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Aug
11
7 Habits of Highly Effective Interns
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With another season of internships wrapping up at Endeavor, I thought it’d be appropriate to outline a few things that all interns should be aware of.
1&2) Show up early. Stay late. This is probably the easiest way for an intern in any industry to make an impression. One of our Summer interns regularly stuck around for 13 hour days just because he liked being there. Not surprisingly, we asked him to start doing some part-time work with us in the Fall. Dedication goes a long way.
3) Don’t get too comfortable. This is a mistake I’ve made in the past. Depending on the internship, you may be surrounded by people around your own age (including your “superiors”). It’s okay to joke around every now and then, but certain topics about your extra curricular activities probably shouldn’t be brought up ever and a certain comfortable/familiar tone you should avoid using with your superiors.
4) Study your superiors. I use superior due to lack of a better term. In our industry, almost everyone has a blog. At Endeavor, I have my site, I write for Endeavor, and David Lasnier has his site. Our interns also know that both David and I read Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, Mike Boyle, and Carson Boddicker’s sites on a regular basis (amongst others). Make it a habit to read everything your superiors write and try to follow along with the people that they’re reading too.
5) Try new exercises. If something isn’t familiar to you, try it. Become proficient at it. You need to be able to demonstrate every exercise to coach it anyway and actively jumping in to try an exercise shows you’re interested in learning.
6) Ask well thought out questions. One of my favorite things is when an intern says something along the lines of, “I was reading the book you let me borrow; I have a question about…”. Doing outside reading shows they’re passionate about the field and getting better. Asking questions shows they aren’t glazing over the text, but really trying to critically analyze everything. This can also be applied to questions you have about the purpose of certain exercises and/or why they’re included in certain parts of the program.
7) Ask for feedback. Feedback about your performance will make you better. This is true in any industry. If you don’t ask for feedback you may not get it. It’s important to learn what your strong and weak parts are so you know how to improve in the future.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
Aug
2
Long-Term Hockey Development and Injury Prevention
Filed Under Hip/Lower Abdominal Injuries, Hockey Player Development, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
At Endeavor, we really pride ourselves on constantly looking for better ways to develop our athletes. All of our coaches continuously look for cutting edge information on program design, more effective exercises, nutrition, recovery strategies, and injury prevention (amongst others). Working alongside such passionate people is what makes my job so much fun to do.
Over the weekend I spent some time watching DVDs of a 3-hour presentation from Dr. Vladimir Issurin on Block Periodization. Dr. Issurin is a scientific advisor to the Soviet and Israeli Olympic teams. His presentation delved into how to alter the emphasis of various training aspects to best peak for competition. Eastern European training methods have always intrigued me, so I was psyched I got an opportunity to hear from one of their secret weapons.
The Death of Development
One of the things he said that really caught my attention was (to paraphrase) that in today’s athletic development systems, competitive workloads have replaced training workloads. Think about it. Add up the total time athletes spend practicing and training in a given month. Add up the total time hockey players spend playing games. In previous hockey development models, a ratio of preparation: competition would likely be AT LEAST 5:1, meaning players would spend 5 hours of preparation (practice and training) for every 1 hour of competition. Now this ratio is significantly closer to 1:1, if not 1:2.
Concomitant with this shift in competition emphasis, we’ve seen a drastic increase in the amount of burnout amongst high school players and an UNACCEPTABLE increase in the number of non-contact and overuse injuries. To address the former, this means that when hockey players should be entering their best years, they’re so burnt out from 70+ game youth seasons, spring league, summer league,a nd select teams that they give it up. This is tragic.
Tissue Stress Accumulation
The increase in overuse injuries is related to what I think of as “tissue stress accumulation”. Simply, this means that the stresses placed across tissues within your body (muscle, tendon, ligament, etc.) accumulate over time, ESPECIALLY if special attention isn’t paid to recovery. When I was in San Jose, John Pallof (a brilliant physical therapist) said he thought one of the reasons groin strains, hip flexor strains and sports hernias were so much more prevalent now is because hockey players are training more than ever before. John noted that the training is absolutely necessary for the prevention of a host of other injuries, but he alluded to a great point: With the increase in competitions both within a season and across multiple seasons (Issurin) and the necessary increase in training (Pallof), our body’s just aren’t given the time to recover that they need. This reality is exemplified by the fact that almost ZERO attention is paid to recovery and improving soft-tissue quality.
