Tag: Boston Hockey Summit

This Week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning

This week has been crazy, both for me at Endeavor (we had about a couple dozen new hockey players start), and over at Hockey Strength and Conditioning. In the last week, we’ve added 6 new articles, programs, and videos, including a couple REALLY great ones from Mike Potenza and Sean Skahan.

Before I get into that, I want to let you know about a new product from my friend Mark Young that some of you may be interested in. As you know, I’m big on using research to design my hockey training programs. Amongst other things, research can provide insight into injury rates and mechanisms, how to correct movement pattern impairments, and more effective program design strategies. Unfortunately, a lot of research is also crap and is almost invariably MISQUOTED by the media. In other words, a lot of the research findings we’re fed are, well, wrong. I had a chance to review Mark’s “How to Read Fitness Research” a few weeks ago and was impressed. He provides a framework to critically analyze research in light of your goals, and presents it without boring you to tears (something I can’t say of some of my old college professors!). This certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a fitness professional, it’s worth looking into. And he’s offering a 40% discount that ends tonight at midnight, so you’ll have to act quick. Click the image/link below for more information.

Click here for more information >> How to Read Fitness Research

On to today’s post on Hockey Strength and Conditioning:

Scap Stability Exercises Part 2 from Mike Potenza
A follow-up from Mike with more videos of scapular stability exercises that hockey players should be doing to keep their shoulders healthy and performing optimally.

Off-Season Weight Gain: Eat that Elephant from me
It’s not what you think…actually maybe it’s exactly what you think (who doesn’t enjoy a delicious elephant steak every now and then?). You’ll have to read to find out. This article provides a birds-eye view of my approach to helping the dozens of players that come through our doors with lofty off-season weight gain goals stay on track and get results.

Youth In-Season Introductory Program from Sean Skahan
This is an addition to our new “Youth Hockey Training Program” feature to HockeySC.com. Sean lays out a great program for youth players and includes videos of all the exercises. The idea with these programs is to provide structure for the thousands of players at the youth level that want to start training, but don’t have access to a well-equipped gym or strength and conditioning coach. Following a program like this from a guy like Sean is certainly a much better approach that perusing the internet and downloading some bodybuilding program from a guy that probably doesn’t train anyone.

Identifying Strength Qualities for Your Training Program from Mike Potenza
This is a monster from Mike. The first time I ever saw Mike, he was presenting at a conference at Northeastern (I think it was the 1st Boston Hockey Summit) and discussing the system he uses for categorizing his athletes based on their training age. It was a brilliant, objective concept and shed some light on the complexities of his job at the NHL level…and some light on how poorly some players train at the youth levels. This articles outlines the qualities that hockey players need to focus on at different training ages and provides a common language for strength and conditioning coaches and hockey coaches. One of the best articles to date.

Grier Persevered to Carve Out Lengthy NHL Career from Mike Potenza
A feature story on Mike Grier that holds a lot of lessons for up and coming hockey players. Potenza, Sean Skahan, and Mike Boyle have all worked with Mike Grier during the off-season. Grier is a great example of what consistent, focused, hard work can get you.

Changes to the In-Season Program from Sean Skahan
This was an awesome article from Sean that highlights some of the difficulties that NHL Strength and Conditioning Coaches face when implementing in-season programs. Sean points out that there are times when he’s more of a “recovery coach” than a “strength coach.” This articles dives into how Sean has made a pretty significant change to the Ducks’ in-season training program this year based on their schedule. Good read.

Remember that the BSMPG is offering HockeySC.com members a $50 discount on admission. It’s cool of them to do it and well worth every penny. Download the coupon at the link below:

>> BSMPG Hockey Symposium Coupon <<

I hope to see you there!

That’s a wrap for today! If you aren’t a member yet, shell out the $1 to test drive Hockey Strength and Conditioning for a week. If it’s not the best buck you’ve ever spent, I’ll personally refund you!

To your continued success,

Kevin Neeld

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Hockey Strength and Conditioning Update

It’s been one of those weeks over at Hockey Strength and Conditioning where the forums have really been hopping. There are a couple great discussions worth checking out on a few of the articles and programs posted recently, as well as a thread I started on Vitamin D (I’m curious to see how many programs are monitoring this closely with their players).

San Jose Sharks Strength and Conditioning Coach Mike Potenza posted an article titled The Best Nutrition Book on my Shelf which really struck a chord with me. As I continue to learn about nutrition, it becomes increasingly apparent how overly complicated some “sources” make it (e.g. media, government, etc.). Potenza’s article does a great job of outlining a few extremely important things that everyone should be aware of. Great read.

