Month: January 2010

Top 10 Strength and Conditioning Newsletters

Last night I surprised Emily by picking her up at the airport (she was expecting a friend from work). Her flight was delayed, so I’m a little tired today!

I’m always curious what resources other Strength and Conditioning Coaches go to for new/unique training information. There are a ton of great books, websites, audio programs, and DVDs out there, all of which cost money.

Below is a list of my the Top 10 FREE Newsletters that I think all Strength and Conditioning Coaches should subscribe to.

Everyone will benefit from all of these, but you may find some speak to you more than others so I don’t think it’s fair to rank them (that’s why they’re all labeled “1”).

1) Eric Cressey’s Newsletter

1) Michael Boyle’s Functional Strength Coach Newsletter

1) Nick Tumminello’s Newsletter and Video Course

1) Mike Robertson’s Newsletter

1) SBCoachesCollege.com Newsletter

1) Brian Tracy’s Newsletters (I love the “Quote of the Day newsletter)

1) Mike Geary’s Newsletter (Great Nutrition and fat loss tips)

1) John Berardi’s/Precision Nutrition Newsletter

1) Kevin Neeld’s Newsletter (Had to throw that one in there)

1) Kim McCullough’s Hockey Newsletter (This is a must-subscribe for both male AND female hockey players and coaches)

These are the newsletters I read on a daily basis. If you know of other great newsletters please post them below so we can all benefit from them!

Keep learning. Keep training smart.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. Don’t forget to register for this FREE teleseminar with guest speakers like Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Gray Cook, Shirley Sahrmann, and Stu McGill: Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar

P.P.S. I’m really excited that my Ultimate Ice Hockey Training Facebook Group has broken the 1,000 fan barrier. Help spread the word to other motivated hockey players and coaches!

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

Sports Rehab to Sports Performance

My friend Joe Heiler, the brilliant Physical Therapist behind SportsRehabExpert.com, just sent me an email announcing the final line-up to his FREE “Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar.”

Check out this list of presenters!

Gray Cook and Shirley Sahrmann
Robert Panariello
Stuart McGill (bonus interview with Chris Poirier from Perform Better)
Craig Liebenson and Clare Frank
Mike Reinold
Greg Rose
Mike Boyle
Gary Gray
Eric Cressey

I don’t know how he managed to get those names to join forces for this (or why he’s offering this seminar for free), but I’m really excited for the seminar. This list includes the most influential Physical Therapists, Strength Coaches, Chiropractors, and Athletic Trainers in the industry, and they ALWAYS deliver unbelievable content.

Gray Cook, Shirley Sahrmann, Stuart McGill, Mike Boyle, and Eric Cressey have all had a profound impact on the way I train my athletes. In fact, from my desk at Endeavor I can see at least one book from each one of them!

The presentations will begin on January 27th and run every Wednesday night at 8 pm. Joe mentioned that he knew that time may not work for everyone so he’s making all the presentation recordings available for up to 48 hours afterward.

This is one of the few presentations/seminars every year that you MUST be a part of. Last year’s was incredible and the line-up is even better this year! Since it’s free…and you have two days to listen to each presentation, you really don’t have an excuse not to.

Click the link below for more information or to register:

Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar

To your continued success,

Kevin Neeld

P.S. Remember that this is a FREE teleseminar! At the risk of offending you, you’d have to be stupid not to register: Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar

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

Dynamic Warm-Ups, Nick Tumminello Style

On Friday I posted a revolutionary training tip from Nick Tumminello (a personal trainer in Baltimore) that has completely changed the way I write my dynamic warm-ups.

In short, now I pair mobility and stability/activation exercises for each joint within the warm-up, instead of doing all mobility work first and all activation work second.

To give you an example of how this has changed my warm-ups, take a look at an old and new dynamic warm-up:

Old Dynamic Warm-Up:

3-Way Ankle Mobility (Toes on Wall): (3×5)/side
Rectus Femoris Mobilization: 8/side
Quadruped Rocking: 8
1/2 Kneeling 2-Way Thoracic Mobility: (2×5)/side
Wall March Glute Activation: 15s/side
Lateral Squat: 6/side
Reverse lunge: 6/side
Overhead Squat: 8
Side Shuffle: 10 yards/side
Long Stride Carioca: 15 yards/side
Butt Kickers: 15 yards
Back Pedal: 15 yards
Penguin Walk (Heel walk): 25 yards

New Warm-Up (after making the change that Nick Tumminello clued me in on):

3-Way Ankle Mobility (Toes on Wall): (3×5)/side
Penguin Walk: 25 yards
Rectus Femoris Mobilization: 8/side
Reverse Lunge: 8/side
2-Way Hamstring Mobilization: (2×5)/side
Yoga Push-Up: 8
Inverted Reach: 8/side
Prone 2-Way Hip Rock: (2×8)/side
Lateral Lunge -> Reverse Crossover Lunge: (2×6)/side
Scap Wall Slide: 10
Side Shuffle: 15 yards/side
Butt Kickers: 15 yards
Back Pedal: 15 yards
3/4 Speed Jog: 2 x 25 yards

See how easy that is? It’s a simple change that you can make to improve the effectiveness of your warm-ups.

Train hard. Train smart.

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. If you’re a hockey player or coach and want to get access to dozens of done-for-you dynamic warm-ups and training programs, go check out my hockey training site.

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

Revolutionary Training Tip from Nick Tumminello

Nick Tumminello, a Baltimore Personal Trainer, has become one of my go-to resources for new training information. During a recent conversation, he mentioned something so simple that I was (and still am) embarrassed that I didn’t think of it already.

As you probably already know, my dynamic warm-ups include a lot of joint mobility and muscle activation work. The problem with joint mobility work is that the improvements in muscle extensibility and movement quality are short-term.

Nick mentioned that it made the most sense to pair a mobilization of a specific joint with an activation/control exercise for the muscles surrounding that joint.

All I could think was “D’oh!”

This revelation has changed the way I write my warm-ups. Almost all the exercises are the same, but the order is different. Ankle mobility exercises are followed by tibialis anterior activation exercises (or other exercises requiring active dorsiflexion). Hamstring extensibility exercises are followed by hamstring activation/control exercises.

Improve mobility. Improve control. Improve mobility. Improve control. So simple. So effective. Thanks Nick!

-Kevin Neeld

P.S. Check back in the next couple of days as I’ll be posting exactly how I’ve started putting together my new warm-ups.

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New Hip Mobility Exercise

A couple weeks ago I visited my friend and colleague Nick Tumminello at his facility in Baltimore.

Nick is a brilliant coach so I love stopping by his place to steal some good stuff from him.

While there, I saw him do a hip mobility exercise I had never done before. I started playing around with it this week and really love it. It’s a great way to mobilize the hip into adduction and abduction in a hip flexed position. This is one of those “must-includes” for hockey players and soccer players that tend to have a lot of hip problems.

Check out the video below:

-Kevin Neeld

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