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

Ultimate Hockey Training: The Story

Wow. I am honestly floored by the response to the release of my new book Ultimate Hockey Training yesterday. The last week has been flattering. I’ve received a ton of emails thanking me for putting out quality information in the three hockey training videos I released, and have already started receiving positive feedback from customers that have just skimmed through the digital version of the book while they wait for the physical copy to be delivered.

In addition to the feedback from customers, Charlie Weingroff and David Lasnier also posted quick reviews, which you can find here:

Charlie Weingroff: Ultimate Hockey Training

David Lasnier: Ultimate Hockey Training is Live

And Tony Gentilcore posted an interview that he and I did a couple months back. This might be my best interview ever (or at least most relevant to the hockey crowd out there), so make sure you check it out!

Tony Gentilcore: Ultimate Hockey Training Interview

As a “thank you” to my loyal site visitors, I’ve now made the third video in the Ultimate Hockey Training series public, meaning you can access it for FREE without registering. Click the link below to watch the video now!

Click here to watch >> Complete Hockey Training System

As I’ve developed Ultimate Hockey Training over the last year, I’ve gotten a few common questions that I want to take some time to address today.

1) “This must have taken forever! Why did you write the book?”

You’re right. It did seem like it took me forever to write. I think the research, time, and mental capacity that went into writing Ultimate Hockey Training parallels the formidable effort necessary to complete my Master’s thesis and presentation at UMass several years ago. To address the heart of the question, I wrote Ultimate Hockey Training for the same reason I started my website. I think there is a large proportion of the hockey community that is looking for information on how to improve their on-ice performance through off-ice training, and while there are resources available, I think the majority of them are outdated, overly scientific without practical application, or just flat out misguided. Unfortunately, hockey is still very much in a phase of appealing to ex-players for their training secrets. I understand the logic, but it’s inherently flawed. Sidney Crosby (as a completely arbitrary example) is no more of an off-ice training expert than George Costanza is a balding expert. Yes, he’s gone through the process; no, it doesn’t make him an expert in the area. The truth is that even NHL and Olympic programs have strength and conditioning coaches for a reason. Players develop a reasonable understanding of what works for THEM as individuals, but do not possess a grasp on how to design comprehensive age-, playing level-, and individual-specific training programs. That is the strength and conditioning coach’s job.

That said, there is a glaring hole in the hockey development market for a product that summarizes EVERY component of year-round off-ice training. Not just a speed training manual. Not just a dynamic warm-up manual. Not just a college level off-season manual. The hockey community needs a step-by-step system, a philosophy, that can be used by players at ALL levels, during all times of the year, written by someone that ACTUALLY TRAINS HOCKEY PLAYERS for a living. The old saying goes “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” I believe Ultimate Hockey Training does both; it provides the reader with enough to get started immediately (at any level, and at any time of year), and teaches them how to continue progressing programs to make progress throughout their entire career.

So why spend the time? First, as I mentioned in my interview with Tony, I developed a strong passion for hockey development at a young age and that fires is raging harder than ever today. In other words, I LOVE this stuff. It’s fun for me to study it, experiment with new concepts, develop different training protocols, and to relay current thoughts or “what works” to you guys. Second, I still get positive reviews from readers of my original ebook Off-Ice Performance Training. I think the strength of that manual lies in the detailed outline of dynamic warm-up and plyometric exercises. I also think it does a great job of presenting options for programs that lack training equipment, and in teaching program design concepts to coaches that don’t have an exercise science background. That said, it’s not how I train hockey players. My environment is different and offers more opportunities for variety, so I wanted to update my system so those of you that read my site regularly can get a current picture of what I think is the best way to train hockey players.

2) “You’re only charging WHAT?!”

If you fully understand the impact that a QUALITY off-ice training program can have on a player’s performance and durability (injury-resistance), then you understand how valuable a good off-season program is. At Endeavor, our players pay ~$1,500 to train with us for 12 weeks. That’s one off-season (part of one off-season for some players). Naturally, a resource that presents exactly how to design year-round programs, let alone career-long programs, could be valued exponentially higher. This isn’t an arbitrary value system (we’ve all seen the products with an INSANELY high, invariably arbitrary value placed on them!); this can be directly translated into costs of working with a professional strength and conditioning coach.

My program is worth…100…TRILLION dollars!

If you pride yourself on continuing education (as I suspect you do if you found your way to my site), you’ve likely come across products that are “systems” similar to mine that cost anywhere from $200-$2,000, depending on the market (business products are always priced higher). When I first told some of my friends “in the know” with regards to selling products, the lower end of that scale was where they recommended I price Ultimate Hockey Training. I politely declined and went with what felt right to me. I don’t mean “felt right” like I priced it at what I felt it was worth; I mean felt right in that I thought the information was so valuable that I wanted EVERYONE in the hockey community to own a copy, and I didn’t want price to be a barrier. In all honesty, any one of the 7 bonuses that come with the book are worth more than I’m charging for the whole package. I realize that a lot of people don’t agree with the decision (as it might undermine the value of their products). Even David Lasnier, my supposed “good friend”, said I might have brain damage (I’ll be changing the lock to our office before he arrives this morning)! If you haven’t watched the last video yet and read more about the book’s contents, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you do.

That’s a wrap for today. Hopefully you have a better understand of the “motives” behind writing the book and whether or not you think it’s the right fit for you (which I’ll touch more on tomorrow). If you haven’t yet, please take a few minutes to watch the third video (it’s free!).

Click here to watch >> Complete Hockey Training System

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

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.