I wanted to kick things off today by saying thank you to everyone that has invested in my new book Ultimate Hockey Training. I’m truly humbled by the level of interest the book has received from a worldwide audience (I even got a request from someone from Australia!). As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I wrote the book for you based on the questions I receive from you most often, and additional information that I felt was prudent for the hockey community to be aware of.
I also wanted to extend a sincere thank you to my colleagues, many of which I consider friends and/or mentors, in the strength and conditioning industry that have helped spread the word about the book launch. I’m honored that Mike Boyle, Charlie Weingroff, Maria Mountain, Tony Gentilcore, Jeff Cubos, Brian St. Pierre, David Lasnier, and Ben Bruno all took time to mention Ultimate Hockey Training on their sites and that people like Anthony Renna, Perry Nickelston, Joe Dowdell, and Jaime Rodriguez have all posted things on Facebook or Twitter. I appreciate the help guys!
In case you missed it yesterday, I also posted the link for you to watch the third (and final) video in the Ultimate Hockey Training series for absolutely free-no registration required at all. Click here to check it out: Complete Hockey Training System
For today’s Q&A, I want to address some of the other most common questions I’ve gotten over the last week. If you have questions that aren’t mentioned here, post them in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you ASAP!
1) Is Ultimate Hockey Training right for me?
Whenever a new product comes out, there are some people that are on the fence about whether or not it’s “right” for them. Yesterday’s post (which you can find here: Ultimate Hockey Training: The Story) exposed, if you will, the reason why I wrote the book in the first place and the justification for the price point of the product (I actually got an email from a potential buyer asking if he read something wrong! “Am I missing something? Is everything really only…”). My hope was that the post cleared up some of the “is it right for me” questions that you may have had.
To dig a little deeper, it’s fair to mention that the book does cover some pretty “scientific” topics that may catch readers coming from strictly a hockey background by surprise. If you’ve read my site regularly for the last couple years, you’ll already appreciate the importance of some of these topics. Ultimate Hockey Training discusses common, but complex hockey injuries such as chronic groin and hip flexor strains, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), sports hernias, etc. On this topic, mechanisms of injury and preventative and restorative strategies are addressed. Ultimate Hockey Training also has a lot of detail on how the nervous system influences specific physical qualities, such as speed, power, strength, and conditioning. The nervous system is integral in driving/controlling all movement, so I think it’s imperative to identify how to manipulate the system for the development of desirable qualities.
While these topics might be a little over the head of readers without an exercise science background, I don’t think it prohibits them from using the information. The book is PACKED with practical applications. For those of you curious as to what other topics are covered, take a quick glimpse at the table of contents:
Chapter 1: Understanding The Process
Chapter 2: The Hockey Training Revolution
Chapter 3: Lifelong Hockey Development
Chapter 4: Discovering Hockey Function
Chapter 5: Unlocking Functional Movement With Self-Myofascial Release
Chapter 6: Innovative Dynamic Warm-Ups
Chapter 7: Breakaway Hockey Speed
Chapter 8: Creating Strength And Power Through Neural Manipulation
Chapter 9: The Case For Unilateral Training
Chapter 10: Strength And Power Training For Hockey
Chapter 11: Functional Core Training
Chapter 12: A New Look At Hockey Conditioning
Chapter 13: The Truth About Stretching
Chapter 14: Special Topics In Injury Prevention
Chapter 15: Year-Round Training Considerations
Chapter 16: Conclusion
Hopefully you scan that list and think “There’s nothing left. He covered it all!” That was certainly my intention!
2) Do you cover nutrition?
Brian St. Pierre added a brilliantly written hockey-specific nutrition manual “Ultimate Hockey Nutrition” that is available for purchase to Ultimate Hockey Training customers. For those of you that don’t know Brian, he’s been my go-to nutrition guy for the last five years. Not only does he have a lot of experience working with hockey players at all levels, but he actually played through juniors. I don’t many nutritionists that can “skate the skate”, so to speak. Ultimate Hockey Nutrition is great because it’s written with practical applications in mind. He even included different meal plans for high school, junior and college players (each) for before practice, games, and both home and road tournaments.
Proper Nutrition: The most recognized and least practiced component of hockey performance!
It’s truly a “player’s resource” in that it provides answers to ALL of the nutrition and supplement questions that Brian and I have gotten from hockey players over the last several years.
3) Have the things in this book been “tested”?
Absolutely. I remember hearing someone say years ago that the coolest thing about visiting Mike Boyle’s facility was that everything he talks about, he actually does. As I mentioned, the book covers some of the scientific rationale behind why I design programs the way I do because I think that’s important. In the interest of “sexier marketing”, you’ll often see people clutch on to the latest gimmick and pitch it as a cure-all.
This may sell, but this kid isn’t coming out of the corner with many pucks!
I don’t have time for that. Everything we do at Endeavor is backed by a solid scientific rationale. And everything I wrote about in Ultimate Hockey Training has been tested in our facility. If it looks good on paper, but isn’t practical, then it won’t work. My understanding is that most people aren’t interested in things that don’t work!
4) Is mental preparation covered at all?
Actually, the mental side of things is the one area that I didn’t touch on. Mental training could be an entire book in itself (it is; see Hockey Tough by Saul Miller). That said, I think neglecting mental preparation is a huge mistake and is FREQUENTLY the limiting factor in an individual’s and team’s performance. In order to fill the gap, I reached out to my friend Kim McCullough, who is very knowledgeable in this area, and she put together a terrific manual called “How to Think Like a Player” that is a FREE bonus for anyone that buys the book. I also have bonuses from Sean Skahan, David Lasnier, Eric Cressey, Maria Mountain, Rick Kaselj, and Charlie Weingroff. When I said yesterday that each one of the bonuses would be worth the listed book price, I wasn’t kidding!
That’s a wrap for today! Hopefully that answers any questions you still had. If not, please post them down below and I’ll get back to you immediately.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
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