Back on track this week with a wrap-up of this week’s (and the three preceding week’s since I’ve been slacking) activity in the world of hockey strength and conditioning. Over the last several weeks, I’ve added several articles on topics ranging from strength and conditioning internships to specific hockey training techniques to maximize performance and minimize injury risk. Check out what you’ve been missing at the links below.
We’ve also added a TON of great content over at Hockey Strength and Conditioning. I HIGHLY encourage you to read through all of these pieces as I think there is an awesome combination of quality information, great training programs, and unique exercises that will apply to players at multiple levels. We’ve also had a few terrific contributions from a few guys I hold in a very high regard in Anthony Donskov, Jim Snider, and Kyle Bangen. Check out the links below.
That’s a wrap for today. As always, if you aren’t a member yet, I encourage you to try out Hockey Strength and Conditioning for a week. It’ll only cost $1, and if it’s not the best buck you’ve ever spent, I’ll personally refund you!
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
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What It Means To Be A “Boyle Guy”
“Boyle Guy.” Over the last couple years, I’ve heard this denomination frequently. At times it seems like the descriptor is being used as an insult; other times, simply a statement of reality. Typically, however, the term is used by someone that disagrees with one or more of Mike Boyle’s training ideas (single-leg training is the most common culprit), who is generally dismissive of all ideas stemming from those that agree with Mike about anything. When someone refers to me as a Boyle Guy I’m simultaneously flattered to be associated with Mike and disappointed that the implication is that I (and everyone else) am incapable of free thought. The truth is, I don’t really think people have any idea of what it really means to be a Boyle Guy.
My first introduction to Mike came during an internship I was doing at the University of Delaware. Jason Beaulieu, UD’s Strength and Conditioning Coach, had Functional Strength Coach 1 and let me borrow it. Aside from the information being a wake-up call in general, one of the things that struck me most about hearing him speak was his willingness to admit he was wrong, and to change moving forward. In reality, EVERYONE makes mistakes throughout their career, regardless of what career it is. The overwhelming majority of people, though, aren’t overly competent at admitting when they’ve made a mistake. This may stem from the fact that, at least in our industry, there aren’t many people learning at a rate sufficient enough for them to realize that they’ve even made one (more on this soon). Learning, at a young age, that it’s okay to make mistakes AND it’s okay to change continues to have a profound effect on me today.
Boyle Guy Rule #1: Admit when you’ve made a mistake, and change.
One of the last slides of the 10-DVD set was a list of recommended readings, which included, among others, Shirley Sahrmann’s Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes and Tom Myers’ Anatomy Trains, two books that have heavily influenced the training and rehabilitation communities. I bought every resource on that slide, and read them all the next Summer. Another eye-opener. A few things that really stuck with me were: A) I didn’t know shit about anatomy; B) human movement was significantly more complex than I appreciated, C) studying information from the rehabilitation community provides unique insight into how to prevent injuries via training, D) I didn’t know shit about anatomy, and E) Mike, despite having already accomplished so much, was still digesting new information at a rapid rate in an effort to improve the quality of his programs. This brings us to…
Boyle Guy Rule #2: Know your anatomy.
And…
Boyle Guy Rule #3: Never stop learning.
The knowledge I acquired by watching Functional Strength Coach 1 and reading the resources at the end of the presentation had such a significant impact on my philosophy that I sent Mike a letter to thank him. He replied immediately, and a year later while I was in the area for grad school, he invited me to observe at BU and MBSC. Since that time, he’s taken an immeasurable amount of his time to answer questions I’ve had, both through email and in person. This may seem like a small thing, but it’s not. Mike, at any given time, is juggling 3 full-time jobs, and has NOTHING to gain by helping me (or any of the other countless people that email him everyday!). Interestingly, I’ve had similar experiences with several of the guys that have worked for Mike before moving on to take jobs elsewhere. I have also had the opposite experience. I’ve been “big-timed” on multiple occasions by people that were further along in their careers than I was (or am), and knew they had nothing to gain by our interaction. But, as luck would have it, never by a “Boyle Guy”.
Boyle Guy Rule #4: Pay it forward. Help those that want to learn.
