From the very beginning of my training hockey players at every level from High School to Pro, the perception has been the same: if they are training MMA at a boxing gym, it MUST be linked to fighting on the ice. It's actually quite the opposite. When I personally started training for fighting, whether it was for a stand up fight or for ground fighting, I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities to the game of hockey. I had always believed in and followed the traditional workouts related to hockey: lots of squats, bench, shoulder press etc. "One directional training" as I now call it.
