Month: April 2009

Hockey-Specific Jump Training

I think jump training is an effective way to improve lower body power development, and the ability to decelerate. Jump training gets a lot of emphasis because of the importance of maximizing force output while transitioning from a deceleration- to acceleration-based movement, or eccentric (muscle lengthening) to concentric (muscle shortening) contraction. This happens anytime you precede a jump with a quick dip: you’re eccentrically contracting your quads and glutes while decelerating your fall, then transitioning into an upward acceleration by concentrically contracting your quads and glutes.

While this comes into place during changes of direction on the ice, it isn’t a big factor in the regular skating stride. Also, because many of the changes of direction are done at such a high speed, a greater amount of force reduction is needed than in a common vertical or broad jump. In other words, it takes more force and more time to complete the direction change than a normal vertical jump.

This leads me into my new favorite jumping exercise. Stay tuned…

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The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual

Hockey Goalie-Specific Training

The needs of an ice hockey goalie are very specific. They need to:

· Be exceptionally powerful through the hips, especially in lateral and diagonal movements

· Be quick through the upper body, notably in independent arm actions

· Maintain a large amount of joint range of motion

· Be able to maintain a squat-like position for extended periods of time

On the surface, many of these qualities seem similar to other players. However, relatively speaking, the demands of players are more continuous. Goalies are usually required to move explosively, then rest, move explosively, then rest. Even when they’re extremely active, they aren’t usually required to repetitively move explosively in continuous actions. In other words, explosive lateral movements are usually followed by periods of maintaining a squat position or by a whistle (complete rest).

In the next couple days, I’ll go into more detail on hockey-specific jump training and goalie-specific conditioning.

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Athletic Development vs. Strength and Conditioning

I recently started training a very talented goalie, with high aspirations. Her goal is to prepare herself physically to tryout for the Olympics.

With this in mind, I think I should point out that I, as an athletic development coach, do not have any illusions of off-ice training making anyone Olympic-worthy. On-ice talent is by far the most important thing, for goalies and players. Having said that, within any given talent range, maximizing your athletic potential will certainly help you stand out on the ice.

I’m reminded of something Brijesh Patel said to me when I visited him at Quinnipiac a couple months ago. He just started this year at Quinnipiac, so I was interested in how he addressed a large new group of athletes. That conversation lasted about an hour, but one thing he said really stuck out: He told his athletes that he had no intention of making them better hockey or basketball players, but that his job was to make them better athletes.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s one of the reasons I prefer the label “Athletic Development Coach” instead of “Strength and Conditioning Coach”.

Athletic development encompasses qualities other than being strong and in good shape, notably movement quality, which is essential in all sports.

Keep checking back. I’m going to spend some time on training goalies as I think athletic requirements between goalies and other hockey players are often overlooked.

– Kevin Neeld

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The Knee Pain Program

The main areas this program was meant to address are:

1) Improving soft-tissue quality of the muscles in the hip and thigh

2) Improving ankle range of motion

3) Strengthening the hip external rotators and abductors

4) Using isometrics (and one dynamic exercise-the reverse lunge) to strengthen the lower body

Foam Roll Circuit: Anterolateral Hip, Quads, Lateral Thigh

1 x 30s each position on each side

Lacrosse Ball Circuit: Lateral Glute, Posterior Glute

1 x 30s each position on each side

3-Way Ankle Mobility

1 x 5 each position on each side


A1) Side Lying Hip Abduction/External Rotation Hold

Week 1: 3 x 20s hold each

Week 2: 3 x 25s hold each

Week 3: 3 x 30s hold

A2) Split Squat Iso-Hold w/ Toe Pull

Week 1: 3 x 25s each

Week 2: 3 x 30s each

Week 3: 3 x 35s each

B1) Close Stance Glute Bridge Hold w/ MiniBand

Week 1: 3 x 20s hold

Week 2: 3 x 30s hold

Week 3: 3 x 40s Hold

B2) 3-Way Squat Circuit: Knees Out, Hands Behind Head, Hands Overhead

Week 1: 3 x 10s each

Week 2: 4 x 10s each

Week 3: 4 x 10s each

C1) Lateral MiniBand Walk

Week 1: 3 x 6 steps each

Week 2: 3 x 8 each

Week 3: 3 x 10 each

C2) Reverse Lunge

Week 1: 3 x 8 each

Week 2: 3 x 8 each

Week 3: 3 x 8 each

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The Problem with Physical Therapy

Those of you that know me personally know that I hold physical therapists in a very high regard. I’m fascinated by the education they receive. They truly are the only profession that is taught how we move, and expected to be able to apply their knowledge in a way to manipulate human movement in the interest of health.

Unfortunately, recently I’ve been hearing from several people that have gone to multiple physical therapists with no luck. I don’t want to throw physical therapists under the bus, but it’s frustrating when I ask people what they did at physical therapy and the answer comes back “Ice, stim, and stretches” every time. Stretching I’m okay with. Ice and stim treat symptoms, not causes.

If these modalities don’t provide long-term results, then why do PTs use them? Simple. Insurance! PTs are given a very limited number of visits to make someone feel better. Ice and stim reduce pain rapidly, so people feel better. The underlying problem is likely still lingering (unless a little rest was really all someone needed), but they feel better, which is pretty important.

But there needs to be a happy medium. Something between treating symptoms and treating the cause. Of course, the best way to treat an injury is to avoid it altogether. I’ve spent countless hours reading physical therapy texts to try to improve my understanding of human movement for just that reason. If you can spot movement abnormalities before people get hurt, you can probably save them the hassles of rehabilitation.

My next post will have the program I put together for the girl with patellofemoral syndrome and chondromalacia. Stay tuned!

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