Another busy week at Endeavor is in the books. This morning I ran a session at 4:45am because one of our players was flying out to a charity event in Colorado. I’m a little tired, but it’s important to me that I’m supportive of our players, especially when it’s to help a charity!

Speaking of which, my friend Eric Cressey recently did an in-service for his staff on how to address the elbow. He covered everything from functional anatomy, to injuries, to injury mechanisms, to strength training program modifications (basically…everything). Because a few of his staff members couldn’t be there, he filmed the whole thing. The video came out really well and provides a ton of awesome information so Eric decided to sell it to the public for $10. Eric has been one of my go-to resources for the last few years and he continues to be a pioneer in the sports training industry with regards to utilizing an understanding of functional anatomy to implement injury prevention strategies in an athlete’s training program. While the elbow isn’t the sexiest of joints, its function does have significant implications for athletes in all sports.

I’ve watched the video and the content, as is always the case with Eric’s stuff, is excellent. But there’s an added incentive for you to shell out $10 to check it out. Half of the proceeds from all purchases of Eric’s “Everything Elbow” (the alliteration practically sells itself) goes to Kevin Youkilis’ charity Youk’s Kids. Youk’s Kids supports at-risk youth at the Italian Home for Children located in Jamaica Plain, critically ill children at Josh Cares in Kevin’s hometown of Cincinnati, as well as Youk’s Kids own Athletes for Heroes program. I’m always up for supporting charities, even those run by Red Sox players. If you have an undying passion to learn everything you can to better train athletes, a weird affinity for elbows, or just want to show some love for Youk’s Kids, grab a copy of Eric’s Everything Elbow today!

On to this week’s content at Hockey Strength and Conditioning:

Yesterday I added an article on hip assessments for hockey players. The article covers an assessment to screen for an anatomical adaptation that a lot of hockey players seem to possess. This adaptation may or may not have implications for their on-ice game, but always has some sort of effect on their off-ice training. It’s not always feasible to take every player through a thorough assessment, but it’s helpful to have an understanding of these assessments so you can break them out if someone presents with perplexing movement behavior that doesn’t seem to correct with other strategies in your tool box. Check out the article and video at the link below:

Click here to read/watch >> Hockey Hip Assessment: Femoral Ante-/Retro-version

Earlier in the week, Darryl Nelson added a video of a number of posterior chain exercises. All of these exercises I’ve seen in some capacity or another in the past; some I use regularly, others less often. Regardless, the video is an awesome learning tool because it presents a number of options to hit the hamstrings and glutes in both knee- and hip-dominant patterns, and you can hear Darryl coaching in the background. For those of you that train athletes, I think there is a ton of value in hearing how an experienced coach cues his athletes. With Darryl’s experience, and given that he’s also filming, you know he’s only using the cues he knows are most effective. It also provides insight into what movement flaws he’s looking for during the exercise. Similarly, if you’re an athlete, it’s helpful to know how to perform these exercises with proper form. Check out the video at the link below:

Click here to read/watch >> Posterior Chain Variations

Lastly, and I think most excitingly, there’s an awesome forum discussion under the thread “Slideboard”. A bunches of coaches have weighed in on what length of slideboard they use, whether they adjust the length for players of different sizes or goalies, and what they like/dislike about each approach. In discussions like this, I’m not sure anyone is “right” or “wrong”, but it’s interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts. A lot of great minds chipping in.

As always, if you aren’t a member yet, I recommend trying out the site for $1 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!

About a year ago I started incorporating more breathing exercises into the training programs of our athletes. One of the major goals of these exercises is to facilitate proper diaphragm function.

Chicks dig guys with proper diaphragm function.

Specific to breathing, the diaphragm allows for more complete lung expansion. If you look at the image above, you can see that the diaphragm moving downward and the chest expanding upward and outward both allow for lung expansion. If the diaphragm isn’t functioning correctly (insufficient magnitude or unideal timing of contraction, restricted length or poor positioning, etc.), you can imagine that the body would naturally attempt to compensate by elevating the ribs to a greater extent to allow more room for the lungs to expand and ultimately for oxygen to be inhaled. In this regard, restoring proper diaphragm function can take some stress off of these muscles, which become overworked/stressed as they’re under more constant tension to elevate the rib cage.

The theory is that activating the diaphragm in a controlled environment will translate to improved activation/performance of the muscle in more dynamic situations. This is similar to the concept of activating the glutes during isolated/controlled movements such as glute bridges  or wall march holds with the intention of restoring proper firing patterns during more dynamic movements like doing sprints or deadlifts. While this transfer can be questioned, I don’t see how including these exercises (in either example) can hurt, and believe that teaching the body how to activate specific muscles in a conscious, isolated fashion will improve the likelihood that the muscle will function properly in more integrated situations.

Last week I had an opportunity to watch Sue Falsone’s presentation on the thoracic spine that’s available at Body By Boyle Online (click this link or the image below for more information on the site!).

Sue is the Director of Physical Therapy for Athletes Performance and was the first ever female physical therapist for a major league baseball team (Los Angelas Dodgers). In her presentation, she brought up a great point about the purpose and function of diaphragm breathing exercises.

Check out a sample breathing exercise from my friend Carson Boddicker:

As you know, if there is some limitation in a joint the surrounding muscles will necessarily be affected. Charlie Weingroff talks a lot about this. Joints must have mobility before they can have stability. To expand on that idea slightly, joints must have mobility before the surrounding muscles can function properly. In this regard, Sue mentioned that one of the major purposes of diaphragm breathing exercises is to improve the mobility of the lower ribs. If the lower ribs can’t expand laterally, it’s improbable that the diaphragm will function ideally. Viewed this way, diaphragm breathing is just another mobility exercise, ensuring proper range of motion and giving the surrounding muscles the best opportunity to function optimally.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

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