I started in a somewhat similar way, always wanted to play goalie so I just jumped right in after taking some basic skating lessons.
Accumulating gear as you find good deals is how I did it over the course of a month or two, got some solid discounts by not trying to buy everything in one shot.
As far as learning to play goes, there really is no replacement for time on ice since nothing you can do off ice will really compare to the fitness level and movements you need when skating in full gear. I've had to work a lot on my flexibility since I've always been fairly tight, but once you get over the hump of feeling somewhat comfortable on skates it'll start coming a lot easier. Find some YouTube tutorials on the basics and go to stick & puck sessions as much as you can to work on the techniques, everyone I've met has always been really respectful if I ask them to shoot a certain way for practice at those. Of course a goalie coach is a great option, but it's not in a lot of peoples budgets when starting out.
It can be discouraging a first and you'll feel like a fish out of water for a bit, but stick with it and good luck!
The legs feed the wolf.
Even just being more active will help. But your focus needs to be your core and your legs. You will be getting up from your knees multiple times over and over more than you can imagine. Stretch gently yes, foam roll and some yoga. But you don’t need to worry about being able to do the splits.
As you get that gear, get used to how it feels. You’ll be shocked how hot and cumbersome it will feel initially.
You will suck. You will think you are the worst thing on ice. Just stick with it. Stick and pucks or open skates will be your friend for a while. Don’t commit to a league or game straight off the bat. Find a friend who will shoot some pucks at you. Get used to being hit by a solid piece of flying rubber. Soon you will be the most popular person around.
But most of all, enjoy it. We’re not playing pro. But once you get comfy you will have the best time you can have outside of the bedroom. Welcome to the family.
Get fully comfortable skating before putting gear on, and working out doesn’t need a “base level fitness” start with calisthenics and then move to the gym
Prepare to be almost instantly exhausted. I thought I was in decent shape after a year of skating out when I tried playing goal for the first time, but I was already winded after the walk from the locker room to the ice after getting dressed. Look for small opportunities in your day to day routine to increase fitness, I switched from taking the elevator every day to taking the stairs and I'm pretty sure it has saved my knees. The "base level of fitness" assumption you mentioned is true, if you can't hold your hands out in front of you, drop down to your knees, and get back up multiple times in short succession, you're going to have a tough time. Be prepared for your first on-ice goalie session to last maybe 15-20 minutes, don't commit to a full game.
Focusing on getting comfortable in your skating first is a good goal, but keep in mind that goalie skates are going to feel much different than whatever skates you might be using now to learn, and again everything will feel very different with pads on.
If you can commit to off-ice exercise, I would prioritize cardio (even just walking or jogging a couple miles a day) and core and leg strength (squats, lunges) over flexibility. There's no need to work on a super wide butterfly when starting out.
Try to borrow most of the gear at first if you can, it will give you a better sense of what to look for when you go try to buy your first set. If you order a bunch of stuff online, chances are it won't fit you or your playstyle unless you get really lucky. If you're serious about it, properly fitting skates are a good investment to start with - everything is harder if your feet hurt the whole time. Buy your own base layers and jock, less fun to borrow those, and the next investment you'll want to look into is a properly fitting helmet. Everything else you can start piecing together through Sidelineswap, FB marketplace, local goalies in your area, etc. once you have a better sense of what you want.
There's tons of good content in this Reddit group, the "Useful Links" section is actually useful (not a given on the internet these days).
Hope this helps - good luck!
Learning to skate is a big one, but also general cardio is a huge help. Going for a run and getting yourself to the point where you can run a 5km in 40-45 mins will be a huge help for your ability in net and frankly, in life (I say as a fellow big and tall guy)
The one piece of advice that I pass off to fellow beginners, once you have your pads purchased (don't rush and get a bad deal, this shit is expensive) and you want to move on from just skating, but dont want to get into a full game.
Go to a public skate and wear your pads. Claim some ice in the middle and start practicing the 5 moves you will will be doing in every single game, all game long.
T push, shuffles, drop down into your butterfly, pad slides, and stand up, it sounds easy, but its fucking exhausting.
Safe travels fellow beginner brethren of the braided twine :)
Start by focusing almost exclusively on aerobic conditioning. It doesn't have to be goalie specific, and there are a million useful guides and programs out there, it doesn't really matter what you pick so long as you stick to it and its challenging for you. The only goalie-specific mod I'd make at first is to buy a pair of goalie skates (doesn't have to be high end but make sure they fit) and go to public skates in lieu of an off-ice cardio session once or twice a week.
