Month: January 2009

Your Legs Are NOT Strong Enough!

“Why don’t you lift legs?”

“My legs are already big enough.  I don’t want them to get any bigger.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a conversation with hockey players that started just like this.  

First off, in probably 97% of cases, their legs aren’t big enough.  B: Something tells me they would be a lot more concerned with training their legs if it got them recognition from members of the opposite sex.  You might here a “did you see how big his bis were??”.  But you will almost certainly not here a “He had a really well developed vastus medialis!”  Not to mention, the classic “How strong are you?” is always pitched as “How much can you bench?”  The result: An overemphasis on upper body training, usually in the form of an unnecessary body part isolation program.  

There’s one important training fact that every hockey player should know.

For any given muscle size, there is a WIDE range of possible strength.     

The complexities of the nervous system make this possible.  The force producing capability (read: strength) of a muscle varies depending on the neural drive (in simple terms: how strong the signal is from the brain to the muscle), and the inhibitory signals (in simple terms: things that would decrease the strength of the signal to the muscle) going to the muscle.  Strength training isn’t just about getting bigger.  Strengthening certain functional patterns (deadlift, lunge, etc.) will maximize the excitatory signals to your muscles, and teach your body to minimize the inhibitory signals to your muscle.  The outcome: stronger muscles and improved performance.

Taken from a heavy lower body day early this year.  The training I did up to this 435 deadlift got me a lot stronger, but not noticeably bigger.  

 [quicktime]http://kevinneeld.com/videos/Kevin-Deadlift%20435.mov[/quicktime]

Last Monday I deadlifted 455…at an ever lower body weight than in the video.  Not impressive for those in the weight lifting community, but probably unheard of for most in the hockey community.  While I don’t think it’s necessary for hockey players to train like power lifters, I do think it’s time we changed what our view of “strong” is.    

The take home: Your legs may be big, but they aren’t STRONG enough.  

Keep working hard… 

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Life Lesson from Obama

I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t follow politics as closely as I probably should.  Yesterday I made it a point to take an hour to watch some of the Inauguration festivities, including President Obama’s speech.  One of the recurring themes I noticed throughout his speech was that we need to start doing a better job of looking out for each other.  In other words, increase our sense of community, not just within the United States, but with all humanity, within the world.

On a personal note, I made a decision at the end of December, that I was going to donate as much as 5% of my income to some form of charity.  I asked what I refer to as my extended family (family and close friends) if they had any suggestions on where to look.  Of the many causes recommended to me, there were two that really stuck out.  

  1. AlternativeGifts.org
  2. SaveTheChildren.org

They both allow you to choose different areas within or outside of the country to donate to and AlternativeGifts.org allows you to donate to specific causes (e.g. New Water Wells for Nomadic People in Africa), which I thought was pretty cool.  

I understand that the current economy may make it tough to think about GIVING away money.  While I still think it’s worth finding a way to do, I recognize that you may not be so easily convinced.  With that in mind, here are three self-serving reasons to donate money to a charity:

  1. It’s tax deductible, meaning you can deduct any donations from your yearly income.  You’ll want to check with your accountant about the best way to document this.
  2. Every self-made millionaire whose work I’ve read or that I’ve had the opportunity to talk or listen to has said that the more money you give away/donate, the more income you make.  Yes, in that order.  Brian Tracy refers to this as the Law of Reciprocity.  
  3. You feel good about yourself.  It’s easy to tell people that you’re donating because you belief in support a particular cause.  In reality, I think most people donate because it makes them feel better about themselves.  I’m no exception. It felt great to donate at SaveTheChildren.org!  The motivation doesn’t really matter; it’s the outcome that is most important.

Could you live off 99% of your current income?  If you can, consider taking 1% of your next paycheck and donating it to a cause of your choice.  You may find it comes back to you in unexpected ways.

Back to hockey tomorrow…

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4 Hockey-Specific Mobility Exercises

I played hockey for 15 years before I made the transition into coaching.  Throughout that time I rarely played other sports.  Soccer for a few years when I was very young.  Baseball for a season.  But that was about it.  Last night I went bowling for the first time in a while.  A huge fan of the Big Lebowski, I thought I could add bowling into my repertoire.  If the dude can throw strikes a couple white russians deep, why can’t I?  Last night I found out might logic might be somewhat flawed.  Needless to say, it was basically a 2 hour reminder of why I stuck with hockey my whole life.  

Getting back to dynamic warm-ups…Yesterday I showed you a sample dynamic warm-up that hit all the essentials, but included a lot of common/well-known exercises.  Today I just want to show you a few mobility drills that can be included into any dynamic warm-up routine that really focus on areas typically restricted in hockey players.

It’s far from ideal, but if you’re crunched for time, performing these 4 exercises will give you a decent warm-up before you start your training.  As always, feel free to post comments below or email me directly.  

