You might be far from pro level, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to play at your best during your beer league hockey season. If you came back from a summer that was more about the beer than staying fit, your first month is prime time for injuries.

“A lot of the time, your hips and adductors are not ready for the intensity and demand they are put under once you start playing hockey again,” says NSCA-certified trainer Chris Cooper , who recently ran himself through his own return-to-hockey program.

Cooper and strength and conditioning coach Luka Hocevar , coach and owner of Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance in Seattle, suggest twice-a-week training that focuses on building strength and power with moves that help prevent the most common kinds of injuries that happen on the ice.

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