8 Simple Hacks to Play Hockey Better for Longer

You don't need to overhaul your entire life to keep playing well. You need a handful of things, done consistently, that actually move the needle — and the discipline to stop chasing anything more complicated than that.

I get asked constantly what "the plan" is. People expect a supplement stack, a biohacking protocol, some secret I'm not sharing. There isn't one. What I actually do is boring, and boring is exactly why it works.

Here are the eight things I keep coming back to.

1. Stop eating 3 hours before bed. Not a diet rule — a sleep rule. A full stomach fights your sleep instead of letting it happen, and sleep is where the actual recovery happens, not in a foam roller.

2. Wake up at the same hour daily. Even on the days I don't have to. Your body runs better on a rhythm than on chaos, and a consistent wake time does more for your energy than an extra hour in bed ever will.

3. Get sunlight within an hour of waking. Ten minutes outside, no sunglasses, before you're staring at a screen. It sets your whole day's rhythm — sleep that night, mood, energy. Costs nothing, takes ten minutes.

4. Skate twice per week. Not because more is always better — because skill and game-feel decay faster than fitness does. Twice a week is enough to stay sharp without burning out the rest of your training.

5. Two strength training sessions per week. Not five. Two, done properly, with real intent, beats five done half-heartedly around a job and a family. This is where "less but better" actually pays off.

6. Protein: 1.6–2g per kg bodyweight, daily. This is the one number in this whole list that's actually worth tracking, at least until it becomes automatic. Recovery and muscle both run on it.

7. Eat 30g of fiber daily. Unglamorous, and almost nobody hits it. It matters more than most of the things people obsess over instead.

8. Limit alcohol and ultra-processed food. Not zero — limit. This isn't about purity. It's about not working against yourself.

Here's the thing nobody tells you about a list like this: it's not impressive. There's no biohack, no gadget, no secret protocol. It's eight ordinary things, and the only hard part is doing them on the days you don't feel like it.

That's the whole game, really — not just this list, but longevity in general. It was never about finding the one trick nobody else knows. It's about doing the boring, obvious things for longer than everyone else is willing to.

Start with one. Build from there.

What I'm working on this week

I played a lot of hockey this week — more than usual, and it felt great. I'd just come off two months of inline hockey followed by ankle inflammation that kept me out for a while, so getting back on the ice mattered to me.

That first session back was rough. The transition from inline back to ice always takes me about two hours to feel normal again — different game, different feel under my feet, even after years of doing both.

Part of why I played so much: I've got a student here training with me from India, Pranav. More on that story soon.

Five hockey sessions this week, plus one plyometric session — five broad jumps, ten push-ups, ten rounds.

I also tried something new with my strength training. Instead of my usual pattern — hockey Wednesday morning, strength Thursday — I lifted straight after hockey, the same day. That frees up Thursday as a genuine rest day before playing or training again Friday.

I'm interested to see how, at 50 years old, this could help me with recovery.

I picked this up from Roman Červenka, who's still playing at the top level here in the Czech Republic at 41. I trained with him just before the IIHF World Championships, and it stuck with me. I'll report back on how the split goes, but it already feels better.

Nutrition stayed simple this week — meat and veg. I don't take supplements currently, but I'm considering bringing creatine back in.

What about you? Let me know how your week has been.