Tag: Boston Hockey Symposium

A New Perspective on Energy Systems

A couple days ago, I mentioned that we’re hosting Joel Jamieson’s new Certified Conditioning Coach course at our facility on April 2nd and 3rd. In response to that post I received a bunch of notes from people either expressing an interest in taking the course, or telling me how great it was when they took it previously.

If you’re interested in taking the course, register ASAP. We’re limiting the course to ~40 attendees and have already sold over half the seats. You can get more information and register at the link below.

Reserve your seat here >> Certified Conditioning Coach

Given the interest in energy system development my last post sparked, I thought it would be an opportune time to repost a video I’ve shown a few times of a presentation Joel gave on the topic. This is a GREAT presentation, and one of the best free resources available. Check it out below!

A few years ago when I first came across this presentation from Joel Jamieson, it caused me to rethink a lot of what I thought I knew about “conditioning”. Since that time, I’ve read (and re-read) his two books, seen him speak a few times, and even spoke alongside him when the two of us did a one day seminar (where Optimizing Movement was filmed).

Ultimate MMA Conditioning is a must-read for anyone that trains athletes in any sport

Needless to say, I think this information is incredibly valuable; it’s had a profound impact on the way that I write my programs.

Even in rereading my comments about the video below, I know that my perspective on energy systems work has changed considerably over the last 4 years, especially as it pertains to redeveloping aerobic qualities in hockey players (and all athletes in general) in the early off-season. We’re using methods now that I would have never thought to use in 2011, and the foundation for a lot of that change was built on this video.

Enjoy! And if you want to share any of the conditioning methods you’re using or have any questions, please post them in the comments section below.

A New Perspective on Energy Systems

I hope you’re all enjoying your day off (if you got one). Endeavor Sports Performance typically shuts down for Memorial Day, but Matt, David, and I are leaving Thursday night to head up to Boston for the Hockey Symposium, so we have to open up today to make sure all of our athletes can get their sessions in before we go. Just another day in the office! (I’m pretending that today isn’t the first day that it hasn’t precipitated since last November).

Rather than spending the day outside enjoying the sun and BBQing, I thought you’d be more interested in watching a great presentation on energy systems development from Joel Jamieson, who’s a really bright guy. Joel primarily trains MMA fighters out of his facility in Seattle, WA, but he also has experience with football and soccer players. More importantly, and you’ll get this quickly from watching his presentation, his training philosophy is science-based. While I don’t think that every line on a training program needs to have a citation next to it, I think using quality research as a backing for your training philosophies ensures that you understand the underlying principles of athletic development, which can be effectively applied to any sport (in a sport- and athlete-relevant manner).

This video is from a presentation Joel gave at the Central Virginia Sports Performance Seminar at the University of Richmond in Virginia, and he includes a download link for the power point slides so you can follow along. Click the link below and watch the video now (it’s completely free and doesn’t require registering for anything):

Click Here to Watch >> A New Perspective on Energy Systems

I finished watching the video late last week and left with a few good research resources to look into and an augmented understanding of energy metabolism and physiology. I can’t help but feel that some of his words will be grossly misinterpreted though.

One thing that stood out to me as extremely hockey conditioning relevant is the large degree to which the aerobic system contributes to repeat sprint performance with incomplete recovery. Using running as a model, Joel presented that the energy delivery for 200m (~22s) and 400m(~49s) sprints were 29% and 43% aerobic, respectively. In other words, in the time equivalent of an average hockey shift, roughly 1/3-1/2 of the energy provided is aerobic, and this is likely to increase with incomplete recovery between bouts (e.g. as shifts progress within a period).

In my opinion, Joel’s presentation offers more accurate explanatory power than it does a drastic change in the way we condition for hockey. The major take home message is that you need to understand the demands of the sport and prepare accordingly. I think people see something like “50% of energy is from anaerobic sources and 50% is from aerobic sources” and think “50% of my training should be sprint repeats and 50% should be continuous aerobic work.” In reality, all this is saying is that the sprint repeats will eventually be developing aerobic systems in addition to the know anaerobic benefits.

Primarily Aerobic? Anaerobic? Does it matter?

This is one of the reasons why I think it’s more important to have an in-depth understanding of the work:rest ratios and overall work intensities of the game than it is to understand the underlying physiological mechanisms driving them. As an overly simplified example, if hockey includes, on average, about a 40s shift of which about 20s is spent at all out intensities every 3 minutes, and we use some similar work intervals and work to rest ratios to create a slight overload on the involved metabolic systems, does us realizing that more of the on-ice energy AND off-ice training energy is coming from aerobic metabolism than we previously thought change the way we train? I’m not sure it does. I’m certainly not implying that I disagree with anything Joel said in his presentation, and I agree that certain athletes will need a greater emphasis on certain qualities based on their athletic profiles, but I think some people over-emphasize the physiological explanations and under-emphasize the much more obvious and intuitive game demands. What do you think? Check out the video and post your comments below!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Get Optimizing Movement Now!

“…one of the best DVDs I’ve ever watched”
“A must for anyone interested in coaching and performance!”

Click here for more information >> Optimizing Movement

This Week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning

My head was spinning all week getting ready for this weekend, but I’m glad to finally be up in Boston getting ready for the Boston Hockey Symposium. Hopefully I’ll see you all here!

