Jan

30

Random Friday Thoughts

Filed Under Athletic Development, Must-Have Resources, Off-Ice Hockey Training | Leave a Comment

I love video.  I’d rather watch a movie then read a book. I’d rather watch an exercise video than read a description and I’d rather watch a presentation than listen to it.  Video is already beginning to dominate the athletic development industry as coaches see its value in teaching exercises.  

  1. Brijesh Patel took it up a notch when he built the exercise database at Holy Cross’s website so that athletes could have access to the countless exercise videos there.  I’ve spent hours watching all the variations he and Jeff Oliver have come up with over the years.  Since then, Brijesh has helped develop myfittube.com, a revolutionary website with the industry’s best providing exercise videos, teaching demonstrations, etc.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, go now.  It’s arguably the internet’s best strength and conditioning teaching tool. 
  2. Nothing breeds success like hard work.  Nothing, except maybe hard work paired with motivational speeches…and spandex.  If every athlete had the die-hard mentality of a rower, sports would be a lot more entertaining and more young athletes realize their true potential.  A video to bring this randomness together:

  3. This exercise makes me feel good, every time.

  4. This doesn’t, but it’s great for breaking up tension in the glutes and hip external rotators (typically tight in hockey players).

  5. Yoga has some validity in sports performance training.  While I don’t look at yoga as training in itself (it will not make you significantly stronger; it will not help you lose weight; and it will not give you long lean muscles), certain yoga routines can improve function range of motion about the hips and shoulders.  More on this to come in future posts.
  6. 100 rep time tests are brutal.  Due to snow, my gym was closed on Wednesday, so I had to do a make-shift workout.  100 chin-ups as fast as possible.  Followed by 100 push-ups as fast as possible.  These are the types of workouts everyone should try once (assuming it won’t cripple you permanently).  My 100 rep chin-up time was 18 mins 20 secs; my 100 rep push-up time was 6 mins 13 secs.  If you try this, feel free to post your results below.

That’s it for today.  Tomorrow I leave for a road trip to coach a couple games against the University of Rhode Island so you may not hear from me until next week.  

Keep working hard.

Jan

29

The Secret Behind Hockey Success?

Filed Under Athletic Development, Off-Ice Hockey Training | Leave a Comment

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of visiting Brijesh Patel, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Quinnipiac.  Brijesh primarily works with the mens and womens hockey and basketball teams there.  We spent about 7 hours picking each others’ brains about everything from groin and hip flexor injuries to speed training to program design.

I probably took home about a dozen exercises, coaching cues, and program design techniques that I’ll start mixing into my programs, but there was one thing we talked about that stood out above everything else:

The difference between a championship team and every other team is the collective ability of each player to sacrifice personal agendas for the betterment of the team and outwork their opponents every second of every shift.

It may seem counterintuitive that two strength coaches would agree that the secret to on-ice success is almost entirely mental, but it’s true.  Commitment to something greater than yourself will always beat out raw athletic ability.  This means:

  1. Skating the hardest when you’re the most tired
  2. Blocking shots at every opportunit
  3. Diving for loose pucks
  4. Winning races to loose puck
  5. Winning battles in the corner
  6. Staying focused on positioning
  7. Adjusting your play based on the performance of your linemates
  8. Giving criticism in a way that is helpful and boosts self-esteem
  9. Accepting criticism from others

Whether it’s off-ice training, practice, or a game, the mentality has to be that you’ll do whatever it takes to take your game, and your teams performance to the next level.  The best training program, practice structures, and game systems in the world won’t overcome a lack of team determination: the inability to accept defeat as an option.

Ask yourself before every off-ice session, practice, and game, “Am I willing to give everything I have?”
Ask yourself after every off-ice session, practice, and game, “Did I give everything I have?”

Until you can say yes to both of these questions, you shouldn’t be worried about off-ice or on-ice practice drills, line combinations, or your coaches.

The prerequisite to success is 100% effort.

Jan

27

Off-Ice Hockey Speed Training

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Yesterday I mentioned that, on the ice during a game, top speed isn’t reached or maintained for long.  Having said that, it is still important to understand that many of the direction changes in hockey occur at near-top speeds.  Also, many all out sprints start from a glide or light skate, and involve varying foot/leg positions.  

