Last week I broke down the skating technique of a youth hockey player. If you missed that post, you can check it out here: Analyzing the Skating Stride

The main focus on that post was on identifying on-ice technique flaws, and following up with a few basic tips on how he could try to make improvements in his most lagging areas.

As I’ve written about in the past, the reality is that players adopt sub-optimal skating patterns for two reasons:

  1. They don’t know better
  2. It’s the closest to their interpretation of optimal that their body allows

The first point is the one most coaches are familiar with. This simply needs they need more practice and more coaching. A lot of the tips I wrote about in the last post (See: Analyzing the Skating Stride) and this one (3 Keys to Developing Optimal Skating Technique) will make a huge impact here, but it still takes time and A LOT of practice.

The latter point boils down to identifying what, if any, physical barriers the individual player has that may be limiting their ability to get into and maintain an optimal skating position.

One of the things I’ve noticed from talking to so many parents at Endeavor is that the common assumption is that kids don’t have any joint restrictions that may prevent them from achieving desirable athletic positions. It’s true that most people tend to lose range of motion with age, but it’s dangerously misguided to think teenage kids are free of these limitations. In fact, a 2013 study from Marc Philippon‘s demonstrated that 37% of PeeWee (10-12 years old) hockey players already met the minimal diagnostic threshold for Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI or “hip impingement”), a bony adaptation that will limit skating depth. In the midget age group, 93% had FAI, with bantams falling nicely in between (63%).

Femoroacetabular Impingement

Demonstrations of the different types of FAI

Having assessed hundreds of youth athletes over the years, I can attest that there are similarly startling limitations in ankle mobility in youth athletes of both genders across all sports. A lot of athletes also really struggle with thoracic (upper spine) rotation. Sometimes this is a mobility issue and sometimes it’s simply a stability or control issue, but either way, it means the athlete can’t consistently access it.

Slapshot

Rotation through the upper spine is crucial for skating and shooting. …Pretty sure this shot left a solid bruise on the center of goalie’s chest.

This is doing specific exercises to address these limitations is such an important part of the training process.

Tying in breathing into the Quadruped T-Spine Rotation exercise in the video above (See 6:30) can help unlock a lot of motion and control

I could teach a whole course on how off-ice limitations influence specific skating patterns and hockey performance in general, so it’s a difficult topic to address in a short article. That said, I’d refer you to these two posts to learn more.

  1. Limitations to Optimal Skating Performance
  2. Why Your Kid is Slow!

An old video from Endeavor…back when I was doing assessments on a shaky desk
Tying this back in to the previous post, these are all off-ice physical limitations (e.g. not skating technique issues) that could be causing his major stride faults:

  1. Deeper Skating Stance: May be limited by a lack of foot stability, ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, low position strength, hip flexion range of motion (FAI/hip impingement), excessive anterior pelvic tilt/poor core control
  2. Recovering Stride Leg Under Body: May be limited by lack of foot stability, ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, hip adduction range of motion or single-leg stance control on stance leg, hip adduction range of motion on stride/recovering leg
  3. Pushing “Out” not “Up” on Starts: May be limited by low position strength, hip flexion range of motion (FAI/hip impingement), excessive anterior pelvic tilt/poor core control, hip extension range of motion, hip adduction/abduction range of motion in side starting positions
  4. Diagonal Arm Swing: May be limited by core control, thoracic spine rotation, shoulder flexion/extension range of motion
  5. Pushing “Under” with Cross Under Leg: May be limited by hip adduction and internal rotation range of motion on cross-under leg, and hip flexion and external rotation on stance leg

A big take home from this discussion is that it’s important to have an assessment process to identify whether a player’s skating limitations are:

  1. Due to a lack of practice/proficiency
  2. Due to an insufficiency in a modifiable physical factor (e.g. low position strength or muscular endurance)
  3. Due to an insufficiency in a non-modifiable physical factor (e.g. hip impingement)

If you’re a training professional, keep your eyes open for an email from me later in the week as I have an awesome “Black Friday” sale coming up on my DVD Optimizing Movement.

If you’re a hockey player, parent, or coach, and interested in more information about optimal stride patterns and off-ice training strategies to maximize skating speed, check out Breakaway Hockey Speed.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

Today I have a guest post from my friend Andreas Wochtl. Andreas has been a great resource for me since we reconnected a few years ago, as he’s not only a dedicated student of hockey development, but he brings an interesting perspective having split his youth hockey years playing in Sweden and the US. If you’ve missed his previous articles, you can check them out here:

  1. Thoughts on USA Hockey’s American Development Model
  2. How to Breed Talent

Today’s post touches on an important piece of the coaching process that I agree gets overlooked a lot. This “secret” to getting the most out of your athletes is about as simple as it gets, but it’s important that all coaches (myself included) check in with themselves to make sure they’re doing this consistently. Enjoy the post, and please pass this along to other coaches; we could all use the reminder!