Here’s what you’ve missed over the last week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning:

Using the Turkish Get-Up in Team Sports from Sean Skahan
In this article, Sean breaks down the Turkish Get-Up into a progression of four steps that he used to integrate it into the Ducks’ program. If you aren’t familiar with the Get-Up, this will be a great introduction to it. As Sean mentions, it’s certainly a humbling exercise and one that is exceptionally integrative regarding functional pathways throughout the body, but also provides some benefits as a screen to expose side-to-side imbalances and ROM restrictions. I think the biggest barriers to implementing this exercise into a program are understanding where it fits from a stress standpoint (e.g. where do you put a total body “core” exercise into your program so that it won’t interfere with other exercises) and teaching it to a larger group proficiently. Sean’s breakdown will certainly help with the latter. He wraps the article by mentioning that his players responded well to his teaching progression and that complaints of back and shoulder pain were non-existent (I assume this is in reference to this exercise specifically and not a claim that one exercise has completely negated all back and shoulder pain). Great stuff as always from Sean.

Lateral Core Variations from Darryl Nelson
Darryl posted a video montage of lateral and rotational core exercises. He had a few “easier” variations to the exercises I posted the other day (Core Training Variations for Hockey Players), which is great as it adds for more potential variety in progressing up to the advanced exercises. With the exercise at the :50 mark, I’ll have our players have their outside leg forward, as I think it prevents them from using their leg as a kickstand and also more closely mimics the rotation pattern seem most prevalently on the ice. The thing I really like about Darryl’s video is that he’s coaching his players as he films, which allows the viewer to see common execution faults and how he coaches to correct them.

Youth Off-Ice Training Program from me
This is the next installment of our monthly youth off-ice hockey training program. As I’ve said in the past, the goal of adding these to the site was to provide the youth players, parents, and coaches out there that don’t have equipment or resources to pursue professional instruction a cost-effective training option. We’re several months in now and the programs have included a good amount of variety, quality balance and program structure, and minimal equipment use. Hopefully the target audience is reaping the benefits of this and not falling victim to all the gimmicky hockey training bullshit that is out there right now.

If you aren’t a member yet, fork 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

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

This Week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning

Well, it saddens me to say this, but the Flyers playoff run is officially over. And with that, so is the beard. I was hoping to make it to the Boston Hockey Symposium for the second straight year with the Flyers still making a run, but I guess it just wasn’t their year (maybe the 5 scheduled surgeries and 3 other probable surgeries have something to do with it?).

Playoff beard…final hours

The good news is I’m feeling rejuvenated from my trip out San Diego last week and have a lot of great content for you over the next few weeks. We added some great stuff to Hockey Strength and Conditioning that you’ll want to check out.

Darryl Nelson wrote an outstanding article on speed training for hockey. While I think that most of the people in the circle’s I run with have a great understanding of speed training principles, I think the topic remains poorly understood amongst the majority of the hockey world. Darryl’s article does a great job of outlining the most important principle in developing speed for hockey and provides several off-ice training methods to facilitate on-ice gains. Short and to the point. Check it out at the link below:

Click here >> Training for Speed from Darryl Nelson

Sean Skahan added a video of a leg circuit he uses with his players in the late off-season/early pre-season. This is a great video because it shows a training option that isn’t equipment-reliant. In other words, assuming movement pattern proficiency, anyone can do this. The important thing is to recognize where it fits into the bigger training picture. For younger players with a short training history, this method may be effective in developing increases in strength and size. For players with an older training age, a circuit like this would be great for developing work capacity in the hips and legs, but won’t help much in the way of strength improvements. This is likely the reason Sean mentions he uses the circuit to transition into the pre-season, where strength improvements take a back-seat in importance to ensuring the player has the work capacity to sustain the impending on-ice demands. Check out the video here:

Click here >> Leg Circuit from Sean Skahan

As always, there are a few great forum discussions that you’ll be interested in. Check out the one on the benefits of power skating instruction (or lack thereof?), a Q&A with Sean about his leg circuit video, and on the Graston Technique (a manual therapy technique that has some distinct benefits for hockey players).

That’s it 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

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

This Week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning

Wrapping up another busy week at Endeavor and at HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com. This week we added:

Off-Season Phase 2 from Darryl Nelson
Darryl posted a 4-day off-season training program for a relatively advanced lifter. This looks pretty similar to how I write programs for our hockey players, but it’s interesting to note a few differences in exercise selection and set/rep schemes. Darryl has been incredibly successful with the U.S. National Team Development Program so there’s a lot to be learned from reading through his programs.

Mental Toughness Training for Hockey Players from Brijesh Patel
I’ve been fortunate to learn from a lot of great people over the years, but Brijesh has been the underlying source of as many “aha” moments as anyone. Aside from being very bright, Brijesh really understands the coaching side of the equation. In other words, our jobs as Strength and Conditioning COACHES isn’t just to design quality programs; it’s to get our athletes to perform the best. A lot of the team-building side of training is lost in my facility because we work with groups of athletes from a lot of different teams, but Brijesh is a master at this. This is a quick read, but highlights an often overlooked aspect of hockey performance that players, parents, coaches, and trainers can benefit from hearing. I’m looking forward to catching up with Brijesh (and you?) at this year’s Boston Hockey Symposium.

Slideboard Hamstring Curl Variations from me
Lastly, I added two videos of variations to a slideboard hamstring curl that we’ve been using a lot at Endeavor. I really like slideboard hamstring curls for posterior chain development, but we quickly ran into a problem where our athletes were able to perform 12+ with ease. As with every exercise, progression is key. We’ve used the two variations in this video to help increase the difficulty of the exercise, but keep the same movement qualities we want.

There have been some good threads (~7 to be exact) on the forum too so sign in and check those out. Some great discussions on in-season recovery (same ideas can be applied to the off-season), good books to check out, conditioning for this time of year, supplements, and more!

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

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!