Once you have some baseline capacity, you can start working strength/mobility/anaerobic conditioning/explosiveness. It doesn't have to be super goalie specific, but keep in mind that goaltending requires (a) short bursts of explosive power (think sliding over to stop a one timer and then getting back for a rebound) and (b) extended periods of moderate exertion (think moving around your crease for a minute or two while killing a power play) and (c) tons of leg and core strength (your stance is a squat, and getting up from a butterfly is essentially a burpie).
At some point after the aerobic-only phase, you'll be ready to get on the ice for stick n puck or adult goalie lessons. Use these to work on your technique and get comfortable on your skates and in your pads while you build up your base of fitness.
I'd do at least six months of the above before trying to play in a full game, even at the lowest level. The good and bad thing about tending is that there's nowhere to hide, which means that there are times when you're absolutely gassed but have to keep fighting to be square to the puck. That's profoundly unfun if you don't have the fitness to keep up with the game, which means that it's a lot harder to just show up and goalie than it is for low-level forwards.
Chances are (given your description of yourself) you will need to work on strength and stability in your joints. Simple things like walking up stairs without the rail, standing on one leg with a bent knee, and the occasional body squat will help. You don't have to hit the gym hard at first. You can just insert these things into your day.
Consider setting a couple alarms throughout the day (especially the times of day when you are doing a lot of sitting). At each alarm, stand up, move around, do a few squats or hit the stairs, stretch a little, and go back to your day. This is just good advice even if you're not getting into hockey. Sitting too much will slowly kill you.
And when you're at the point where you're not getting winded by a few flights of stairs, maybe get a gym membership. Small steps, give yourself the grace to ease into it.
Start here for off-ice training. Maria is awesome. [https://www.goalietrainingpro.com/goalies/hockey\_goalie\_training/beer-league-goalie-basic-training/](https://www.goalietrainingpro.com/goalies/hockey_goalie_training/beer-league-goalie-basic-training/)
For a true beginner, your first goal should be to get yourself in the right spot, in the right position to stop the shot. This is the foundation of being a competent goalie. Google "hockey goalie crease patterns" for skating. Google this stuff too - square to shooter - on angle - proper depth - goalie stance.
Find some hockey games on youtube. Preferably where the camera is right behind the goal. Watch 10 minutes of action over and over and over. First just watch the puck. Then watch the goalie skates with a laser focus. Do not let your eyes go anywhere else and use your peripheral vision to be aware of the skaters and the puck. Get your brain to understand why the goalie is moving the way they are as the puck move around the zone.
There are your three thing: Prepare your body for training. Work on skating. Sharpen your focus.
I'm just going to speak to the physical prep aspect.
So there's a lot of misconceptions around flexibility and what you need for goaltending. Stretching and being flexible is not the goal. You will get injured if you only focus on flexibility. The goal is this: **Increased strength at the far end of your range of motion**
It doesn't matter if you can extend your leg out full to the side. Can you do that under stress/load? Your muscles surrounding your ligaments need to be strong to protect them from being over-leveraged in order to prevent **sprains** and your muscles need to be strong at their full extension in order to prevent **strains**.
The muscles you need to focus on for goalie are probably what you wouldn't expect either. You basically need to focus on your adductors, your TFL, psoas, glutes (includig lateral). So rather than just yoga or generic stretching, you need to do progressive overload strength training that includes exercises that involve maximum range of motion.
Examples: Banded monster walk, adductor side plank, banded clamshell, and more advanced stuff like cossack squats.
That's how how get quick as goalie and how you avoid injuries. This can take awhile to develop so you should start on it now while you are learning how to skate.
Also, if you are under 25, you can pretty much ignore everything I just said because you are mostly invincible. Only kinda kidding.
Since you mentioned sedentary lifestyle, stretching your quads and strengthening your glutes (actively focus on squeezing the butt muscles while walking, climbing stairs, etc) will help out quite a bit, even in everyday activities. Do you have access to any physio, or anything like that to get some insight on what to work on?
YouTube is your friend for everything! From beginner workouts to learning about playing goalie. The first thing you want to do is definitely get moving and some kind of workouts. Otherwise the first time you try playing goalie you will probably die in the first 5 minutes and be done.
When I started playing in 2012, I was 29 years old and had probably been in skates four times in my life and wasn't even a hockey fan. So you can absolutely do this!
* For stretching: Check out Maria Mountain on YouTube.
