Feb

4

Knee Injury: From Surgery to Hockey Training

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Part 3 of the return to normal in-season hockey training following knee surgery…

If you missed the first two posts, check them out below:

Training Hockey Players with Knee Injuries

Hockey Training with a Knee Injury

Following the first 4 weeks of training (described in the previous two posts), the player visited Shattuck St. Mary’s so he missed a week of training. When he returned, he said he’d been doing loaded, full range of motion exercises on both legs at physical therapy. His brace had been removed and he was cleared to do normal full range of motion movements, just not jump or sprint work.

I was told he had two more weeks of physical therapy, then he’d probably need another month before he’s able to return to full speed running, cutting, jumping, and skating.

Phase 3 (Weeks 5-7): Upper Body/Non-Operative Leg (Heavy)/Operative Leg (Light)
Program Goals:

  • Improve upper body strength and power
  • Improve core strength and power
  • Improve strength/coordination of the non-operative leg/hip
  • Improve single-leg stability on operative knee while minimizing compression
  • Make him work hard so he still “feels” like an athlete
  • Use exercises that won’t piss off PT or surgeon

A sample training session would look like:

A1) 1-Leg Squat: 4 x 12/side
A2) DB Incline Chest Press: 3 x 8
A3) 4-Way Stability Ball Front Plank: 3 x (3×4)/side
A4) Scap Wall Slide: 3 x 8
B1) 1-Arm DB Row: 3 x 8/side
B2) Split Squat (Front foot on BOSU): 3 x 8/side
B3) Rice Digs: 3 x 60s
C) Lying Partner Multi-Planar Hamstring Stretch

The  major changes in this program were the addition of single-leg exercises (A1 and B2) performed on BOTH legs. He told me his balance was terrible since the injury, which is why I went with higher reps on the 1-leg squats and added the BOSU for the spit squats. He really struggled with these at first, but made a ton of progress from set to set.

Multi-planar hamstring stretch
Lastly, this player has great range of motion everywhere except in his hamstrings, so we added a long hamstring stretch emphasizing hip flexion in a neutral rotation position, in external rotation and abduction (leg going outside of hip), and in internal rotation and adduction (leg going toward opposite shoulder).

I’ve had success training hockey players with knee injuries, both in terms of improving their strength/performance and minimizing/preventing knee pain or further injury. A lot of what I know about preventing and training around knee injuries I learned from my colleague Mike Robertson. He put together an incredible resource, Bulletproof Knees, that I HIGHLY recommend to anyone with a history of knee pain/injury or currently dealing with knee pain. Bulletproof Knees details exactly how you can figure out what’s wrong with you (it may not be a knee problem causing your knee pain!) and gives you the exercises to fix it. Check it out below:

Bulletproof Knees-Kevin Neeld

Feb

3

Hockey Training with a Knee Injury

Filed Under Athletic Development | 4 Comments

A couple days ago I wrote about the training program I used for a hockey player that had recently undergone knee surgery. You can read that here: Training Hockey Players with Knee Injuries.

That post included a sample upper body training session that he used. After the first couple weeks, the general inflammation from the surgery was gone, and so was the pain and any hesitation about hurting his knee. Of course, the absence of pain doesn’t mean that his knee had completely healed, so it was important not to push his operative leg so far.

Phase 2 (Weeks 3-4): Upper Body/Non-operative Leg
Program Goals:

  • Improve upper body strength and power
  • Improve core strength and power
  • Improve strength/coordination of the non-operative leg/hip
  • Minimize compression on operative knee
  • Make him work hard so he still “feels” like an athlete
  • Use exercises that won’t piss off PT or surgeon

He again came in 2x/week for the next two weeks before taking a week break to visit Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep. One of his training sessions looked like this:

A1) Chin-Up: 5 x 6
A2) 1-Leg Stiff Legged Deadlift (non-operative leg only): 4 x 8
A3) Standing Belly Press Iso-Hold: 3 x 20s/side
B1) Weighted BOSU Push-Up: 3 x 10
B2) Standing Tight Rotations: 3 x 20s
B3) 1-Leg Squat (On box so operative leg can stay extended; non-operative leg only): 3 x 8
B4) Stability Ball Front Plank w/ Small Circles: 3 x 20s
B5) Rice Digs: 3 x 60s

The major difference between Phase 2 and Phase 1 is the addition of two lower body exercises (1-Leg Stiff-Legged Deadlift and 1-Leg Squat). Both of these exercises were performed only on the non-operative leg. As I’ve written in the past, strength improvements on one-leg are, at least in part, transferred to the other side. This is one of the brilliant adaptations of the nervous system.

