Tuukka Rask has no trouble unwinding after a hockey season.
The reason? He has two little daughters, 4 and 2 years old, respectively, awaiting his arrival at home.
“I don’t have to do a whole lot more than just come home and be a dad,” Rask said. “It doesn’t matter if I played well or not. They don’t care. They keep your mind steady and humble.”
The 31-year-old goaltender has played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League, all with the Boston Bruins. He’s already a Stanley Cup champion, winning the coveted prize in 2011, and nearly won a second title when he helped lead the Bruins to the 2013 final. He added some personal hardware when he won the Vezina Trophy for the 2013-14 campaign.
The Savonlinna, Finland, native has experienced success on the international stage as well, earning two bronze medals while representing his home nation, one each at the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship and 2014 Sochi Olympics.
But Rask is far from finished, and his quest for glory starts anew each offseason. Following his two- to three-week resting period, Rask begins his workout program, provided to him by his trainers at Warrior.
Later in the offseason, when he returns to Finland, he skates with a group of players who either play in the NHL or in European leagues.
His initial exercises include lifting weights and stretching out as he gets his body accustomed to working out again.
“We start by working out three times a week,” said Rask, 6-foot-3, 176 pounds. “We do a lot of body-weight and free-weight workouts. It’s light lifting. We also do some cardio. You’re getting your body ready for the summer workouts.”
Two weeks in, Rask boosts his amount of workouts up to four times per week. He also adds in more exercises, and these sessions include Olympic lifts mixed in with Pilates, free weights and full-body workouts.
Rask said his training hasn’t changed much over the years, but “there’s always some new things” that he tries to figure out.
Most of those new activities have an increased focus on hip strength and core strength, which has been a bigger part of his routine for the past couple years.
“The older you get, the more you try to pay attention to how to take care of your body,” Rask explained. “For goalies, core strength and hip strength is a big thing. You try to stay on top of that and make sure every muscle you need to use on the ice is ready to go when you start skating.”
Speaking of skating, around the time Rask starts to increase the intensity of his gym workouts, he also returns to the rink, where his work is similar to his off-ice routine in that it’s a steady progression that goes from light workouts to heavy ones.
His initial activities are based around him getting “the feel” back, and they mostly feature moving drills without pucks. After a few weeks, the rubber discs enter the mix as Rask starts getting some shots to regain his hand-eye coordination.
In fact, the amount of time Rask spends on the ice and in the gym highlights the biggest difference between his workouts during the offseason and the season.
During the summer, skating is on the back burner, and he skates only two or three times per week. Rask’s main objective is getting stronger and preparing his body for the at least 82-game grind.
“In season you skate almost every day,” he said. “You’re just trying to maintain your strength in the gym, so you work out once or twice a week. During the summer, you focus more on off-ice stuff. That’s the only difference. It kind of flip-flops.”
One constant for Rask, whether it’s the offseason or not, is he’s motivated and focused each time he’s in the gym or on the ice.
And he doesn’t need any outside influence to keep his head in the training game either. For example, he doesn’t create a music playlist for when he’s working out.
“I don’t need music to ramp up my workouts,” Rask asserted. “I’ll listen to whatever is on the radio. I’m not picky.”
His diet isn’t exactly special either, although he aims to eat as healthy as possible.
“I’m not a big diet guy, so I don’t have anything crazy there,” Rask noted.
As for sleep, he said it’s “as good as it could be with two little kids.”
Those two girls, though, play the biggest role for Rask on the mental side during the summer, when, with the season and the games under the bright TD Garden lights still a ways away, he makes certain to not drain himself mentally.
Concluded Rask: “The big thing is to stay in shape and feel good about your game, but you have to also remember that it’s still July and August. You don’t want to overdo it and peak when training camp starts.
“It’s a long season. Being around the kids, and hanging out with friends and family, helps me unwind and not think about hockey. They clear your head pretty good.”
