August will be here before you know it.
I hope everybody had an amazing 4th of July weekend.
I spent mine camping with my family at a Wisconsin State Park.
Cooking big greasy brats, chicken breasts, and hamburgers over an open fire pit. Going to the beach. Spending time with my family. Watching fireworks light up the sky from the shores of Lake Michigan.
It was an amazing weekend and an incredible way to celebrate 250 years of freedom in America.
I hope you had a great one too.
But now...
It’s back to work.
Because before we know it, August is going to be here.
For a lot of pro hockey players, that’s when the contract talk starts getting very real.
Guys playing over in Europe are already starting to ship out.
Junior players are finalizing tryouts, battling for roster spots, and trying to make teams.
High school and youth players are gearing up for the season.
It’s coming quick.
Way quicker than you think.
So as we close out the rest of July, I want to encourage you to take advantage of every single one of these days.
Look at your training.
How is it going?
Where are you improving?
Where are you falling behind?
And maybe most importantly...
How are you recovering?
One thing that completely changed the way I recovered during my hockey career was the foam roller.
I first learned about foam rolling when I got to UMass Lowell.
Our strength coach gave every one of us a lacrosse ball and a foam roller.
I had never heard of rolling out my muscles or working on tight areas of my body like that before.
Then I put that foam roller underneath my quad for the first time.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!
I’ll never forget that feeling.
That torturous pain radiating through my leg as I slowly rolled across muscles that felt like they had been tied into a thousand tiny knots.
Then came the lacrosse ball on the calf.
Pure torture.
But I started to realize how much better my body felt afterward and how important that recovery work was if I wanted to come back and perform again the next day.
I really learned that lesson during my first year in the American Hockey League.
There were stretches where we were playing Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then Wednesday again.
Repeat.
Your body gets absolutely mangled.
And I quickly realized something.
Training hard is only half the equation. You have to learn how to recover hard too.
So here’s my challenge for you this week.
Get yourself a foam roller.
At night, while you’re watching a show, listening to a podcast, or even screwing around on your phone, get down on the floor and start rolling.
Your back.
Your hips.
Your glutes.
Your quads.
Your calves.
Learn your body.
That was one of the biggest benefits I found from doing this consistently.
When you spend time rolling and working through your muscles, you start to notice things.
You find the tight spots.
You find the areas that are barking a little bit.
You start recognizing where your body needs some extra attention before a small problem turns into a bigger one.
Great athletes know their bodies.
Your body is your machine.
And the better you understand that machine, the better chance you have of keeping it running at a high level.
So tonight, about 30 minutes or an hour before bed, get on the foam roller.
Slow down.
Roll out.
Pay attention to what your body is telling you.
You might even find that it becomes part of your nightly wind-down routine and helps you settle in for a great night of sleep.
The holiday is over.
August is coming.
It’s time to get back to work.
Here’s to a week of hard training, smart recovery, and being thankful for the freedom we have to chase these crazy hockey dreams.
Knuckles up,
Bobby Robins
Savage Motivator
NHL Alum
Writer for Wraparound
P.S. If you’re putting in work off the ice this summer, make sure your training actually translates to the rink. The Puckaround Pro Training Puck gives you a more realistic puck feel on concrete and training surfaces, and the Wraparound protects your stick blade while you get your reps in. Get outside. Get your touches. Put in the work now so you're ready when the real pucks drop.
P.P.S. We still have some USA Blade Shades left. The 4th of July might be over, but summer definitely isn't. Rock the red, white, and blue for the rest of the summer with premium polarized lenses, 100% UV protection, and our signature hockey stick-inspired arms. Once they're gone, they're gone.