I had him go slow on the way down in each of these exercises since more strength is transferred during contractions of longer “negative” or “eccentric” phases.

Stay tuned for Phase 3 of this progression, when we start to re-integrate our injured hockey player back to normal full-body training sessions.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. I’m less than two weeks away from the official launch of my new hockey training membership site. You won’t want to miss the incredible bonuses that go to the action takers that sign up right away! Keep checking back for more information on the launch.

Feb

1

Training Hockey Players with Knee Injuries

Filed Under Athletic Development | 2 Comments

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I was doing some work with a young hockey player that had recently undergone a meniscal repair surgery. You can read that article here: Doctors vs. Strength Coaches: A Difference in Perspective

After speaking with his surgeon and physical therapists, I put together a program for him.

Phase 1 (Weeks 1-2): Upper Body Only
Program Goals:

  • Improve upper body strength and power
  • Improve core strength and power
  • Minimize compression on operative knee
  • Make him work hard so he still “feels” like an athlete
  • Use exercises that won’t piss off PT or surgeon

He came in 2x/week for these weeks. With the above goals in mind, one of his training sessions may have looked like:

A1) DB Chest Press: 5 x 6
A2) Front Plank/Side Plank/Side Plank: 3 x 30s/each
A3) Scap Wall Slides: 3 x 10
B1) Chin-Up: 5 x 6
B2) Standing Tight Rotations: 3 x 20s
C1) DB Curls: 4 x 8
C2) DB Skull Crushers: 4 x 8

I realize how basic this program is, and that some of you may be surprised based on some of the things I’ve written about and programs I’ve posted in the past. The idea isn’t to overwhelm him with variation. The goal is to improve his upper body strength as much as possible without irritating his recently operated-on knee.

I steared clear of many of my favorite exercises (e.g. low pulley row, standing 1-arm db row, overhead mb floor slam…to name a few) to be extra cautious that he didn’t do ANYTHING that would bother his knee.

In the next couple days, I’ll write how we transitioned into “Phase 2″ to get him working a little harder and strengthening his non-operative leg.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. If you’re a hockey player or coach, check out my hockey training site for some great information on how to become a fast, strong, well-conditioned player.

Jan

25

Hip Mobility-Activation Pair for Single-Leg Stability

Filed Under Athletic Development | 5 Comments

I hope you had a great weekend. Emily and I went to the Flyers vs. Penguins game yesterday to watch one of my Fitness Segments with Jim McCrossin on the JumboTron. Check out this picture my friend took with his phone:

Kevin Neeld and Jim McCrossin

The Flyers had been undefeated since our first segment rolled; I just assume it’s because of all the great training tips they’re getting during our first period video!

I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback about the mobility/activation dynamic warm-up pair concept that I learned from Nick Tumminello.  A couple weeks ago I posted a new hip mobility exercise I’ve been using a lot recently. Below is the video of that exercise and a video of the Lateral Lunge->Reverse Crossover Drop Lunge that I pair it with.

This exercise pair is a great way to improve hip range of motion and immediately reinforce multi-planar single-leg stability. Let me know what you think!

Prone Hip Rock

Lateral Lunge -> Reverse Crossover Drop Lunge

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. If you like new and innovative hockey training exercises, check out the video library at my new ice hockey training site!

P.P.S. In the next two weeks I’ll officially be launching my OTHER new hockey training site, with a WHOLE list of incredible bonuses. Go over to HockeyTrainingExpert.com and register now. Everyone that pre-registers before the official launch is guaranteed to get ALL the bonuses, including the new Ice Hockey Speed Training Manual I’m writing!