A couple months back, I was fortunate to have an opportunity to work with the US Women’s National Team at the World Championship Tournament in Burlington, VT (thanks entirely to Mike’s recommendation). While I was there, I grabbed dinner with Mike and his wife Cindy one night and the three of us talked for a couple hours on everything from family to hockey to training to career choices. I learned a lot that night; I always do. But when I went back to the hotel afterward, the thing that stuck with me most about everything we talked about was simply how much Mike loved his wife and kids. It was clear that, despite all of his commitments, he was a family first guy. Admittedly, this probably stuck out to me because I’m, well, terrible about balancing my career endeavors with my relationships. If I wasn’t surrounded by such patient people, I may not be surrounded by anyone at all!
Boyle Guy Rule #5: Keep your priorities straight. Relationships are always most important.
Being a Boyle Guy is more than simply acknowledging the downsides, mechanically and neurologically, of bilateral training, or following a concurrent periodization model, or prioritizing injury prevention ahead of performance enhancement; it’s about maintaining the character and humility to constantly learn, develop, and grow, as a professional and as a person. I’ve had (and continue to have) a lot of great mentors, but I can honestly say that I owe my career to Mike. Frankly, I’m lucky to be a Boyle Guy. What a tragedy to not be!
P.S. If you want more information on designing effective off-ice hockey training programs, check out Ultimate Hockey Training!
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Off-Season Hockey Training Program
The last 4 weeks have been a whirlwind. In mid May I started to get extremely busy at Endeavor as we started filling our morning groups with hockey players that were returning home from their junior teams (which means assessments, designing programs, and lots and lots of coaching). Simultaneously, we started up with our off-season programs for Team Comcast at our satellite facility in Pennsauken, NJ. The result was, and continues to be, 12-13 hour days for David Lasnier and I. We also had 3 new interns start at Endeavor (doing a great job so far!).
Mixed in with all of that, I flew to Colorado Springs for USA Women’s National Team 6-day Performance Camp, flew back for a day to work 10 hours (felt like a half-day), then woke up at 5am the next morning (3am in Colorado time…where my body was still residing), and drove up to northern New Jersey for a 4-day Active Release Technique course. It’s always a great experience working with the incredible staff and players with the USA Women’s National Team, and I’m proud to say that I’m now ART certified!. Needless to say, though, things have been pretty busy, and I haven’t had much time to write.
Off-Season Hockey Training Program: Strength Phase
Every month I post the exact hockey training programs I wrote for our players at Endeavor to a special “Insider’s” membership section of Ultimate Hockey Training. Today, I wanted to share one of the programs that will be going into the Insider’s Section shortly, and highlight some of the most important features of the program.
This is “Phase 2” of our 4-day off-season program for players that trained with us during the “early off-season phase.” In contrast, players that are joining us now and weren’t with us for the early off-season have a different program, and players training 2 or 3 times days per week, naturally, have a different program as well.
Dissecting the Program
Population
In general, the players that train 4 days/week with us are competing at levels from Tier I U-18 through the NHL. As a result, they almost all have at least a couple years of training experience, and have gone through their major growth spurts (important consideration for long-term athletic development recommendations). The more advanced training age and stage of development are two reasons why the phases are only three weeks long. It provides an opportunity to emphasize more physical qualities with a stronger emphasis than a typical 4-week phase structure, which more advanced athletes need to continue to develop. In contrast, a novice lifter could do, for example, 3 sets of 8 reps on the same exercises for a year and continue to make progress in muscle size, strength, power, speed, etc.
Purpose
To be overly simplistic, this phase is meant to improve strength. To dig a little deeper, strength depends heavily on the alactic energy system. This can be further divided into alactic power (short duration high intensity efforts with complete rest) and alactic capacity (short duration high intensity efforts with incomplete rest). If you recall from previous posts I’ve written, it’s important to keep in mind which physical qualities send conflicting physiological messages to the body. This isn’t to say that conflicting qualities (e.g. alactic power and lactic capacity) need to be completely segregated, but too large an emphasis on conflicting qualities will impair adaptations to both stimuli.
As a result, an effort was made to keep the “conditioning” in-line with the energy systems emphasized throughout the rest of the phase.
Program Comprehensiveness
It’s still common for players to be subjected to the marketing of programs geared solely toward a specific quality (speed training program, conditioning program, etc.). As I mentioned in the below video, no program should be comprised entirely of a single physical quality, as most qualities compliment each other. Doing only, for example, speed training exercises will not only cause you to detrain a number of other important qualities (e.g. strength, power, conditioning), but it’s not even the best way to develop speed. Programs should be comprehensive, and need to emphasize multiple, complimentary qualities.
