Push-Up Challenge (60s)
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds drills like this into your personalized off-ice program, week by week. Your first week is free.
How to Do It
Set a 60-second timer. Get into perfect push-up position. Begin. Pace yourself — go hard but not so hard you blow up in 15 seconds. Every rep must be full ROM: chest to floor, full lockout at top. When form breaks, REST for 2-3 seconds, then continue. Form is non-negotiable. When the timer hits zero, count only the perfect reps. Write it down. That's your baseline.
Why It Works
Max-rep push-ups in a fixed time window is a classic relative-strength benchmark — it measures how much pressing capacity you can express against your own bodyweight. Hockey demands both strength AND strength endurance: you need to win a battle in the first minute, but you also need to win one in the third period of OT. Tracking this number weekly is one of the simplest, most honest measures of whether your off-ice work is paying off.
Hockey Transfer
Game format = max effort, but FORM FIRST. Beat your previous score. Builds upper-body strength endurance + competitive grit. Track it weekly. Strength endurance is what separates a guy who wins one battle from a guy who wins them all night.
Coaching Cues
- "Set a 60-second timer. Do as many push-ups as you can with PERFECT FORM (straight line"
- "Chest to floor"
- "Full lockout). When form breaks"
- "Rest briefly"
- "Then continue. Write down the number. Beat it next time."
Common Mistakes
Counting half-reps to inflate the number — you're only fooling yourself. Going to absolute failure in 10 seconds, then doing nothing for 50 — pace matters. Skipping the form check — sagging hips, flared elbows, partial range. All disqualifying. Testing this when fatigued — retest only when fresh; otherwise the data is meaningless.
Progression / Regression
Weighted push-up challenge — add a 5-10 kg vest, same 60-second target.
Incline push-up challenge — hands on a bench, otherwise identical protocol.
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural
Put it to work
on the ice.
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds exercises like this into a personalized off-ice program — created by a sport scientist and former national-team coach. Your first week is free.
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