Take Home Messages
There are three things you should take from this (and pass along to everyone you know and love):
1) As a hockey community, we need to ease up on the number of games (and number of seasons for that matter) and put a greater emphasis on practices with components of skill development. It’s okay to slow down practice and focus on individual skills. In fact, it’s paramount for development.
2) From a training standpoint, the goal is to get the maximum benefit from the minimum amount of training. This comes back to minimizing tissue stress accumulation and highlights the fatal flaw in the “more is better” idea. This focus underlies the design of all our athletic development programs at Endeavor. It’s why we sometimes use 2 sets instead of 3, why we tell athletes to lift lighter weights on certain sets, and why we dial back our strength work significantly when it’s time to really hammer home conditioning. Maximum results, minimum stress. That’s the goal.
3) Lastly, EVERY hockey player should be actively pursuing improved soft-tissue quality. I recently heard someone say that athletes ignoring performance-limiting factors (such as poor soft-tissue quality) are essentially driving with the brakes on. At Endeavor, we address soft-tissue quality by having our athletes go through a self-myofascial release circuit before they do their dynamic warm-up, which uses foam rollers, tennis balls, and medicine balls to break up knots and adhesions within the muscle (taking the breaks off). These implements can help restore normal muscle extensibility and fluid motion in young athletes and help maintain tissue quality in older athletes.
As athletes get older, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that they go see a manual therapist on a regular basis to do some soft-tissue work done on their hip musculature. In this case, manual therapists include professionals that can do massage, A.R.T. (Active Release Technique), and Graston. This is truly the secret behind long-term injury-free athletic excellence. I’ve found that most massage therapists avoid the hip musculature for liability reasons, and therefore aren’t of much use for our purposes (although the relaxation is still awesome and I’d never tell anyone not to get a massage).
Me on my walk home after a great massage.
Because not all manual therapists are created equally, I made it a mission to seek out the top professionals in our area to refer our athletes to. I generally tell our older athletes to go see one of these therapists once per month to get work done, sometimes more or less depending on the therapists recommendation. I highly recommend you find someone in your area too. It’ll be worth it in the long run.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
Jul
9
I think the greatest display of pure bliss the human race ever encounters is when a young kid is handed a tall cone of delicious ice cream on a hot day. You see their eyes get bigger as the cone approaches their hands, and after a couple licks they get that sugar-enhanced look of psychotic happiness.
But from time-to-time, this happens:
and third-party bystanders get to observe the rapid reversal of the aforementioned progression of joy and the inevitable hysteria-driven water works and siren-like harmony that emerge from the kid.
This circumstantial description closely resembles the emotional roller coaster I went on recently when I found out about the 2010 Midwest Performance Enhancement Seminar.
Check out the presenters/schedule for this event:
9:00 – 10:00 – Brian Grasso: We’re Killing Kids! Why Current Sports Performance Training Methods are Stupid
10:10 – 11:10 – Lee Taft: How to Load the System for Functional Speed
11:20 – 12:20 – Mike Robertson: The Single-Leg Solution
12:20 – 1:30- Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 – Pat Rigsby: Finding Hidden Opportunity in Your Fitness Business
2:40 – 3:40 – Bill Hartman: Energy System Training for Field Athletes
4:30 – 5:30 – Brett Jones: Kettlebell Basics: How to Integrate Kettlebells Into Your Strength & Conditioning Program
With a list like this, the big question is “How much?” Incredibly, the seminar only requires a $149 investment (that is-if I registered before July 24th…plenty of time). Before reading any further about the seminar I opened up my go-to barrage of flight tabs to price shop on the cheapest flight possible from Baltimore to Indianapolis.
Full of ice-cream induced child-like excitement, I returned to the 2010 Midwest Performance Enhancement Seminar page to see when it was so I could book my flight and that’s when it hit me. The schedule gods batted that cone out of my hand like Ben Wallace protecting his net.