PRI
I’ve gotten a lot of questions from people about how we’ve been integrated exercises from the Postural Restoration Institute into our training. With the elite hockey players, David Lasnier or I take them through a comprehensive assessment process and each player gets a few specific exercises that they need to do before and after their training sessions (and preferably also on off days). We also build some of the most powerful PRI exercises into EVERYONE’S program, and progress them from phase to phase. As the off-season goes on, we decrease the volume of these exercises pretty significantly. The idea is that they’re meant to be “corrective”, so we impart the change we’re after, and then cut back to simply maintain the change we’ve created.
Wrap-Up
While I know many will be tempted to download the program and attempt to use it as is, it’s important to realize that our programs are really just templates. We’re constantly making changes at Endeavor to accommodate the individual needs of our players, in terms of exercise selection, loading, and volume (amongst other things). I wanted to share this program with you so you could get an idea of how I approach program design for a strength phase of training. Hopefully you can pull a couple new ideas to integrate into your own programs.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
P.S. If you want more information on designing effective off-ice hockey training programs, check out Ultimate Hockey Training!
Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!
Improving Athletic Performance Beyond Peak Strength: Part 2
Part 1 discusses the role strength plays in maximizing other physical qualities like speed and power, and lays the foundation for how players can improve their performance when they reach their genetic strength limits. Part 2, below, follows up with specific strategies on how to improve an athletes rate of force development, the secret to unlocking more power and speed in elite players.
Strategies for Improving ROFD
Rate of force development differs slightly from power in that power, by definition (Power = Force X Distance/Time), necessitates movement. In contrast, rate of force development encompasses the ability to generate force rapidly, even without external movement. For example, when players battle for possession in the corner, they often push against an opponent who does not move to any significant degree. Whether these efforts are proactive (you pushing up against them) or reactive (you responding to them pushing up against you), the player who is able to generate a high level of force quicker will likely gain optimal body possession and likely control of the puck. This is just one example of the expression of ROFD in environments that don’t involve much movement. Movement-based examples are drastically more prevalent. These include things like first-step quickness, transitional speed, shot release, and shooting power, among others. Naturally, these things can have a powerful (pun intended) impact on a player’s performance.
When training to improve ROFD, it’s important to understand that these adaptations are largely (although not entirely) neural, and that the intention to generate force quickly is more important than the actual speed of movement. When you intend (read: try) to move quickly, the recruitment threshold for high force producing motor units drops. This essentially allows you to develop higher levels of force sooner by bringing more and bigger neuromuscular hands on deck. This concept is key, because it means that ROFD can be improved even with the use of near-maximal loads, which will necessarily slow down the actual movement (as load increases, speed of movement decreases).
With that understood, here are 4 effective strategies to help maximize ROFD:
1) Train for power in low load, high velocity ranges (med ball throws, lower load Olympic lift variations, plyometrics, linear, lateral, and transitional speed exercises, lower load traditional lifting exercises, etc.)
2) Train for power in high load, relatively lower velocity ranges (higher load Olympic lift variations, sled drags variations, resisted linear, lateral, and transitional speed exercises, etc.
3) Intend to move through the concentric phase (typically the “up” phase of an exercise) of exercises as quickly as possible, every rep.
4) Train isometrically in weak ranges of motion of specific movements, and intend to develop force as quickly as possible.
Of these, the first three are the most practical and easiest to transition to as a quality hockey training program should already include components of speed, power in different load ranges, and more traditional strength training exercises. While it is appropriate to slightly shift a greater relative volume of work within the program to this aim, it’s important to recognize that these strategies require maximum efforts, which typically require low rep ranges (e.g. 1-6), complete rest, and only as many sets as the player can perform maximally (not just with maximum effort, but with actual maximum power/ROFD). This is difficult to monitor in isometric exercises, but players can use a Tendo unit to monitor bar speed to help determine drop-off in traditional lifting exercises, and stop watchers or electronic timers to monitor performance in sprint/sled work. An alternative, and likely more practical option, is to simply err on the side of lower volumes of work.
Maximal neural efforts place a high load on the nervous system, which takes time to recover and adapt. Throughout this process, it’s important that the athlete implements these principles strategically, and doesn’t overdue other neurologically taxing work (e.g. extremely high load or high speed efforts) within a given training cycle.
