Month: February 2009

Explosive Power for Hockey Players

I’m cheating today, by stealing content from my colleague Kim McCullough.  I came across a couple videos she put together on hockey-specific speed and power training.  She primarily targets female hockey players, but I assure you that these drills are equally as effective for hockey players of both genders (I’ll speculate that Kim would agree with me here).  

I want you to focus on the 1-leg medial and lateral jumps, what Kim calls jumps “in” and jumps “out”.  Rarely do hockey players skate in a straight line for any extended period of time.  As a result, most of the explosive movements in hockey use the patterns that these exercises train.  The benefit of performing these exercises up stairs is that it cuts down on the landing impact.  Start on the stairs then start incorporating some flat ground jumps.    

While I don’t have any gripe with any of the exercises, I tend to stay away from ladder drills. I actually bought two ladders about a year ago, and they haven’t left the trunk of my power-packed 4-door family sedan.  I find that quick foot work can be trained by other means that don’t require staring at your feet.  Although, Kim does an excellent job in this video of keeping her head up.  But I’ll digress to the video…


And a follow-up on the single-leg movements:

 

As an aside, Kim put together a great product for youth hockey players and coaches, incorporating everything from off-ice training to nutrition to mental preparation.  Since I also have a similar product out, you might be wondering why I mention it at all.  My three top reasons:

  1. Kim’s “Best Hockey Season Ever” goes into greater depth on the mental side of things, which I think is EXTREMELY underemphasized in youth hockey.  
  2. I’m not the type to withhold valuable information, even if it costs me money in the long run.
  3. Why get just one?  NOBODY that is serious about ANYTHING relies strictly on one resource.  I suspect that those hockey players and coaches that are truly dedicated to fulfilling their potential will invest in both products.

Dig deep…Keep working hard.

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My Secret to Instant Strength

The question I get more than any other is “How can I lose weight quickly?”  and/or “How can I lose FAT quickly?”  Last week I revealed my ultimate Fat Loss Secret: Dr. John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition System.  It’s by far the best resource to rapidly losing fat and KEEPING IT OFF.  I couldn’t say enough good things about it.

I don’t know a single person that couldn’t benefit from being stronger.  With that said, there are some great resources on how to improve strength and power.  Way more than on realistic/effective dietary changes.  With that said, in my experience, nothing will lead to more rapid strength increases than listening to Avenged Sevenfold while you lift.  

It’s so simple.  Just put this on, and you’re guaranteed to increase your strength by at least 10%.

If that doesn’t work, check your pulse.

No pulse?  Have a Spike! (but not two…that may kill you)

Spike 4-Pack

Keep working hard…

– Kevin Neeld

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My Hips Don’t Lie

Yup-worst title ever, but it got you this far…

In light of discussing hockey and soccer related groin pain for the last couple weeks, I thought I’d give a personal example that will help illustrate how some of the things we’ve talked about come together.  I’ve had off and on knee and hip problems on the left side.  Basically, I feel extremely unstable at both joints and something just feels off.

I never had any problems with my knee until I took a horrible gravel-related spill demonstrating a double lateral bound into 5-yard sprint exercise (a great drill to teach explosive lateral movement with sharp direction changes).  That brilliant display resulted in:

Nice Knee

Knee hasn’t been the same since.  But I have a history of groin pain on that side and had inguinal hernia surgery on that side as well.  In a nutshell, even with everything I’ve learned about hip and lower abdominal injuries over the last few years, I still thought my left hip was the problem.  

Recently I started high-intensity interval training on a bike.  I found that my hip and knee felt considerably more stable and symmetrical FOLLOWING the interval training.  To give you an idea, I basically fall off the bike, and walk without a knee bend because my quads and glutes are so stiff…but my hip and knee feel better. Hmm.

I did some digging around and some strategic stretching and noticed that my right rectus femoris AND psoas are WAY tighter than the same muscles on the left side.  The psoas is also a lateral rotator of the femur.  Without going into a complex functional anatomy lesson here, basically my rectus femoris and psoas were extremely tight, which resulted in my lumbar spine (the origin of the psoas) pulling slightly to the right, my right femur maintaining a slightly laterally/externally rotated position (which was accompanied by adaptive shortening of the hip lateral/external rotators).  As a result, my left hip was in a slightly medially/internally rotated position, which affected how I walked, leading to a slight hyperextension of my left knee and noticeably asymmetrical movement.  

The Bottom Line: Right Hip Problem Resulted in Left Hip and Knee Symptoms

The fix?  Stretch the hell out of my psoas and rectus on the right side.  Strengthen/shorten my psoas on the left side.  Or, in the interest of saving time while training, do both using the exercise below.


