Kevin Neeld — Hockey Training, Sports Performance, & Sports Science

5-Day Body Weight Muscle Building Challenge

Last week I assessed one of the junior players I’ve trained for the last 4 years at Endeavor. He came in to get his assessment taken care of, but then pointed out that he basically had a week before 3-days of tryouts and will be leaving immediately after to go to Mexico for a week, for what I can only assume will be a week of structured training and protein shakes.

Mexico Beach

Not a bad way to kick off the off-season!

The tryout doesn’t mean much for this player as he was on the team last year and isn’t at risk for not making the team, so going in a little (a lot) sore isn’t an issue. With that in mind, and in recognition of the reality that he’ll be spending the following week relaxing, I put together a simple body weight workout for him to do at home everyday to jumpstart the muscle building process, and develop a little work capacity. I don’t typically do things like this because we have much more equipment and opportunity for more specific training methods at our facility, but I wanted to share this with you because I think it’s a fun way to challenge yourself at home without much equipment, which suits the needs of most youth players well. In order to do it as it stands, you should be able to do 8-12 chin-ups in a row with perfect form and 15-20 push-ups. If you can’t, cut the chin-up and push-up numbers in half and start there.

The Muscle Building Challenge

  1. Split Squat Hold: 4 x Failure w/ 1:1 Work:Rest Ratio Between Legs and Sets (Document your times)
  2. Squat 5 x 50 w/ 1:1 Work:Rest Ratio (Document times)
  3. 50 Chin-Up Challenge (As Fast as possible; document your time)
  4. 100 Push-Up Challenge (As Fast as possible; document your time)

The goal is to perform this circuit everyday for 5 days. If you’re looking for a fun way to jumpstart your off-season training and haven’t been able to get into a training facility yet, give this a shot, and share your times with us either below or at the Ultimate Hockey Training Facebook Page!

If you’re looking for more information on hockey-specific training programs, be sure to check out Ultimate Hockey Training, which covers year-round training principles for players at all ages!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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Kevin Neeld

Kevin Neeld Knows Hockey

Kevin has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of physical preparation and sports science for ice hockey. He is currently the Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins, where he oversees all aspects of designing and implementing the team’s performance training program, as well as monitoring the players’ performance, workload and recovery. Prior to Boston, Kevin spent 2 years as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks after serving as the Director of Performance at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. He also spent 5 years as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, and has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the NHL, NSCA, and USA Hockey.