Click Here >> The Best Nutrition Book on my Shelf

Anaheim Ducks Strength and Conditioning Coach Sean Skahan posted a video of a full body mobility exercise called Toe Touch Squat with Alternating Arm Reach. Mobility exercises like this also serve as great opportunities to assess your athletes’ limitations. This exercise should help shed some light on whether an athlete has restrictions in ankle dorsiflexion, hip flexion, thoracic extension, and thoracic rotation. It also provides an opportunity to observe how the athlete moves their weight as they perform the initial movement toward the floor, which will likely be indicative of their ability to load their posterior chain. Just a few things to keep in mind when watching this video from Coach Skahan.

Check out the video here >> Toe Touch Squat with Alternating Arm Reach

There was a problem with the program that Darryl Nelson posted last week. if you weren’t able to access it, you can check it out now here:

Click Here >> Off-Season Strength Training Program

Details on the best hockey training seminar ever are now available. I’ve been to the Boston Hockey Summit the last two years and it’s been fantastic. It’s a great opportunity to network with other like-minded people and to learn from some of the smartest minds in performance enhancement. I’ll definitely be going again this year; the line up is pretty incredible. Check out the link below for more information:

You can’t miss this! >> Boston Hockey Summit

Lastly, I posted my video of the DB 1-Leg Reverse Deadlift last week. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth taking a look. After posting the video I got an email from someone, which (I’ll paraphrase) basically said “I understand the marketing appeal of bringing new things to the forefront, but is new necessarily better?” I thought it was an outstanding question and I always love getting emails from people that shows me they’re actually thinking. My response below:

“Trust me when I say that I don’t write anything just for the sake of “standing out.” I know that may be considered bad marketing my some, but I’d guess that I share your sentiments that there is a difference between quality information and just “controversial” or “different” information.

With regards to the video, the 1-leg DB deadlift isn’t the next coming of exercises; it’s simply another tool for coaches to incorporate into their programs. As you likely know, deadlifting patterns reinforce a proper hip hinge pattern and effectively load and strengthen the posterior chain (hamstrings and glutes). Hockey players tend to move with more “quad dominant” patterns, so putting in a slightly greater amount of posterior chain work into their programs can help restore and maintain balance across the hip and knee. As with all single leg exercises, the 1-leg DB deadlift will also necessitate quite a bit of strength in the form of stabilization/control from the lateral hip musculature, as is required during skating and any single-leg positions/maneuvers on the ice.

Unfortunately, with a website like mine there is an underlying assumption that people are familiar with the material I’ve written in the past, which more times than not will likely be a false assumption. With that said, I can’t rewrite a “why I think single-leg training is safer and more effective for hockey players” preface to every post I write that references lower body training. While that may be good for some newcomers, it will likely bore and annoy people that have been with me for a while. I hope this makes sense.

You’re absolutely correct that new doesn’t always mean better. This is an exercise that I’ll incorporate in the same vein as a 1-leg RDL or 1-leg stiff-legged deadlift (I use these two names interchangeably, so within my definition the SLDL still includes a slight knee bend). My goal in presenting it on the site is to expose other coaches to it that may not be familiar with it. Ultimately, this is the fastest way to get feedback to determine if other think it’s a mainstay or not.”

Hopefully that clears up any questions that you may have had!

If you aren’t a member, go check out what you’ve been missing by clicking the link below. If you are a member, go check out all the content I mentioned above and hop on the forums to comment on the threads!

Click Here for the best in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

To your continued success,

Kevin Neeld

P.S. Remember, it’s only $1 to try HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com for the first week. You will never find more hockey training content anywhere for $1, and it’s only getting better. I’ll throw in a bonus offer-Register for $1 so you can check out all the content, and I’ll buy you a coffee (or protein shake?) the next time I see you. Can’t beat that!

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Advances in Hockey Development

Last weekend, I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2nd Annual Boston Hockey Summit. If you’re in the hockey world and didn’t make the trip, you really missed out. The presenter list was incredible, and included people from all aspects of hockey training and development (power skating, conditioning, recovery, strength training, etc.).

My friend and colleague Maria Mountain recently posted a question on the HockeySC.com forum asking what the major take home was.

