This is a great Q&A from Boyle that covers some of the more frequently asked questions regarding interval training. His response to “the best way to calculate max heart rate” is both spot on…and comical.
Seeing programs from other coaches, especially those as highly esteemed as Boyle, Potenza, and Sean Skahan is one of my favorite parts about being a member at HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com. You get to see EXACTLY how the coaches that have helped developed thousands of elite level players put together their programs at different times of the year, and if something doesn’t make sense, you can just hop over to the forum and ask them directly.
There is also a great discussion going on at the forum about how to design team training programs for different settings. This really resonated with me as we’re revamping our team programs at Endeavor for the dozen teams we have that play in the rink next door.
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This Week at Hockey Strength and Conditioning
Check out what you missed this week over at Hockey Strength and Conditioning!
Article: Leadership Lessons from the NHL from me A recap of the most important lessons I learned from my 1st NHL training camp. From talking to Coach Potenza, this is stuff that we agree all coaches AND players should know.
Video: 10-Rep Cluster Bench Press from Sean Skahan Clusters are a great way to build strength. Cool video from Coach Skahan.
Video: Rear Foot Elevated Jump from Michael Boyle A single-leg plyo exercise from Coach Boyle. This would be a great one to use in conjunction with a back leg raised split squat if you’re into pairing strength and power exercises.
This is the 3rd phase of our off-season hockey training programs at Endeavor. I’ve now posted 12 weeks of the EXACT programs we use to develop our elite level hockey players at HockeySC.com!
Working with pro athletes has made Mike a master of variation. These videos include several great hip training exercises to help prevent some of the common hip flexor and groin strains we all see so much of.
As always, the forum has been hopping with great questions and contributions from people like Mike Boyle, Brijesh Patel, and Maria Mountain. You can get access to all this information for only $1!
I’m not sure how long this will last, but as of today, you can get access to all of these articles, programs, and videos, for only a $1! Click the link below for more information about Hockey Strength and Conditioning!
To your continued success,
Kevin Neeld
No One Conditions Alone
I’m in the process of writing an article for Hockey Strength and Conditioning on my experience helping with the San Jose Sharks prospect camp a few weeks back and I wanted to share a modified excerpt with you.
Mike’s intern Marcello, after coaching for a few hours (aka not at all warmed up or training) hopped in with one of the Sharks to do a brutal conditioning session on the treadmill. Why suffer the anguish? Conditioning alone sucks. Actually, conditioning sucks. Conditioning alone just sucks worse. It’s a huge help to have someone going through the grind with you.
Since returning, I’ve implemented a No One Conditions Alone policy at Endeavor. Coming back to Potenza’s incredible ability to lead by example, I didn’t tell anyone it was our policy; I just started conditioning with people who ended up having to condition on their own (we have to audible on our conditioning strategies for some of our athletes based on weekend tournaments and injuries). The first time I hopped in to do shuttles with someone, I got a thank you email. Our athletes noticed. Our staff noticed.
Just the other day, as luck would have it, one of our hockey players had to go through this brutal isohold->slideboard series 6x through, all with a 12 lb vest (the highest volume we go with this).
He was alone. I hopped in. Fellow coach David Lasnier hopped in. One of our interns hopped in.
Most recently, David and I trained together through a torturous circuit (4x through 50 yard sled march, 50 yard farmers walk, 20 sec squat hold, 20 kettlebell swings, 50 yard overhead keg walk, 20 sec front plank), after which I was only pretty sure that neither of us would throw up or pass out. I was in my dark place bad.
Quick side note. “Dark place” refers to that state of being where:
1) You can hear yourself breathing from the inside of your head
2) You can hear other people talking, but it sounds more likely someone narrating your life than someone actually speaking to you
3) You’re EXTREMELY fatigued. When I was in high school, I was so tired one morning (back to back practices with off-ice in between) that I got half way through my bowl of cereal before I realized I had poured orange juice on it. That is extreme fatigue.
After I got a drink from our fountain, I turned around to see one of our interns doing shuttle runs by himself. Damn it. I limped over to the track and immediately jumped in with him. As I returned back to the beginning of our track from the 1st lap on our shuttles I saw David walking over to one of our stationary bikes, where he sat down and finished a conditioning session with one of our other interns.
I try to encourage a team atmosphere at Endeavor. It’s important to me that our athletes know they aren’t being barked at by someone with a loud voice, but no work ethic. It’s important they know that our staff and everyone they’re training with are in it for the same goal: to make them succeed.
There are two major take homes from this “experiment”:
1) Lead by example. I didn’t have to say much before all of our coaches and interns were hopping in to condition with athletes or race them during sprints if they needed an extra push. I just did it.
2) Go through the grind together. Athletes have a lot more respect for coaches that put their blood lactate where their mouth is (not my best metaphor).
To your continued success,
Kevin Neeld
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