How to Build Stamina as a Hockey Player

The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs have been invigorating as usual this year. I love how the pace quickens and the pressure mounts where every game matters. One of the most enjoyable outcomes are the number of overtime games which emerge. This "bonus" hockey is always fun and thrilling and serves as a friendly reminder of the amount of stamina professional hockey players possess when out there on the ice. They are able to endure the pain and pressure this sport demands minute after minute and period after period. It is an impressive feat.

So, how do they do it? How do they have so much stamina? We can start answering this question once we define it.

What is Stamina?

What is the formal definition of stamina? Stamina can be defined as:

"the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort."

So, when you break this down...stamina is really about energy management. Now, you can read books, articles, and blog posts which focus around time management but that is almost an outdated practice. Rather, everything is more about energy management.

How to Manage Your Energy

In his book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Daniel Pink shares his findings about chronobiology which is the study of our natural daily physiological rhythms. In its most simplistic form its about understanding your chronotype or when you get the most energy during the day.

Every day, each osf us goes through three stages:

Peak: our mood rises in the morning

Trough (traff): our mood declines in the early to mid-afternoon

Recovery: our mood boosts back up in the early evening

When your body naturally chooses to go through these stages dictates your chronotype, or your personal pattern of circadian rhythms. The potential typse are: the Lark or morning person, the Owl or evening person, and finally the Third Bird who rests somewhere in the middle.

Making it Practical

Here is how you can make this information practical. You need to determine your midpoint of sleep. If your midpoint is 3:30am, you are most likely a Lark. If it is 5:30am, then you are an Owl since you are probably going to bed later. And, if you are somewhere in the middle like 4:30am then you are the Third Owl.

Once you can equip yourself with this insight you can now organize your day to work in your favor. I'll give you an example of how it works for me. I'm a Third Bird so my midpoint falls around 4:30am which means I typically feel the most refreshed around 7am. I have many mornings where I wake up at 6am or 6:30am or earlier but 7am always feels just about right.

Since a Third Bird (like the Lark) 'Peaks' or excels in the morning, this is the time I usually choose to do focused attention work like writing, reviewing documents, and similar tasks. It would be to my detriment to do these same tasks in the evening hours while I'm in the 'Recovery' stage. Now, it took me years to figure it out but once I became self-aware and dialed it in, my level of effectiveness has surged.

Final Thoughts

Stamina. Energy. Whatever you want to define it. It is all dicated by your chronotype so I would recommend either checking out Dan Pink's book or taking a chronotype quiz to focus on your energy management.