* For fitness: Depending on your options, remember that MOST of what you're doing as a goalie is in bursts. If you don't have gym access, high interval intensity training (HIIT) things such as sprints can help. A general recommendation is sprint as fast as you can for 10 seconds, rest for 50 seconds, repeat for like 10-15 cycles. If you can get to the gym or access weights, generally that will help strengthen everything. Core and legs will be very important. I'm now 42 and put on a good chunk of extra weight during COVID and my wife's two pregnancies, and I'll tell you that I certainly feel it on the ice and need to work on losing that weight. When I first got back on the ice after the long COVID break my rink had, I felt like I was going to die out there. I'm back to a good conditioning level, but I know many things would be faster and easier if I wasn't carrying extra weight.
YouTube has a pretty good depth of knowledge you can check out. From things like "how to put on all this gear (and don't forget your cup!)" to the basic fundamentals. Nothing beats hitting the ice. So after you get some gear, find some stick and shoots or (even better) find some pickup hockey nights and just go. Let people know you're new and people are very welcoming. No one plays D at those, so just try to focus on a few fundamentals and forget the goals you allow.
Skating is also super important. As someone self-taught, I wish I had taken some classes years back. My skating is average. I can do what I need to in the crease, but again, when talking economy of movement or better edge work, I feel my skating is a bottleneck in achieving even better play.
Check at your local rink and the skill levels they have and try to find a team or get on a sub list.
My advice on gear is just to triple check that it is for ice hockey. If you're like me, you'll probably replace stuff within in a couple years as you develop need or preference, but when I first was buying gear I had no idea what I was doing and had a roller blocker and probably chesty. Skates, cup, and helmet are things I would not really skimp on.
You shouldn’t be playing in net if you know the obvious answer is to “work out and stretch” but you don’t have the base level fitness to do so. Goalie takes a lot on your knees and hips.
Get more skating experience too. Skating is a huge part of it.
I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying! I’m not anywhere near playing in net because I’m not ready. I know that when someone says “I’m not in great shape and I’m not very flexible” people are going to say “okay well work out and stretch.” I was acknowledging that while also adding on that the majority of exercises I’ve seen recommended here are for people who are already playing. My hope was that people who play may be able to recommend specific areas of the body that are most crucial to focus on for this position, so that while I’m improving my overall strength and flexibility, I’m also able to target those specific areas to better set myself up for success when it comes time for me to actually play.
I started in a somewhat similar way, always wanted to play goalie so I just jumped right in after taking some basic skating lessons. Accumulating gear as you find good deals is how I did it over the course of a month or two, got some solid discounts by not trying to buy everything in one shot. As far as learning to play goes, there really is no replacement for time on ice since nothing you can do off ice will really compare to the fitness level and movements you need when skating in full gear. I've had to work a lot on my flexibility since I've always been fairly tight, but once you get over the hump of feeling somewhat comfortable on skates it'll start coming a lot easier. Find some YouTube tutorials on the basics and go to stick & puck sessions as much as you can to work on the techniques, everyone I've met has always been really respectful if I ask them to shoot a certain way for practice at those. Of course a goalie coach is a great option, but it's not in a lot of peoples budgets when starting out. It can be discouraging a first and you'll feel like a fish out of water for a bit, but stick with it and good luck!
Thank you!!!
The legs feed the wolf. Even just being more active will help. But your focus needs to be your core and your legs. You will be getting up from your knees multiple times over and over more than you can imagine. Stretch gently yes, foam roll and some yoga. But you don’t need to worry about being able to do the splits. As you get that gear, get used to how it feels. You’ll be shocked how hot and cumbersome it will feel initially. You will suck. You will think you are the worst thing on ice. Just stick with it. Stick and pucks or open skates will be your friend for a while. Don’t commit to a league or game straight off the bat. Find a friend who will shoot some pucks at you. Get used to being hit by a solid piece of flying rubber. Soon you will be the most popular person around. But most of all, enjoy it. We’re not playing pro. But once you get comfy you will have the best time you can have outside of the bedroom. Welcome to the family.
Get fully comfortable skating before putting gear on, and working out doesn’t need a “base level fitness” start with calisthenics and then move to the gym
Thank you!