Your off-ice training should reflect this.  Try incorporating these three things to improve the quality of your hockey speed training:

  1. Include longer range accelerations (20-30 yards) with a quick deceleration and direction change (similar to a pattern a wide receiver may run).  
  2. Include agility circuits that start with a speed build-up.  This allows the athlete to practice accelerating from a moving position, which is usually the way it happens on the ice. 
  3. Vary starting and transition movements to include lateral steps, crossover steps, and pivots.

Keep working hard…

Jan

26

Hockey-Specific Speed Training

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Is this hard to believe?

World records in under 100m events continue to be broken regularly by, literally, the fastest people in the history of the world.  It would only be logical then, to think:

If the fastest people in the world are training one way, I should also train that way to become fast.

It makes sense on paper, but it doesn’t make sense on the ice.  The bottom line is that track athletes are training to be fast on the track, in a set distance, in reaction to a set stimulus.  

Hockey players are no so fortunate.  They must be able to accelerate very quickly in response to a consistently changing environment, and they must decelerate just as quickly to change the direction of their skating.  Hockey rarely involves straight-line skating for any significant distance, rarely involves reaching top speed before having to change direction and frequently involves accelerating from a moving start.  Think about these things.

How is your speed training reflecting the demands of the game?  Are you incorporating direction changes at both slow and high speeds?  Are you incorporating sprints from a moving start?  Are you incorporating rapid decelerations from various speeds, followed by direction changes?

Take a look at your off ice training program and see how it fits your on ice demands…

Jan

24

Fat Loss Program-End of Week 3

Filed Under Fat Loss Training | 1 Comment

What a week!  My schedule was a little more sporadic so my structured program got broken up a bit, but I still got everything in.  I moved my “refeed day” from Monday to Thursday.  It felt like my birthday.  Pizza, ice cream, huge steak dinner.  Despite breaking my scale at home (it still insists that I’m above 330 lbs…), I was able to get an accurate weigh in pre- and post-refeed day.  I weighed in at 166.5 before, which is down 14 pounds in just under three weeks WITHOUT ANY CONDITIONING.  Not to dwell on that point, but if you’re like me and hate “aerobic” training, there’s still hope for you if you want to lose fat/weight.  Moving on…The next morning I weighed in at 171.5.  I expected to put on around 5 pounds since I loaded up on carbs.  I imagine that weight will quickly disappear again.  Sticking with the restricted calorie diet hasn’t been too bad, surprisingly.  It’s just been a transition from 5-egg omelets to 2-egg omelets and 3/4 lbs of ground turkey to 1/4 pound of ground turkey per meal. Same delicious foods, just in smaller amounts.

My training has definitely taken a hit though.  It’s hard to bring a high energy into the gym when you haven’t given your body the fuel to do so.  Nonetheless, I’ve been able to push through.  I’ll stop rambling.  Training program below…

Jan 18, 2009 169.5 Mid-Day Weigh-In

Jan 19, 2009
A1) Hang Clean: 135 x 5;  175 x 4 sets of 2
A2) DB Row: 70DB x 3; 95DB x 4 sets of 2
B1) Deadlift: 225 x 5; 315 x 10 sets of 3
B2) 1-Leg Glute Bridge Hold: 4 x 20s each
C1) BLR SS Iso-Hold: 2 x 40 DB 4 x 30s each
C2) SB Hamstring Curl: 4 x 12

Jan 20, 2009
A1) Bench Press: 135 x 8; 185 x 5; 225 x 3; 245 x 4 sets of  3
A2) Scap Wall Slides (Facing Wall): 4 x 10
B1) Chin-Up: BW x 5; BW+55 x 4; BW+60 x 4; BW+55 x 4; BW+55 x 3.5+Help
B2) Incline DB Triceps Extension-to-Close Grip Press: 2 x 45DB 2 x 8; 2 x 40DB 2 x 8
15 min low-intensity bike ride

Jan 21, 2009
A1) Standing Pallof Iso-Hold from High Pulley w/ Rope: 50lbs 3 x 30s each
A2) Face Pull w/ External Rotation: 110 x 8; 120 x 8; 130 x 8
B1) Hang Clean: 135 x 10 sets of 2; 165 x 1; 175 x 1
C1) Overhead Barbell Hold: 135 x 10s; 185 x 10s; 205 x 10s; 225 x 2 x 10s; 185 x 10s

Jan 22, 2009  Mid-Day Weigh-In: 166.5 lbs
Indoor Rock Climbing!