Jan

21

Push-Up Plus into Yoga Push-Up

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Nick Tumminello recently posted a video of how he’s changed the way he does the “push-up plus” to get more serratus anterior activation.

For those of you that may not be familiar with that muscle, one of its major roles is to upwardly rotate the scapula (shoulder blade) which allows for more efficient overhead movement. Activating and strengthening this muscle through the push-up plus exercise is thought to enhance the muscles’ function and help prevention shoulder injuries related to poor upward rotation.

Nick has really opened up my mind to new training concepts and ways to progress/develop more effective exercises. My only problem with the push-up plus exercise is that it doesn’t actually upwardly rotate the scapula, which is the major function of that muscle. Since strength and neural control is range of motion specific, the push-up plus seems limited in its ability to improve upward rotation.

With that in mind, I used the “new and improved” push-up plus exercise in combination with a yoga push-up (which extends the hamstrings, teaches hip/lumbar spine separation, AND uses a closed-chain upper body movement to drive upward rotation of the scapulae).

Check out the exercise below:

If you haven’t yet, check out Nick’s post: Push Up Plus Exercise – A Better Way!

Train hard. Train smart.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. For hundreds of innovative exercises like this, register for a membership at my new hockey training membership site today! I have a few special surprises for people that sign-up during this “pre-registration” period!

Jan

17

Doctors vs. Strength Coaches: A Difference in Perspective

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Several weeks ago one of our hockey kids aggravated a lateral meniscus tear while playing knee hockey.

I can’t blame him, knee hockey is one of the most competitive sports in the world, and he and his teammates were playing after a big on-ice win. I remember one of my coaches telling our team that if we were half as intense about real hockey as we were knee-hockey, we’d never lose!

Anyway, he recently had it repaired, so it’s time for him to start rehabbing. I spoke with one of the doctors that assisted with his surgery and his physical therapist about what activities they thought he was ready for.

The initial response I got from his doctor was something along the lines of “I don’t want him doing anything for 6-8 weeks.”

My eyebrows furrowed a bit when I heard that. As you know, I’m a HUGE proponent of training AROUND (not through) injuries so athletes can continue to make progress and “feel like an athlete”.

Keeping in mind it was a unilateral lower body injury, I politely asked if he could do upper body work. She said, of course-that’d be fine.

I then asked if he could do single-leg exercises on his non-operative leg. Of course he could.

In my experience, many doctors aren’t in tune with the mentality that most athletes share.

A recommendation of “do nothing for 6 weeks” will be ignored by just about every motivated athlete.

Having said that, I don’t think doctors are stupid. I think they have an understanding of the physiological time course of healing and don’t trust many coaches to safely train around injuries.

Honestly, it’s hard to blame them. Go to any fitness facility and you’ll likely see a staff of “personal trainers” that appears to be actively pushing their clients towards injury, let alone knowing enough about functional anatomy to train around an existing injury.

I think that’s what makes people like Michael Boyle, Eric Cressey, Nick Tumminello, Brijesh Patel, and Mike Robertson (just to name a few) so unique. They “get it”. They understand functional anatomy and the “athlete mentality” well enough to continue to train athletes through a wide range of injuries and have gained the trust of doctors and therapists around them.

The hockey player returned to Endeavor this week, and will be training with me twice a week for the foreseeable future.

Keep checking back in the next few weeks and I’ll let you know more about what kind of things we’re doing with him.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. I’m really excited that my Ultimate Ice Hockey Training Facebook Group has broken the 1,000 fan barrier. Help spread the word to other motivated hockey players and coaches!

Jan

8

Revolutionary Training Tip from Nick Tumminello

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Nick Tumminello, a Baltimore Personal Trainer, has become one of my go-to resources for new training information. During a recent conversation, he mentioned something so simple that I was (and still am) embarrassed that I didn’t think of it already.

As you probably already know, my dynamic warm-ups include a lot of joint mobility and muscle activation work. The problem with joint mobility work is that the improvements in muscle extensibility and movement quality are short-term.