 

Rectus Femoris Mobilization

Adductor Mobilization with External Rotation


 

Lying Internal Rotation Mobilization


 

Hockey Stick Dislocations

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Hockey Dynamic Warm-Ups Continued

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:

  1. Take the hips through a full range of motion
  2. Incorporate something to activate the psoas, hip abductors, and hip external rotators
  3. Take the shoulders through a full range of motion
  4. Incorporate something to activate the scapular/shoulder stabilizers (specifically, the serratus anterior and lower trapezius)
  5. Incorporate movements to put a slight stretch on the hip flexors and glutes
  6. Incorporate forward, backward, lateral, and diagonal movements
  7. Incorporate something to activate the “core” musculature, including the glutes and abdominals
  8. Keep the warm-up around 10 minutes

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):

  1. Walking Knee Hug with High-Knee Hold
  2. Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach
  3. Inchworm
  4. Walking Inverted Reach
  5. Diagonal Walking Lunge
  6. Butt Kickers
  7. High Knees
  8. Side Shuffle RIght
  9. Side Shuffle Left
  10. Carioca Right (Quick feet emphasis) 
  11. Carioca Left (Quick feet emphasis)
  12. Carioca Right (Long stride emphasis)
  13. Carioca Left (Long stride emphasis)
  14. Straight-Legged March
  15. 50% Sprint from Push-Up Start
  16. Back Pedal
  17. 75% Sprint from Push-Up Start
  18. Back Pedal

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.

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Training to Shed Fat: Week 2 Results

Another week down.  Here’s a copy of my training program.  As always, feel free to send any questions my way at kn@kevinneeld.com.

Jan 12, 2009
A1) Hang Clean: 135 x 5; 175 x 1; 185 x 1; 195 x 1
A2) Med. Handle Low-Pulley Row: 140 x 5; 210 x 3 sets of 2
B1) Deadlift: 225 x 5; 315 x 3; 405 x 1; 455 x 1; 425 x 3 sets of 1; 405 x 1
B2) 1-Leg Glute Bridge Hold: 3 x 15s each
C1) Back Leg Raised Split Squat Iso-Hold: 2 x 40 DB 3 x 30s each
C2) Glute Ham Raise: 3 x 12

Jan 13, 2009
A1) Bench Press from pins just above chest height: 135 x 8; 185 x 5; 225 x 4; 235 x 4; 235 x 4; 225 x 4
A2) Scap Wall Slides (Facing Wall): 4 x 10
B1) Chin-Up: BW x 3; BW+55 x 3; BW+65 x 3 sets of 3; BW+55 x 3
B2) Incline DB Triceps Extension-to-Close Grip Press: 2 x 40 DB x 5 sets of 6
C1) Standing Pallof Iso-Hold from High Pulley w/ Rope: 50 lbs x 3 x 30s each
 C2) Face Pull w/ External Rotation: 100 lbs x 3 x 12 

Jan 15, 2009
A1) Back Squat: 135 x 5; 225 x 4; 275 x 4 sets of 8
A2) Front Plank: 3 x 60s
B1) DB Reverse Lunge: Alternating: 4 x 6 each 2 x 65 DB
B2) DB Swing: 4 x 10 20lb DB
B3) SB Hamstring Curl: 4 x 12
 B4) 1-Leg Squat: 4 x 8 each

Jan 16, 2009
A1) Push-Press: 105 x 4; 125 x 4; 135 x 4 sets of 4
A2) Blackburn Hold (I, Y, T): 1 x 30s each
B1) 1-Arm DB Row: 75lb DB, 1 x 8, 2 x 10
B2) Standing Cable Chop: 50lbs 3 x 10 each
B3) Stability Ball Push-Up: 3 x 12
B4) DB Hang Clean-to-Curl Eccentric: 2 x 35 DB 2 x 10; 2 x 30 DB 1 x 10
B5) Bird Dog: 3 x 8 each

I have to say…after two weeks of decreasing my caloric intake to around half of what I’m used to, the thing I’m looking forward to the most is my “re-feed day” coming up on Monday.  Don’t leave any food out that day, I’ll be eating everything in sight!

What most people don’t realize is that calorie restriction works…but only for a limited time.  If you stay on a very low calorie diet for a long time, your body adjusts and becomes better at storing the limited energy you provide it.  

The take home? If you’re training hard and limiting your calories, try two things:

  1.  Monitor the quality of your calories.  In other words, make sure you’re consuming high quality protein and fats regularly throughout the day and that ALL of your carbohydrates are in the form of fruits and vegetables.  The exception to this could be oatmeal or whole grain bread, if you eat it within an hour of your training.
  2. Keeping the quality of your calories in mind, increase your total caloric intake back to a normal level.  What’s normal?  Your BW (lbs) x 15-20 is a good place to start.  For example, I’m around 170 lbs right now.  170 x 15 = 2550.  170 x 20 = 3400.  So my range would be 2,550-3400.  I realize that’s a pretty big range.  Where you’d want to fall in that range depends on your activity level.  If you’re highly active and train at a high intensity, you can probably get away with the higher end.  If you train at a lower intensity and only a few times a week, stay toward the lower end.

You may put on a couple pounds when you return to a higher caloric intake, but don’t be discouraged.  Your metabolism will soon stabilize, and you’ll start dropping weight again.  

Alright, I’m off to go watch the Eagles game!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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