Jan 23, 2009 Early Morning Weigh-In: 171.5lbs
A1) Back Squat: 135 x 8; 225 x 4; 275 x 2; 315 x 2; 345 x 2
A2) Front Plank: 3 x 60s
B1) DB Reverse Lunge: Alternating 2 x 60DB 3 x 10 each
B2) DB Swing: 1 x 20DB 3 x 12
B3) SB Hamstring Curl: 3 x 15s each
B4) 1-Leg Squat: 3 x 10 each

Jan 24, 2009
A1) Push-Press: 115 x 4; 135 x 4; 145 x 2; 155 x 2; 165 x 2; 135 x 4
A2) Blackburn Hold (I, Y, T): 1 x 30s each
B1) 1-Arm DB Row: 75lb DB, 4 x 8 each
B2) Standing Cable Chop: 50lbs 4 x 8 each
B3) DB Hang Clean-to-Curl Eccentric: 2 x 35DB 4 x 8
B4) Stability Ball Push-Up: 4 x 10
B5) Bird Dog: 4 x 6 each

Jan

23

The Truth About Deep Squatting!

Filed Under Athletic Development, Hip/Lower Abdominal Injuries | 1 Comment

About a month ago, my article “Battling Anatomy: Implications for Effective Squatting“, was published at SBCoachesCollege.com, a website I couldn’t ’say enough good things about.

The other day I received an excellent question from Jason Price, Founder and CEO of Athletes Equation.

“Hello Kevin,
I read you article on SB Coaches College today and really found it informative and enjoyed it very much.  I did have a few questions after reading that I was hoping you could provide me with some further information or clarification.  What I have noticed with many of the youth athletes that I am training is that their hip mobility is terrible. I too have utilized the “touch and go” method to control how much depth they can attain until they have improved their mobility.  I have found this to be a fantastic method for most athletes.  But, I was thinking after reading your article about athletes which are dependent of being in the deep squat position in their sport.  I train several weightlifters and one of them still suffers from a very similar condition as the individual in your videos.  I am wondering what suggestions you would have for me in coaching this individual.  In the sport of weightlifting as I am sure you are aware you must get into the deep squat position to effectively clean and snatch significant weight.  My athlete does not have the significant discrepancy one side to the other.  But, he does have the tuck under at the bottom of the deep squat position.  So how can I effectively train him to receive the barbell deep in the squat with this technical flaw without placing him in this potentially hazardous position?  Should he not squat deep? Do you know of any methods outside of orthopedic evaluation for anatomical abnormalities?
 
Again, fantastic article i really enjoyed it and felt you gave many of the readers an alternative viewpoint as to why some of these technical breakdowns happen.  I appreciate your time and any response.”

My immediate thought is to first consider that everyone is not built for deep squatting.  Despite the increasing usage of pictures of babies in a deep squat position as evidence for this ability, the hip joint and associated ligaments change as a natural/circumstantial part of development, that may result in a range of motion (ROM) limitation in some people.  Having said that, it’s always better to assess than guess.

With regards to the lifter in the article video, the side-to-side discrepancy simply indicates that only one of his hips, the right one, lacks full ROM.  In his case, I was able to recommend he see a hip specialist because he had multiple signs of CAM impingement.  Notably, he lacked internal rotation ROM on the right side compared to the left and flexion/adduction on the right side was extremely painful.  

Getting more to your question about the bilateral hip tuck, the first thing you could try is to coach him to push his knees out while he’s going down and to keep his knees out while driving up.  This opens up the hips to allow for maximal hip flexion while avoiding bony contact between the trochanters of the femur and the “spines” of the hip bone.  Mark Rippetoe wrote a great article called “You Don’t Know Squat without an “Active Hip”” about this topic.  

If that doesn’t clear things up, there is a pretty straight forward assessment you can use to see whether this is a soft tissue restriction or a joint anatomy restriction.  A few months ago I had the pleasure of talking to Shirley Sahrmann about this issue.  She recommended using quadruped rocking to assess their ROM.

