essential for hypertrophy (nor is any other particular exercise). Maybe you'd be better served using a hypertrophy-oriented program and subbing out squats for one of many other effective quad exercises.

    Starting Strength and Stronglifts are very popular on MFP and are almost universally recommended to everybody. While they're both effective programs, there are plenty of other programs which are better suited to particular individual goals.

    [ETA:] You may even want to look around and try to discover what lifting programs hockey players are actually using (NHL players are both strong and powerful). Then you'd have the dual benefit of lifting and being beneficial to your hockey game.
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    Former futbol/soccer player transitioned into bodybuilding & cardio mainly just due to getting tired of facing the inevitability of injury/trauma from (competitive) contact sports. Does not mean you can't still enjoy hockey recreation-ally or intramural level. Yes, you can get injured doing almost any sport; however, I feel like there is a lot more control over injuries with proper form weight lifting/bodybuilding
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited September 2018
    My main fitness goal right now is to get as big as possible.

    I'm 23-years old, but I still look like a boy.

    Beer-league hockey is more of a hobby, but at the same time, I play at a pretty high level, so I like to stay competitive.

    I'm going to stick with Starting Strength, but if I'm too sore the day after a hockey game, I'll just either take a break from the gym that day, or I'll go, but I'll replace the squats and deadlifts with pullups, dips, planks, and back extensions.

    I want to build up my strength before looking into hypertrophy programs. So maybe once I'm plateauing on my lifts and not progressing in terms of muscle gain, I'll switch it up.

    But at this time, I can't even bench yet (still working with my osteopath to correct my scapular winging).
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,406 Member
    https://www.google.com/search?q=training+program+for+hockey+players&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

    Passion. Choose a sport you love and train for accordingly.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited September 2018
    My osteopath pretty much said I can do any exercise except for overhead and chest exercises. So I can't do shoulder press, bench press, or push-ups.

    Therefore, I'm currently doing a modified Starting Strength:

    Workout A

    Subscapularis release + hamstring shortening exercise + banded left glute bridge + stretch

    Squat: 3x8-10
    Bicep curls: 3x8-10
    Rows: 3x8-10

    Stretch


    Workout B

    Subscapularis release + hamstring shortening exercise + banded left glute bridge + stretch

    Squat: 3x8-10
    Assisted pull-ups: 3x8-10
    Deadlift: 3x8-10
    Tricep pull-downs: 3x8-10

    Stretch

    I plan to decrease to 3x5 once I get my lifts to a reasonable weight, but for now, I'm working mainly on form.

    Also, if my legs are too sore from hockey, I'll just skip a workout or only work my upper-body. Maybe replace squats with planks and back extensions...
  • alexa0ne
    alexa0ne Posts: 90 Member
    Are you sure you want to quit your sports? You can always do both. Will it be better if you just create a time management plan? This is just my opinion.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    edited September 2018
    alexa0ne wrote: »
    Are you sure you want to quit your sports? You can always do both. Will it be better if you just create a time management plan? This is just my opinion.

    I'm going to keep playing hockey. It's just if I'm too sore to workout the day after a game, I'll just skip the gym for that day, or maybe just work arms.

    It's hard to time manage because I'm a backup goalie, so I can't predict when I'm going to play.

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