Nick mentioned that it made the most sense to pair a mobilization of a specific joint with an activation/control exercise for the muscles surrounding that joint.

All I could think was “D’oh!”

This revelation has changed the way I write my warm-ups. Almost all the exercises are the same, but the order is different. Ankle mobility exercises are followed by tibialis anterior activation exercises (or other exercises requiring active dorsiflexion). Hamstring extensibility exercises are followed by hamstring activation/control exercises.

Improve mobility. Improve control. Improve mobility. Improve control. So simple. So effective. Thanks Nick!

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. Check back in the next couple of days as I’ll be posting exactly how I’ve started putting together my new warm-ups.

Jan

6

New Hip Mobility Exercise

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A couple weeks ago I visited my friend and colleague Nick Tumminello at his facility in Baltimore.

Nick is a brilliant coach so I love stopping by his place to steal some good stuff from him.

While there, I saw him do a hip mobility exercise I had never done before. I started playing around with it this week and really love it. It’s a great way to mobilize the hip into adduction and abduction in a hip flexed position. This is one of those “must-includes” for hockey players and soccer players that tend to have a lot of hip problems.

Check out the video below:

-Kevin Neeld

Dec

10

Assess and Correct Review

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Last week I received my copy of Assess and Correct in the mail, the new DVD set from three of the brightest and most well-respected guys in our industry: Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson.

I’ve been fortunate to learn a ton from all of these guys; I own all of their products and rewatch/reread them on a regular basis, so I was psyched that all three of them teamed up for this project.

Assess and Correct really exceeded my expectations.

The first DVD walks you through a series of simple assessments to identify your personal weaknesses and imbalances that may be inhibiting your performance.

The major benefit of this assessment DVD is that they are all self-assessments, which means you don’t need anyone else to run you through them.

Being able to run yourself through a series of assessments to identify performance limitations is an invaluable tool.

Best part?

The entire series of assessments takes less than 10 minutes!

The second DVD is PACKED with corrective exercises to improve your limitations and really help you unleash a whole new level of performance.

This is truly an invaluable resource.

If I told you that I could teach you how to identify your MAJOR performance limitations in less than 10 minutes, would you be interested?

Of course, you aren’t stupid.

If I told you I could then teach you all the exercises to fix your limitations and drastically improve your performance, would you be interested?

Any serious athlete would be. Any serious coach (sport or strength and conditioning) would be interested in learning this for their athletes.

Whether to pick up Assess and Correct is really a no brainer.

The only people I would say definitely should NOT get it are the people that have no interest in learning from the most intelligent, most successful Therapists and Strength and Conditioning Coaches in the business.

Click here to take the first step toward lifelong performance improvement!

Dec

4

How Lifting Movement Speed Can Drastically Improve Your Strength

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As a reminder, check out my new hockey training website to pick up my Off-Ice Performance Training Course for only $47!

I should have an update for you soon on my OTHER new hockey training site too, so check back for that.

While I was in grad school at UMass Amherst, a lot of my research/reading focused on exercise neuroscience. While some of that can be really technical (and boring), I was able to pick up a lot of usable information about how to manipulate our nervous system to improve performance.

One simple way to manipulate the nervous system in every workout is by changing the speed at which you perform your lifts.

In general, the eccentric or negative phase of the lift should always be under control, meaning it shouldn’t be a dangerous free-fall.  I’ll actually write in time lengths for this part of the lift in many of my programs. For example, I may write in 5s negatives for a dumbbell chest press. In this case, the lifter would lower the dumbbells down toward his/her chest in 5 seconds before lifting them back to the top.

Without exception, the concentric or “up”phase of EVERY lift should be performed as rapidly as possible…Always!  Even if the weight is near your max, you want to think about moving it as quickly as possible.

One of the things I learned while sifting through all that research is that the intention to move fast has similar effects on muscle recruitment as actually moving fast.

So by simply thinking about lifting the weight as quickly as possible, you can reduce the recruitment threshold of your motor units (which drives muscle contraction), which basically increases muscular tension and “driving power”.

Down under control. Up fast.

-Kevin Neeld

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