Teaching Work Ethic

Hockey development in the U.S. has taken some major strides in the past few years with the introduction of ADM, SAGs, and most importantly even more FUN!  Coaches everywhere are doing a great job adjusting to this “new” structure of how the game is taught.  I love looking down on a sheet of ice and seeing almost every player engaged in something.

The Lab Training Center

The Lab” in Exton, PA

There’s one area where I see an opportunity to continue this improvement and connection with players development.  We spend a lot of time teaching technique, Xs and Os, and other technical aspects of the game.  We spend very little time on the emotional aspect of the game – aside from maybe an occasional (and likely exaggerated) pre-game speech.  Most coaches expect their players to show up and always want to play their hardest….something all of us will agree is never going to be the case.  How do you teach dedication?  How do you teach work ethic?  One way is to get to know your players better – what makes them tic?  Spend 10-15 minutes at some point during the season talking to players individually.  Get to know them, find out what motivates them, how they learn new things, what they feel like their struggles are on and off the ice.

I argue that just taking the time to have this conversation will have a meaningful impact on your ability to push these individuals to new limits.  If you listen to their comments and apply it to your coaching you will take them even further.  Kids are not robots, they can spot the coaches who care and those who do not.  There may be one kid out of a million who naturally has the innate drive to spend his free time practicing his outside edge turns.  If we can help some of the other 999,999 get to that point imagine what we can help these kids accomplish both on and off the ice!

-Andreas

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
BreakawayHockeySpeed.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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Ultimate Hockey Transformation Pro Package-small

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“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

This morning I came across an article from Josh Levine at Let’s Play Hockey that I wanted to share with you. I’ve enjoyed reading Josh’s articles in the past, and think he hit the nail on the head with this one. It seems, in the interest of constantly pursuing “better opportunities” for their kids, parents overlook the value of allowing their kids to overcome some adversity. Great article from Josh.

Click here to read the article >> Dear Parents: I want your kid to fail

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
BreakawayHockeySpeed.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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

Get Ultimate Hockey Transformation Now!

Year-round age-specific hockey training programs complete with a comprehensive instructional video database!

Ultimate Hockey Transformation Pro Package-small

Get access to your game-changing program now >> Ultimate Hockey Transformation

“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

Today’s Thursday Throwback takes us back to 2011 and provides an inside look at what used to be a very popular supplement. Aside from the specific supplement referenced here, there are two big takeaways from this post that you should apply to ALL supplement choices:

1) It’s important to familiarize yourself with the brand. Because the supplement is completely unregulated by the FDA, companies can put whatever they want into their bottles. Simply, there’s no guarantee that what they claim the supplement contains (e.g. creatine) actually has that ingredient in the quantities they’re advertising. Some brands have gone through the process of becoming “NSF Certified for Sport” or have been certified by “Informed Choice”, which should give you a higher level of confidence that the supplement contains what it’s supposed to. I strongly discourage our athletes from going to supplement/grocery stores to by supplements. It’s unlikely a high quality brand is even carried at the store and a lot of the sales people at the more popular stores are dangerously under-informed.

2) A lot of times less is more. There are TONS of supplements, and supplement ingredients, out there, but the overwhelming majority have no scientific support that they actually work. A lot of times popular supplements contain a few inexpensive ingredients that do work, and a ton of “extra stuff” that doesn’t, and you end up paying a premium for inflated marketing campaigns and colorful wrappers instead of a higher quality ingredient. Knowing which supplements actually work can be tough to stay on top of, which is why I frequently refer back to this: Examine.com Supplement Goals Reference Guide. It’s nice to have an unbiased, comprehensive look at every supplement so you can quickly see if there’s research supporting it’s effectiveness.

Supplement Goals Reference Guide

The most informative, honest, unbiased look at supplementation, ever.

NO XPLODE Exposed

A couple years ago I wrote a supplement review that we never took to print. There was a considerable conflict of interest because the nature of the article could negatively impact sales of one of the site’s top sellers. To be honest, they handled it really well, apologizing to me and noting that it wouldn’t be good for their reputation with the company. I understood and still do; relationships are everything in business. With that said, I think the wide-spread use of this supplement is ludicrous and potentially dangerous. A deeper look inside:

NO XPLODE-A Look Inside

Assuming you don’t have an NO2 label in front of you (hopefully you don’t), let’s take a look at the nutrition facts and some of the other ingredients to see if we can pick out the ingredients out that are driving their marketing claims.