Quadruped rocking involves putting the lifter in a quadruped position, with their knees under their hips, top of their feet flat against the floor, and hands under their shoulders.  The lifter should set up in a neutral lumbar spine position, then use their arms to push their hips back (pushing into hip flexion) so as to sit on their heels, while MAINTAINING the neutral lumbar position.  Note the angle that the hips begin to tuck.  Stop them there, have them return to the starting position and try again.  Dr. Sahrmann basically said that 8-10 repetitions of this should improve their hip ROM.  If it doesn’t, their hip joint anatomy doesn’t allow  for it and never will.  Any attempt to push beyond this point will lead to lumbar flexion, and invariably some sort of back pain.  

I’ve found this assessment to be incredibly useful.  In less than 30 seconds I’m able to see what kind of hip flexion ROM someone has.  If their hips start to tuck at 90 degrees every time, and it doesn’t improve with more repetitions, I know that’s the extent of their ROM and stop them at that point during all exercises (squats, lunges, etc.).  Depending on the severity of the restriction, this may also mean that they can’t perform a deadlift off the floor, in which case I’d move them to a rack pull from a height slightly above their end range.

Ask your athlete where they feel the restriction while quadruped rocking.  If they feel like they’re tight on the back side, some mobility work may clear that up, but it’s also likely that quadruped rocking will clear that up.  If they feel restricted in the front or any type of grinding in or around their “groin” area, it’s likely a hip joint limitation.  I don’t recommend forcing lifters through positions their hip joints don’t allow for.  That is, unless they’re looking for low back pain and a hip labral tear.  Hope this helps.

Jan

22

Your Legs Are NOT Strong Enough!

Filed Under Athletic Development, Off-Ice Hockey Training | Leave a Comment

“Why don’t you lift legs?”

“My legs are already big enough.  I don’t want them to get any bigger.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a conversation with hockey players that started just like this.  

First off, in probably 97% of cases, their legs aren’t big enough.  B: Something tells me they would be a lot more concerned with training their legs if it got them recognition from members of the opposite sex.  You might here a “did you see how big his bis were??”.  But you will almost certainly not here a “He had a really well developed vastus medialis!”  Not to mention, the classic “How strong are you?” is always pitched as “How much can you bench?”  The result: An overemphasis on upper body training, usually in the form of an unnecessary body part isolation program.  

There’s one important training fact that every hockey player should know.

For any given muscle size, there is a WIDE range of possible strength.     

The complexities of the nervous system make this possible.  The force producing capability (read: strength) of a muscle varies depending on the neural drive (in simple terms: how strong the signal is from the brain to the muscle), and the inhibitory signals (in simple terms: things that would decrease the strength of the signal to the muscle) going to the muscle.  Strength training isn’t just about getting bigger.  Strengthening certain functional patterns (deadlift, lunge, etc.) will maximize the excitatory signals to your muscles, and teach your body to minimize the inhibitory signals to your muscle.  The outcome: stronger muscles and improved performance.

Taken from a heavy lower body day early this year.  The training I did up to this 435 deadlift got me a lot stronger, but not noticeably bigger.  

 

Last Monday I deadlifted 455…at an ever lower body weight than in the video.  Not impressive for those in the weight lifting community, but probably unheard of for most in the hockey community.  While I don’t think it’s necessary for hockey players to train like power lifters, I do think it’s time we changed what our view of “strong” is.    

The take home: Your legs may be big, but they aren’t STRONG enough.  

Keep working hard… 

Jan

21

Life Lesson from Obama

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I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t follow politics as closely as I probably should.  Yesterday I made it a point to take an hour to watch some of the Inauguration festivities, including President Obama’s speech.  One of the recurring themes I noticed throughout his speech was that we need to start doing a better job of looking out for each other.  In other words, increase our sense of community, not just within the United States, but with all humanity, within the world.

On a personal note, I made a decision at the end of December, that I was going to donate as much as 5% of my income to some form of charity.  I asked what I refer to as my extended family (family and close friends) if they had any suggestions on where to look.  Of the many causes recommended to me, there were two that really stuck out.  

  1. AlternativeGifts.org
  2. SaveTheChildren.org

They both allow you to choose different areas within or outside of the country to donate to and AlternativeGifts.org allows you to donate to specific causes (e.g. New Water Wells for Nomadic People in Africa), which I thought was pretty cool.  