It would be impossible for me to identify one major take home, but there were a few things that stood out:

1) Everyone’s coaching situation (facility size, equipment availability, management/sport coach influence, clientele, staff, etc.) is different and programs reflect that highly. People should examine others’ programs with this in mind. I don’t think there is a such thing as a “perfect program”, only a “perfect program for that situation”. As an example, even if you write a highly individualized program for every athlete you have, something will be lost in the camaraderie of working through the same program with a group of similarly motivated athletes/teammates. There are pros and cons to everything.

2) A few people brought up the importance of teaching and reinforcing proper breathing patterns and emphasizing proper diaphragm function. If nothing else, I think some “diaphragm focused” breathing will work it’s way into some of my exercise tri-sets in future programs (e.g. A1: Reverse Lunge, B1: Lying Belly Breathing, B3: Stability Ball Front Plank). There is also now research supporting the use of off-ice resisted breathing devices to improve on-ice conditioning. Neat stuff.

3) As we all know, hockey frequently involves acyclic upper body movements in concert with cyclic and acylic lower body movements. In the past, I’ve always coached my players to use an arm swing similar to how they would skate while they’re slideboarding. Taking a step back to recognize the need of dissociated movement between the upper and lower body during many hockey movements, I’m considering at least mixing in some intentionally backward, still, or otherwise different upper body movements during our slideboard conditioning.

4) Lastly, recovery is crucial to adaptation. Two major areas to emphasize are proper nutrition (especially around practice, game, training times) and getting adequate QUALITY sleep at night. These are probably the two most overlooked aspects of a comprehensive hockey development program.

Keep training hard. Keep training smart.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

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Hockey Player Plague: Sports Hernias and “Groin” Strains

One of main topics of the Boston Hockey Summit was the growing problem of sports hernias and “groin” strains within the sport of ice hockey. These injuries are affecting an increasing number of high-level hockey players. I wrote Dissecting the Sports Hernia last summer for StrengthCoach.com outlining some of the research on the topic.

The anatomy involved with these injuries can be very complex, but the concepts involved in preventing them are relatively simple: Maintain balanced strength among the muscles connecting to the pelvis and maintain adequate hip range of motion. Admittedly, these concepts are “simple” in theory, but difficult to implement.

One of the factors associated with hip and lower abdominal injuries is a loss of hip internal rotation range of motion. This can be the result of excessive tightness of the hip external rotators. The stretch below is a great one to maintain hip internal rotation range of motion. Basically you just plant your feet, pull your stomach down toward the floor, and pull your knees toward each other. You should feel this deep in your hips.

Knee-to-Knee Stretch

Kevin Neeld

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Isometric Yoga Circuits for Hockey Players

Brijesh Patel, my friend and colleague from Quinnipiac University, spoke at the Boston Hockey Summit about training program design for ice hockey players. During his talk he went through several yoga-based isometric circuits that can be incorporated into off-ice training warm-ups. Everyone, including myself, that I’ve seen do these circuits has the same reaction: They feel loose AND strong. The circuits are well-designed to improve range of motion around the hips and thoracic spine (spine around your upper back…this is a good thing), and activate the hip abductors/external rotators and muscles around the posterior shoulder (muscles on the outside of the hip that don’t get the training attention they deserve).

I started using two of these circuits with all of my athletes. In both of these circuits, each position is held for 10 seconds.

3-Way Squat Circuit
1) Deep squat while pushing your knees out with your elbows to stretch out the muscles on the inside of your thigh
2) Maintain the deep squat, but move your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers, and pull your elbows back together. It’s important to keep your back flat (don’t let it round forward) and actively pull your knees outward using the muscles on the outside of your hip.
3) Maintain the deep squat while extending your arms straight overhead and continuing to pull your knees out.

3-Way Split Squat Circuit
1) Split squat position with arms extended straight overhead. Focus on squeezing your butt on the back leg and pulling down into the floor through the ball of your foot on the front leg.
2) Maintain the position while performing a triceps stretch on the arm on the side of your back leg and leaning toward the side of your front leg.
3) Maintain the position while twisting toward the front leg and reaching back with the arm on the side of your front leg and following this hand with your eyes.

As I type these descriptions, I’m realizing how simple these are when you see them, but how confusing it is to try to explain it. If you’re simple-minded like I am and have no idea what any of those descriptions mean, your best bet is to head over to myfittube.com and watch the videos that Brijesh put together for them. I’m confident you’ll be able to wrap your mind around them as soon as you see them.

When you get to myfittube.com, look for Brijesh Patel’s Deep Squat Series, and Warrior 1 Series.

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