Calories: 25
Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 6 g
Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 0 g
Vitamin B6: 25 mg
Vitamin B9: 400 mcg
Vitamin B12: 120 mcg
Calcium: 75 mg
Phosphorous: 535 mg
Magnesium: 360 mg
Sodium: 235 mg
Potassium: 75mg

Ingredients (get ready!):

In addition to the components listed above, N.O.-XPLODE contains N.O.-Xplode™’s Proprietary Blend, which consists of: L-Arginine AKG, L-Citrulline Malate, RC-NOS™ (Rutacarpine 95%), L-Citrulline AKG, L-Histidine AKG, NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide), Gynostemma Pentaphyllum (Leaves & Stem) (Gypenosides 95%), Modified Glucose Polymers (Maltodextrin), Di-Creatine Malate, Trimethylglycine, Creatine Ethyl Ester -Beta-Alanine Dual Action Composite (CarnoSyn®), Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Creatine Phosphate Matrix, Creatinol-O-Phosphate-Malic Acid Interfusion, Glycocyamine, Guanidino Proplonic Acid, Cinnulin PF® (Aqueous Cinnamon Extract) (Bark), Ketoisocaproate Potassium, Creatine ABB (Creatine Alpha-Amino-N-Butyrate), L-Tyrosine, Taurine, Glucuronolactone, Methylxanthine (Caffeine), L-Tyrosine AKG, MCT’s (Medium Chain Triglycerides)[Coconut], Common Periwinkle Vinpocetine 99%, Vincamine 99%, Vinburnine 99% (Whole Plant), Di-Calcium Phosphate, Di-Potassium Phosphate, Di-Sodium Phosphate, Potassium Glycerophosphate, Magnesium Glycerophosphate, Glycerol Stearate.

Other ingredients include: Citric Acid, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Calcium Silicate, Potassium Citrate, Sucralose(Splenda®), Acesulfame-K, FD&C Red #40, And FD&C Blue #1 (These are mostly just preservatives, sweeteners, and colors).

I’ll be honest. I’m far from a nutrition and supplement scientist. There are some people that could quote strengths and weaknesses of research on most of the above ingredients-I’m not one of them. I do, however,  stay current on research demonstrating consistent effectiveness of specific supplements. In that light, there are a few things that really stand out to me when looking at the excessive laundry list of ingredients in NO XPLODE.

If you scan through the ingredients you’ll see creatine, beta-alanine, and caffeine. All of these have been shown to be safe and effective compared to a placebo in eliciting greater increases in muscular size and strength (creatine), and work capacity and endurance (beta-alanine and caffeine), and there is some more recent work suggesting that caffeine taken in pretty high doses may be effective in increasing maximal strength via an increased neural drive mechanism.

The “get a big pump” claim of NO supplements insinuates greater increases in muscle mass and strength as a result of the NO2 precursor l-arginine (an amino acid), which is largely unsupported. Arginine MAY have some benefits in patients with heart problems, but only in higher doses (in the realm of 10-15 g) known to cause almost inevitable gastrointestinal distress. In short, there is no research-supported reason to think that NO2 will increase the size and strength of your muscles. Furthermore, it’d be fair to say that the overwhelming majority of the long list of ingredients in these supplements are worthless for the purposes of improving training outcomes in athletes.

Why All The Hype?

So why all the positive reports and borderline evangelical support for NO2 supplements?  There are a couple reasons.  For starters, this supplement has received a ton of attention from teenagers.  Because it increases your heart rate as a result of the caffeine, those new to training love it.  They feel more energized.  They also get significantly bigger and stronger.  Being logical thinkers, the conclusion is that N.O.-XPLODE gives you the energy you need to train harder to get bigger and stronger.  Makes sense, but isn’t necessarily accurate.  As I’ve written about before, EVERYTHING works for inexperienced lifters.  In fact, I’m fully confident that front planks would increase maximum squat and bench press strength in inexperienced lifters.  No matter what teenagers do, they’ll get bigger and stronger.  The added rush from a supplement isn’t the cause of these improvements!


“Take NO-XPLODE! I started taking it two weeks ago when I started lifting for the first time ever and it totally worked!” – Typical Well-Intentioned, But Completely Ignorant Teenager

As I’ve mentioned in the past, my stance on supplements is simple. It needs to work (research-supported). It needs to be safe. And, ideally, it should be pretty cheap. NO2 supplements miss the mark on at least the first of my qualifiers, and probably the second. For those that swear by its effectiveness, I won’t disagree that you may get results from it, but it’s not from the nitric oxide components or precursors.  Short of duct tape and a soldering iron, they’ve put just about every ingredient known to man inside N.O.-XPLODE.  This includes creatine and beta-alanine, which do receive scientific support with regards to increasing muscular size and strength, especially if taken together, and caffeine, which is known to increase energy and focus. With supplements, like food, the less ingredients, the better. Stick with stuff that’s been shown to work and be safe. If there’s a long list of ingredients you don’t understand, don’t take it, regardless of what the high school kid working at GNC tells you.