Unfortunately for me, the seminar is on August 28th, which is the weekend Emily and I are moving from Baltimore to Philadelphia (fortunate for me). Yes, after 15 months of commuting two hours from our place in Baltimore to Endeavor in South Jersey, we’re making the move to save my hips and sanity, and to move closer to where Emily wants to go to grad school. It’s just bad timing.
I’m pretty bummed I can’t make it…but that doesn’t mean you can’t! The list of presenters is really amazing; you’d have to be crazy (or moving) to miss this. Check out the link below for more information.
=> 2010 Midwest Performance Enhancement Seminar <=
To your continued success,
Kevin Neeld
Apr
2
Last day to save 25% on all hockey training products at Ice-Hockey-Training.com!
If you missed the details, check out why I want you to save money:
http://www.KevinNeeld.com/2010/birthday-sale-25-off-all-ice-hockey-training-products
Another great post from Endeavor’s newest addition David Lasnier. Forgive his grammar. He is French.
Enter David:
This post would be for those looking to make it in the strength and conditioning world in the first place. I know that from an outside perspective, it might look like a cool job to work with athletes on a daily basis and helping them get to the next level; and believe me it is. I know a lot of people who want to make it in this industry when they first get into College in Exercise science or kinesiology. But the truth is a lot of them don’t know that it takes a lot of dedication and the process takes a certain time.
Beside from having good grades in College and pursuing continuing education, there is a lot more one needs to do to make it in this industry. Here are a few tips to help you make it in the strength and conditioning business.
- Make contacts. Go out there in seminars and introduce yourself to other strength coaches and trainers. Make sure that the successful guys out there know who you are and that you trying to make it as strength coach. These are the ones who might help you get an internship; they might refer you some athletes/clients if you live in a different region; they might even let you know about job opportunities.
- These same guys know a lot. There is a reason why they are so successful. They know a lot about strength and conditioning, but they also know a lot about the business itself. So don’t be shy to pick their brain and ask questions. They have been around for a while, so they probably know a lot more than you do.
- Internships. That is a key to making it in this industry. Most of the time you won’t get paid for them, but you need to let everyone know that you are dedicated to getting more experience and making a name for yourself. This is a necessary process if you wish to make it someday. Go out there, bust your balls and someday you’ll be rewarded.
- On a related note, when doing internships, never forget that the goal is to gain experience. It is not to let others know how much you know because quite frankly they probably don’t care. I’ve seen too much people getting out of College without any experience and thinking they know everything. You need to realize that theoretical knowledge will only get you so far. Years under the trenches are worth so much more knowledge than what you will ever learn in College. So do me a favour and respect that. So the next time you go on an internship or chat with a knowledgeable Strength coach, listen. Stop talking and listen to what he has to say, because he knows a lot more than you do.
- Be kind and polite. It may sound obvious for some, but unfortunately not enough people get that. People will always help out more somebody who’s kind and polite and they will be more willing to give out some of their time and answer questions. And I’m not only talking about the strength and conditioning business here….this would apply in general in a thing called Life!
Hopefully, I’ve helped some of you out there who wish to make it as Strength and conditioning coach. Be patient, listen, don’t be afraid to give some of your time and be polite and you will sure be rewarded someday.
David Lasnier
Enter Kevin:
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Top 5 ways to get on my good side:
1) Read everything I write, even if it sucks.
2) Email me from a computer, not a blackberry, ipod, iphone, ihome, icar, irobot, etc.
3) Take time to learn about my system before impressing your own thoughts.
4) Be humble.
5) Be coachable.
At the risk of sounding “preachy”, I expect the same from myself. Before I interned at Cressey Performance, I read EVERY single article Eric wrote. Every one. Since Eric writes in his sleep, his collection of articles was in the triple digits. It goes a long way in understanding why a coach does what he/she does and shows you’re serious about your career/education.
To your continued success,
Kevin Neeld
Mar
17
Words of Wisdom from David Lasnier
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David Lasnier recently made the trek down from Quebec (in the middle of a snow storm) to start an internship with me at Endeavor Fitness. Aside from how to taunt the Endeavor staff following a Canadian sweep over the Americans at the Olympics, David has learned a lot of valuable lessons since he’s come to Endeavor. Check it out below!