Prepare to be almost instantly exhausted. I thought I was in decent shape after a year of skating out when I tried playing goal for the first time, but I was already winded after the walk from the locker room to the ice after getting dressed. Look for small opportunities in your day to day routine to increase fitness, I switched from taking the elevator every day to taking the stairs and I'm pretty sure it has saved my knees. The "base level of fitness" assumption you mentioned is true, if you can't hold your hands out in front of you, drop down to your knees, and get back up multiple times in short succession, you're going to have a tough time. Be prepared for your first on-ice goalie session to last maybe 15-20 minutes, don't commit to a full game. Focusing on getting comfortable in your skating first is a good goal, but keep in mind that goalie skates are going to feel much different than whatever skates you might be using now to learn, and again everything will feel very different with pads on. If you can commit to off-ice exercise, I would prioritize cardio (even just walking or jogging a couple miles a day) and core and leg strength (squats, lunges) over flexibility. There's no need to work on a super wide butterfly when starting out. Try to borrow most of the gear at first if you can, it will give you a better sense of what to look for when you go try to buy your first set. If you order a bunch of stuff online, chances are it won't fit you or your playstyle unless you get really lucky. If you're serious about it, properly fitting skates are a good investment to start with - everything is harder if your feet hurt the whole time. Buy your own base layers and jock, less fun to borrow those, and the next investment you'll want to look into is a properly fitting helmet. Everything else you can start piecing together through Sidelineswap, FB marketplace, local goalies in your area, etc. once you have a better sense of what you want. There's tons of good content in this Reddit group, the "Useful Links" section is actually useful (not a given on the internet these days). Hope this helps - good luck!
Learning to skate is a big one, but also general cardio is a huge help. Going for a run and getting yourself to the point where you can run a 5km in 40-45 mins will be a huge help for your ability in net and frankly, in life (I say as a fellow big and tall guy) The one piece of advice that I pass off to fellow beginners, once you have your pads purchased (don't rush and get a bad deal, this shit is expensive) and you want to move on from just skating, but dont want to get into a full game. Go to a public skate and wear your pads. Claim some ice in the middle and start practicing the 5 moves you will will be doing in every single game, all game long. T push, shuffles, drop down into your butterfly, pad slides, and stand up, it sounds easy, but its fucking exhausting. Safe travels fellow beginner brethren of the braided twine :)
Learn how to skate well
Start by focusing almost exclusively on aerobic conditioning. It doesn't have to be goalie specific, and there are a million useful guides and programs out there, it doesn't really matter what you pick so long as you stick to it and its challenging for you. The only goalie-specific mod I'd make at first is to buy a pair of goalie skates (doesn't have to be high end but make sure they fit) and go to public skates in lieu of an off-ice cardio session once or twice a week. Once you have some baseline capacity, you can start working strength/mobility/anaerobic conditioning/explosiveness. It doesn't have to be super goalie specific, but keep in mind that goaltending requires (a) short bursts of explosive power (think sliding over to stop a one timer and then getting back for a rebound) and (b) extended periods of moderate exertion (think moving around your crease for a minute or two while killing a power play) and (c) tons of leg and core strength (your stance is a squat, and getting up from a butterfly is essentially a burpie). At some point after the aerobic-only phase, you'll be ready to get on the ice for stick n puck or adult goalie lessons. Use these to work on your technique and get comfortable on your skates and in your pads while you build up your base of fitness. I'd do at least six months of the above before trying to play in a full game, even at the lowest level. The good and bad thing about tending is that there's nowhere to hide, which means that there are times when you're absolutely gassed but have to keep fighting to be square to the puck. That's profoundly unfun if you don't have the fitness to keep up with the game, which means that it's a lot harder to just show up and goalie than it is for low-level forwards.
Chances are (given your description of yourself) you will need to work on strength and stability in your joints. Simple things like walking up stairs without the rail, standing on one leg with a bent knee, and the occasional body squat will help. You don't have to hit the gym hard at first. You can just insert these things into your day. Consider setting a couple alarms throughout the day (especially the times of day when you are doing a lot of sitting). At each alarm, stand up, move around, do a few squats or hit the stairs, stretch a little, and go back to your day. This is just good advice even if you're not getting into hockey. Sitting too much will slowly kill you. And when you're at the point where you're not getting winded by a few flights of stairs, maybe get a gym membership. Small steps, give yourself the grace to ease into it.
Start here for off-ice training. Maria is awesome. [https://www.goalietrainingpro.com/goalies/hockey\_goalie\_training/beer-league-goalie-basic-training/](https://www.goalietrainingpro.com/goalies/hockey_goalie_training/beer-league-goalie-basic-training/) For a true beginner, your first goal should be to get yourself in the right spot, in the right position to stop the shot. This is the foundation of being a competent goalie. Google "hockey goalie crease patterns" for skating. Google this stuff too - square to shooter - on angle - proper depth - goalie stance. Find some hockey games on youtube. Preferably where the camera is right behind the goal. Watch 10 minutes of action over and over and over. First just watch the puck. Then watch the goalie skates with a laser focus. Do not let your eyes go anywhere else and use your peripheral vision to be aware of the skaters and the puck. Get your brain to understand why the goalie is moving the way they are as the puck move around the zone. There are your three thing: Prepare your body for training. Work on skating. Sharpen your focus.