I think we all need to be more cautious about what we’re allowing teenagers to put into their bodies. It seems that real food has become a minority component of today’s young athlete’s diet. Further, I think we need to take a step back and reanalyze other aspects of their lives if they can’t get a good workout in without loading up on artificial stimulants!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

P.S. Never waste money on ineffective supplements again >> Examine.com Supplement Goals Reference Guide

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“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

A couple weeks ago I got an email from a youth player asking me to analyze his skating stride. He felt, and I agree, that he was leaving some “free speed” on the table by now optimizing his stride pattern.

You can watch the videos of his skating below:

You can also see these here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwGmafySa8xUvxOEdhNaYKPjPy3HzDH_J

Minor Tweaks

At first glance, there are a few minor adjustments I’d recommend to him that are extremely common for young players:

1) Get a slightly deeper skating stance.
He’s not as “upright” of a skater as some players, but I think he may have another inch or so of depth left to achieve his optimal skating position. Moving into a slightly deeper skating position will increase his stride length, and therefore the amount of force he can put into the ice to propel himself forward with each stride

2) Recover the stride leg fully under the body
Again, he does a pretty good job here, but there’s a little room for improvement. Recovering the stride leg completely under the body does two things: It increases the stride length on the next stride by giving it a starting position a little closer to the body (e.g. adding stride length at the initiation of the stride, not at the end as getting a deeper stance would help achieve), and it minimize excessive friction of the skate blade on the ice of the stance leg by moving the skate off of the inside edge a bit. The more players ride their inside edges on their stance leg, the more “drag” there is on the ice, slowing the player down a little with each stride.

3) Pushing “out” instead of “up” on the starts
If you watch a lot of the starts, the player’s body pushes “up” before actually moving anywhere. If the goal is to move horizontally and not vertically (you’re not racing toward the ceiling), he should focus more on leaning in toward the direction he wants to move and pushing the ice back and away from him. In cuing similar movements off the ice, we sometimes use the phrase “low ceiling” to help players visualize that the goal is to move laterally without lifting their hips up excessively.

Making Huge Strides

These are all important things to work on, and I think with a little practice he’ll be able to make significant improvements in these areas. With that said, the two major areas I think he has the room for the most significant improvements are:

1) Adopting a more “diagonal” than “lateral” arm swing
If you look at a lot of the forward skating, the arm swing is more side to side, than front to back. I refer to this as the “Carlton Dance” (See 1:35 below)

The arm swing is meant to counterbalance the skating stride, so it should be in a direction that accommodates that. In other words, if the stride leg is pushing straight to the side, the arm shouldn’t be swinging straight to the side. The stride leg pushes back on roughly a 45-degree angle behind the body so the arm should “reach” on a similar angle toward the body’s midline.

You’ll notice that there is a lot of lateral sway in the players skating stride. There are a lot of reasons why this may be the case, but an excessively lateral arm swing will certainly carry the body’s momentum in more of a side-to-side pattern, wasting energy and slowing the player down.

2) “Pushing under” with the cross-under leg
This may be the most overlooked skating cue in “curvilinear” (e.g. not straight forward or backward) skating. If you look at the cross-over patterns, it looks like the emphasis is on stepping over with the cross-over leg. There’s A LOT of power to be gained by emphasizing the “push under” of the other leg.

Crossover Skating Stride

In the videos, the cross-under leg doesn’t ever achieve full extension, which is a common sign that it’s not being used as a driver. In training this, sometimes it’s better to slow things down a bit and just focusing on pushing under as forcefully as possible while maintaining a good body position. Once the player has a good understanding of this motion, they can progressively pick up speed.

Wrap Up

As I mentioned, these are all pretty common adjustments that players at every level can benefit from working on. I’d consider everything above “the basics”, meaning they’re the most important things to master. Even the “elite” players can benefit from checking in periodically to make sure they’re still doing these things and haven’t progressively developed poor habits over time.

In a follow-up post, I’ll show you what I look for in my off-ice assessment and how limitations off the ice can help explain a lot of what we see as strides flaws on the ice.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in more information about optimal stride patterns and off-ice training strategies to maximize skating speed, check out Breakaway Hockey Speed.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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

Get Ultimate Hockey Transformation Now!

Year-round age-specific hockey training programs complete with a comprehensive instructional video database!

Ultimate Hockey Transformation Pro Package-small

Get access to your game-changing program now >> Ultimate Hockey Transformation

“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

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