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:
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):
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.
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.