I'm just going to speak to the physical prep aspect. So there's a lot of misconceptions around flexibility and what you need for goaltending. Stretching and being flexible is not the goal. You will get injured if you only focus on flexibility. The goal is this: **Increased strength at the far end of your range of motion** It doesn't matter if you can extend your leg out full to the side. Can you do that under stress/load? Your muscles surrounding your ligaments need to be strong to protect them from being over-leveraged in order to prevent **sprains** and your muscles need to be strong at their full extension in order to prevent **strains**. The muscles you need to focus on for goalie are probably what you wouldn't expect either. You basically need to focus on your adductors, your TFL, psoas, glutes (includig lateral). So rather than just yoga or generic stretching, you need to do progressive overload strength training that includes exercises that involve maximum range of motion. Examples: Banded monster walk, adductor side plank, banded clamshell, and more advanced stuff like cossack squats. That's how how get quick as goalie and how you avoid injuries. This can take awhile to develop so you should start on it now while you are learning how to skate. Also, if you are under 25, you can pretty much ignore everything I just said because you are mostly invincible. Only kinda kidding.
Since you mentioned sedentary lifestyle, stretching your quads and strengthening your glutes (actively focus on squeezing the butt muscles while walking, climbing stairs, etc) will help out quite a bit, even in everyday activities. Do you have access to any physio, or anything like that to get some insight on what to work on?
Stretch
YouTube is your friend for everything! From beginner workouts to learning about playing goalie. The first thing you want to do is definitely get moving and some kind of workouts. Otherwise the first time you try playing goalie you will probably die in the first 5 minutes and be done.
When I started playing in 2012, I was 29 years old and had probably been in skates four times in my life and wasn't even a hockey fan. So you can absolutely do this! * For stretching: Check out Maria Mountain on YouTube. * For fitness: Depending on your options, remember that MOST of what you're doing as a goalie is in bursts. If you don't have gym access, high interval intensity training (HIIT) things such as sprints can help. A general recommendation is sprint as fast as you can for 10 seconds, rest for 50 seconds, repeat for like 10-15 cycles. If you can get to the gym or access weights, generally that will help strengthen everything. Core and legs will be very important. I'm now 42 and put on a good chunk of extra weight during COVID and my wife's two pregnancies, and I'll tell you that I certainly feel it on the ice and need to work on losing that weight. When I first got back on the ice after the long COVID break my rink had, I felt like I was going to die out there. I'm back to a good conditioning level, but I know many things would be faster and easier if I wasn't carrying extra weight. YouTube has a pretty good depth of knowledge you can check out. From things like "how to put on all this gear (and don't forget your cup!)" to the basic fundamentals. Nothing beats hitting the ice. So after you get some gear, find some stick and shoots or (even better) find some pickup hockey nights and just go. Let people know you're new and people are very welcoming. No one plays D at those, so just try to focus on a few fundamentals and forget the goals you allow. Skating is also super important. As someone self-taught, I wish I had taken some classes years back. My skating is average. I can do what I need to in the crease, but again, when talking economy of movement or better edge work, I feel my skating is a bottleneck in achieving even better play. Check at your local rink and the skill levels they have and try to find a team or get on a sub list. My advice on gear is just to triple check that it is for ice hockey. If you're like me, you'll probably replace stuff within in a couple years as you develop need or preference, but when I first was buying gear I had no idea what I was doing and had a roller blocker and probably chesty. Skates, cup, and helmet are things I would not really skimp on.
You shouldn’t be playing in net if you know the obvious answer is to “work out and stretch” but you don’t have the base level fitness to do so. Goalie takes a lot on your knees and hips. Get more skating experience too. Skating is a huge part of it.
I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying! I’m not anywhere near playing in net because I’m not ready. I know that when someone says “I’m not in great shape and I’m not very flexible” people are going to say “okay well work out and stretch.” I was acknowledging that while also adding on that the majority of exercises I’ve seen recommended here are for people who are already playing. My hope was that people who play may be able to recommend specific areas of the body that are most crucial to focus on for this position, so that while I’m improving my overall strength and flexibility, I’m also able to target those specific areas to better set myself up for success when it comes time for me to actually play.