I understand that the current economy may make it tough to think about GIVING away money.  While I still think it’s worth finding a way to do, I recognize that you may not be so easily convinced.  With that in mind, here are three self-serving reasons to donate money to a charity:

  1. It’s tax deductible, meaning you can deduct any donations from your yearly income.  You’ll want to check with your accountant about the best way to document this.
  2. Every self-made millionaire whose work I’ve read or that I’ve had the opportunity to talk or listen to has said that the more money you give away/donate, the more income you make.  Yes, in that order.  Brian Tracy refers to this as the Law of Reciprocity.  
  3. You feel good about yourself.  It’s easy to tell people that you’re donating because you belief in support a particular cause.  In reality, I think most people donate because it makes them feel better about themselves.  I’m no exception. It felt great to donate at SaveTheChildren.org!  The motivation doesn’t really matter; it’s the outcome that is most important.

Could you live off 99% of your current income?  If you can, consider taking 1% of your next paycheck and donating it to a cause of your choice.  You may find it comes back to you in unexpected ways.

Back to hockey tomorrow…

Jan

20

4 Hockey-Specific Mobility Exercises

Filed Under Athletic Development, Off-Ice Hockey Training | Leave a Comment

I played hockey for 15 years before I made the transition into coaching.  Throughout that time I rarely played other sports.  Soccer for a few years when I was very young.  Baseball for a season.  But that was about it.  Last night I went bowling for the first time in a while.  A huge fan of the Big Lebowski, I thought I could add bowling into my repertoire.  If the dude can throw strikes a couple white russians deep, why can’t I?  Last night I found out might logic might be somewhat flawed.  Needless to say, it was basically a 2 hour reminder of why I stuck with hockey my whole life.  

Getting back to dynamic warm-ups…Yesterday I showed you a sample dynamic warm-up that hit all the essentials, but included a lot of common/well-known exercises.  Today I just want to show you a few mobility drills that can be included into any dynamic warm-up routine that really focus on areas typically restricted in hockey players.

It’s far from ideal, but if you’re crunched for time, performing these 4 exercises will give you a decent warm-up before you start your training.  As always, feel free to post comments below or email me directly.  

 Rectus Femoris Mobilization
 

Adductor Mobilization with External Rotation

 
Lying Internal Rotation Mobilization

 
Hockey Stick Dislocations

Jan

19

Hockey Dynamic Warm-Ups Continued

Filed Under Athletic Development, Off-Ice Hockey Training | Leave a Comment

After 18 hours of weeping following an embarrassing Eagles performance, I’m ready to get back to talking hockey. Last week I started talking about the importance of setting up a well-designed dynamic warm-up before every training session, practice, and game. Let’s take a deeper look into that area.

When I put together a warm-up, I always try to:

  1. Take the hips through a full range of motion
  2. Incorporate something to activate the psoas, hip abductors, and hip external rotators
  3. Take the shoulders through a full range of motion
  4. Incorporate something to activate the scapular/shoulder stabilizers (specifically, the serratus anterior and lower trapezius)
  5. Incorporate movements to put a slight stretch on the hip flexors and glutes
  6. Incorporate forward, backward, lateral, and diagonal movements
  7. Incorporate something to activate the “core” musculature, including the glutes and abdominals
  8. Keep the warm-up around 10 minutes

That may seem like a lot, but many of those things can be accomplished simultaneously.  Here’s an example of a program I’ve used with high school and college players (of both genders for the female hockey crowd out there):

  1. Walking Knee Hug with High-Knee Hold
  2. Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach
  3. Inchworm
  4. Walking Inverted Reach
  5. Diagonal Walking Lunge
  6. Butt Kickers
  7. High Knees
  8. Side Shuffle RIght
  9. Side Shuffle Left
  10. Carioca Right (Quick feet emphasis) 
  11. Carioca Left (Quick feet emphasis)
  12. Carioca Right (Long stride emphasis)
  13. Carioca Left (Long stride emphasis)
  14. Straight-Legged March
  15. 50% Sprint from Push-Up Start
  16. Back Pedal
  17. 75% Sprint from Push-Up Start
  18. Back Pedal

I hope that all makes sense.  Tomorrow I’ll post a couple less familiar dynamic warm-up exercises that I think all hockey players would benefit from performing regularly.  In the meantime, feel free to post any comments or questions you may have or email me directly at kn@kevinneeld.com.

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