I probably started a bit high in this video, but the idea is that you strengthen/shorten your psoas by maintaining a hip flexion position above 90 degrees, while actively squeezing your glutes on the down side, which facilitates a stretch on your hip flexors.  Better/faster results comes with more time/attention paid to the problem, but if you’re in a time jam, this is a great “bang for your buck” exercise.  

Keep working smart…

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Hip and Core Strength Prevent Groin Pain

An overly bold statement?

Not in light of experimental and “in the trenches” experience.  Research has shown that adductor (groin) strains result from a strength imbalance between the hip adductors and hip abductors (or the muscles that pull the leg toward the midline vs those that pull it away from the midline).  There is also research to support a lack of core strength relative to adductor strength as a risk factor for sports hernias, which can also be a source of groin pain.  How do you avoid these issues?  

Create a balanced muscular strength and endurance profile around the hip and core. 

Adequate range of motion is a piece of the puzzle, but ensuring balanced muscular strength and endurance across the hip and core musculature is paramount to preventing groin pain.  

If you think back to the analysis we went over a couple weeks ago, you should have some information on specific muscular weaknesses and imbalances.  The training to help alleviate these problems isn’t overly complex.

Core Stability

If your athlete has insufficient front plank endurance, add 3 sets of front planks to their training.  A progression might look like:

  1. Sets: I generally keep sets constant at 3, sometimes 4.
  2. Time: Start with 3-4 sets of 20s holds.  Progress your athlete to 30s holds, then 45 s holds.
  3. Exercise Complexity: Start with standard front planks.  Progress to single-leg holds, then marches (alternating which foot is on the ground in a controlled manner).
  4. Exercise Selection: Keep planks as part of a warm-up, but progress to more advanced linear core training exercises such as bar rollouts or bar rollout iso-holds.

Side planks would follow a similar progression.  The only difference is if you notice a side to side imbalance during the screening.  In this case, you’d want your athlete to perform their first set on their “good” side, then have them perform 3-4 sets on the other side.  Remember, if you add a balanced training program to an unbalanced athlete, you get an increasingly unbalanced athlete.  The key is to CREATE balance, but catering to your athletes needs.  If they have a lagging side, a program with 1 set on the good side and 3-4 sets on the lagging side will usually help create the balance that will keep them healthy.

Hip Strength

A lack of hip external rotation strength and hip abduction strength can be addressed using:

  1. Side-lying hip abduction w/ external rotation holds
  2. Glute Bridge with MiniBand (Shoulder width stance, hips abducted)
  3. Glute Bridge with MiniBand (Narrow hip width stance, hips externally rotated)
  4. Lateral MiniBand Walk
  5. Backward Monster Walk
  6. 1-Arm 1-Leg DB Stiff-Legged Deadlift (DB in hand opposite to foot on ground)
  7. All single-leg exercises

As mentioned above, if your athlete is noticeably weaker on one side, do NOT train both sides equally.  Have them do 1 set on their good side, and 3-4 sets on their weaker side.  Since some of the above exercises are bilateral by nature, an imbalance will dictate which exercises you include and which you don’t.  Or at least make sure you include one exercise that addresses the imbalance and any others to reinforce the strength bilaterally.

As for hip flexor and adductor strength, thing can get a little more complex there.  Luckily, I’ve already written in depth on this issue.  Rather than regurgitate everything I’ve already written, go ahead and check out my articles at SBCoachesCollege.com.  Part I has a lot of the hip mobility exercises I talked about last week, so it might be a good review.  Part II has the hip flexor and adductor strengthening exercises and progressions that are more relevant to this weeks topic.  I have to give Mike Boyle, Brijesh Patel, and Shirley Sahrmann most of the credit for the ideas and exercises that went into these articles and into my hip-specific analyses and programming.  They came up with most of this stuff, I just found a way to plug it all together into a system that works well for me.  Hopefully it’ll makes sense to you and you’ll have success implementing it with your athletes.

Keep working hard.

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NEVER Forget This!

Several years ago, Mike Boyle introduced me to this concept.  From time to time I get so caught up in my work that I forget to make time for anything else.  Rereading this often helps me remember those things that are truly important in life.  Hopefully it’ll do the same for you.

Big Rocks
“When things in your life seem almost to much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar…and the beer.”

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls ( your big rocks, what you fundamentally believe). He then asked the students if the jar was full.  

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.  He asked once more if the jar was full.  The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.  The golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends, …”The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else–the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.  Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  “Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just pebbles and sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.” 

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