Written Task: What kind of lifestyle should a hockey player live in the offseason? How can you best strike a balance between recreation and relaxation, and training for the next season? Should you simply spent the first half in the Caribbean and the second half in the gym, or is there some other training regimen you follow? Feel free to tell me what your player happens to do, or to showcase your own expertise in real-world athletic training!

Sean Davies prefers to spend the first half of his off season building up some base fitness without worrying too much about his skating. He'll hit the gym some and try to put on some muscle and regain of the weight lost over the course of the season. He also enjoys going out for some easy runs. Nothing too intense at this point, just some base mileage to build up some endurance and prepare for the hard work in the 2nd half off the offseason. During the 2nd half he'll stop taking vacations and start focusing more on ramping up to game readiness. His workouts and runs will start to be less casual and will become more intense as he tries to really push the limits of his body. He'll also start skating to bust the rust and work on his skating legs. Eventually this ramp up will reach a peak a bit before the season, and from there he will throttle back and taper down until opening day, hoping to keep all the gains he made but shake off some of the aches and pains acquired from weeks of intense work.