How do you customize or individualize a workout for a hockey player?

I hear the comment from coaches and parents all the time, that their son, daughter, or player needs an individualized training program.  As a coach who has dealt with and currently deals with a high volume of athletes training at one time, I am not a believer in a programming system that exclusively prescribes individualized workouts for every athlete. 

The reason for this belief is that individualized programs are difficult to coach in a team or large group setting.  Prescribing numerous individualized programs in a team setting spreads your coaching skills thin because you have athletes training at one time and who are all on different pages!  Now, I am going to say something that may sound contradictory to the above, but please stay with me.  If an athlete or athletes approach me and they want to improve on a specific strength quality like: better acceleration, strength along the boards and in front of the net, better anaerobic conditioning, or better single leg strength, I will design a plan to work in conjunction with the team training routine. 

Customization can be done in a team setting but it should be implemented only after a structured team training program is followed.  The team training program should address injury potential of the sport, the metabolic demands of the game, and also correct any improper movement patterns associated with the goalie position or skater position. 

Individualization for an entire group, can fail to meet the common athletic needs of players, but when you plan for the group as a whole, everyone's needs are met.   This article will discuss considerations for customizing a training program for those athletes who are competing at the colligate level all the way up to pro hockey.

I asked myself is it worth customizing an athletes training program during a colligate hockey career and during a NHL career.  It became clear why I should customize a training plan when athletes at the college level were approaching me to work on what they felt was a weak point in their physical game.  I was not only impressed by their work ethic, but by their understanding of the specific area where they wanted to improve on the ice.  I took the idea of customization and included it into my programming at the pro level and have found improvements in player's performance and confidence.  From a developmental standpoint the combination of the team training program and the customized player program would challenge colligate players and young NHL players to develop lasting training habits and improve the weak points of their physical game.  With NHL Veterans and seasoned Veterans, customizing a training plan can address movement dysfunction developed from years in the league and improve the specific strength qualities needed for each player's role on the ice.

My position on customizing or individualizing programs for hockey players younger than a freshman in college is simply not to because they (males and females) all need time and repetition to develop the following qualities:  lifting technique, strength, speed mechanics, core stability, a foundation of anaerobic conditioning, training habits and work ethic.  If you individualize a youth athletes program then you miss the key elements listed above, all of which make up their training foundation.  

The following are guidelines that helped me to combine our customized player training plan and our team training plan.  Everyone's training environment and situation is different and I hope this is a useful working model to help guide coaches through the planning stages of adding custom workouts.

1. Identify weaknesses through performance testing and the Functional Movement Screen.  The Functional Movement Screen has been a great tool for all strength professionals, athletic trainers, and physical therapists to evaluate compensations and movement impairments.  Identifying compensations maybe the most powerful benefit of the screen because compensations are directly linked to injury potential.  The second benefit is that it helps the athlete structure a corrective exercise program that they can perform throughout the year.  Any steps an athlete can take to reduce the injury potential associated with their sport will add years to their career.  I prescribe a lot of our player's corrective exercise within the in-season custom training plan.
2. Get the athlete's feedback.  I have been lucky enough to work with male and female athletes who were not only great competitors, but great people first.  They instantly became useful teachers to me on both athletic movement and hockey.  When asking these colligate and professional athletes for feedback on workouts I found a high level of training knowledge that was linked to on-ice performance.  This group was able to "feel" the results of the custom programming and communicate what situations it transferred to on the ice.  That is critical feedback which justifies your training programs effectiveness.    
3. Get the coaches feedback.  I hope strength professionals utilize their sport coaching staffs for their insight, teaching abilities, feedback, and on-ice evaluations regarding physical preparedness, to aid in the design of their customized training programs.  For a strength coach, off-ice performance does not always transfer directly to on-ice performance.  Coaches can provide concrete evidence and examples of an athlete's on-ice speed, conditioning level, and strength in the "trenches".  Customizing a program can reinforce the strength qualities that are well developed off-ice, so they may function at a high level on the ice.  Now in cases of an athlete who needs to sharpen their strength qualities so they may be more effective on the ice, a customized plan can address these needs and help track improvements both on and off the ice.      
4. Identify the strength qualities to work on.  Understanding what the "performance make-up" of your athlete is will come after testing them in the off-season.  After a testing and evaluation program has been conducted you can identify what strength areas need to be maintained throughout the year and which areas need to be improved upon to make the athlete more "physically well-rounded."  
5. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING: game schedule and regeneration plan.  This article discusses the importance of adding a customized plan to your training model to help your high-level athletes sharpen their performance abilities to the point of perfection.  We as strength professionals have to realize that if we add to our general or maintenance training program then we are adding more stress to the athlete's body.  You have to consider Game schedule and what your regeneration plan is during non-competitive days to defend against overtraining.  I do prescribe a low volume of exercises (in-season) for our team training program, the day before a game.  I also do incorporate our players customized training programs into that team training session.  When we have had the combination of multiple training days in a week and games, I prescribe a regeneration day that consists of the following: foam roller, static stretching, and hot//cold hydro therapy.  While working in colligate hockey our regeneration day was every Thursday because I wanted the team to be fully prepared for our games on Friday and Saturday.  At the NHL Level our regeneration day is generally the seventh day (as long as there is no game scheduled). 

Below on the left side is a list that shows the important training qualities that I address when structuring our in-season workouts.  The list is made up of qualities that I feel each of our players need to maintain throughout the year and into the playoffs to protect against injury and to be physically prepared for the demands of hockey.  We address these qualities during our "team workouts".  The second list on the right are concepts that I use to help me design our player's customized workouts during the in-season.  We perform no more than 3 training qualities per customized workout.  The coaching staff helps to reinforce the concepts that are taught in the weight room on the ice during practice.  Athletes at all levels need to understand the relationship between off-ice training and on-ice performance.  Improvement in specific game-like situations and specific performance variables occurs when the player makes a mental connection between training exercises and the on-ice environment.