From David:
“Four weeks ago, I started an internship at Endeavor Fitness in New Jersey under Kevin Neeld. To give you a little background on who I am, I would say that I graduated from College in 2006 with a major in kinesiology, I have been working in a commercial gym for the past 3 years in Quebec, where I am from and I am French speaking. Since graduating from College 4 years ago, I have done my best to keep up with continuing education; buying books, attending seminars, searching the internet for interesting articles and chatting with other strength coaches and personal trainers around me.
Making the move down to New Jersey was probably one of the best move I could ever do for my career; first, because the environment at Endeavor is much better than in any commercial gyms out there and, also because I am working with great strength coaches who are very brilliant and know a lot. I have only been here for 4 weeks and I can honestly say that I already learned a lot on strength and conditioning and on other things as well. Here are some of the things I learned in the last four weeks.
- I already knew this before, but it really struck me hard in the last few weeks; the more learn, the more you realize you know very little. I hate to admit it because I am the kind of guy who wants to know everything, but you really need to be modest in this field and admit that you will never know everything. If you think you know everything, this is a big mistake and you are the ones who probably know the least. Why? Simply because when you think you know everything you stop learning, you are not aware of what’s changing and the new trends in your field. Let’s face it, we are in a field that is constantly changing and you simply can’t assume you know everything you need to be a good coach or trainer.
- Short muscle vs stiff muscle. I actually thought I knew the difference between the two, but I actually didn’t. A muscle that is short simply doesn’t have the range of motion as compared to a muscle that is stiff has the range of motion, but has a hard time achieving that same range of motion. A good example would be 2 athletes who don’t appear to have the necessary range of motion to squat when you ask them to squat with their body weight only. But when you load them with a barbell on their back with let’s say 185 pounds, the athlete who’s muscles are stiff will be able to achieve the full range of motion compared to the one who’s muscles are short just won’t be able to achieve it.
- On a related note, I realized that sometimes we (at least for me) focus too much on muscles instead of movements when trying to improve flexibility or range of motion. When training athletes you need to realize that they need most is a better range of motion on athletic movements like sprinting, lunging and squatting and not only better isolated flexibility in their Tensor Fasciae Latae(one of the hip flexors), for example. Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that you shouldn’t stretch the TFL, but maybe spend more time working on their hip flexion/hip extension range of motion.
- This has nothing to do with strength and conditioning, but Archer is a great TV show! It is so hilarious I can watch the same episodes over and over again. This is by far the thing I enjoy the most on American television!
- Deadlifts can solve shoulder problems! Before coming to Endeavor, I haven’t been deadlifting in probably 3-4 months. Not because I hated them (actually I love deadlifts), but because I was playing hockey and flag football 2-3 times a week, and I didn’t want my performances on the ice or the on the field to be affected. At the same time I was also focusing on increasing my front squat numbers, so it turned out I left the deadlift aside for a while. I began dealing with some posterior shoulder pain on my left side at the beginning of the month of January. I then started to look at it more closely and tried a lot of different approach to solve the problem; more stretching, more thoracic spine mobility, more soft tissue work, more scapular stability work, you name it. But nothing was helping get rid of that shoulder pain that was getting pretty irritating. Then I came to Endeavor, started to deadlift a lot (twice a week as an average) and noticed my posture was getting better by doing so. And all of a sudden, no more shoulder pain! Then it struck me; my upper back and spinal erectors muscles got stronger which improved my posture and led to a more upright standing position, which put less stress on my rotator cuff muscles.
- On another non strength and conditioning related note, I like that I can blame the fact that I am French for pretty much everything I don’t understand or whenever I make a mistake!
- People in New Jersey go totally crazy when there’s snow falling down! No, but seriously I really like the fact that there is not a lot of snow here (compared to what I’ve seen in Quebec) and that the temperature is a lot more comfortable during winter.
I have only been here for four weeks and I already learned a lot on strength and conditioning as well as general American culture; which I already love!”
Thanks David!
For the current and future interns out there, you should also check out these two great posts from Eric Cressey:
Top 10 Mistakes Intern Applicants Make: Part 1
Top 10 Mistakes Intern Applicants Make: Part 2
-Kevin Neeld