Month: February 2016

Exercise Technique Q&A: The Kettlebell Hike

Last week, I posted a video on Endeavor’s Instagram of an exercise we call the Kettlebell Hike.

This isn’t an exercise we do with everyone, but it serves two primary purposes:

It helps groove the “back” position of a kettlebell swing
It can be used to teach low position endurance in a body position specific to baseball/softball players

Coaching Technique

After posting the video, I got this question: “Kettlebell swings are mainly hip flexion extension, with the glenohumeral musculature acting as synergist right? So how would this help the swing movement?…. just curious not nitpicking #learning”

It’s a good one.

The name “swing” is a bit of a misnomer, as the arms aren’t really doing much except transferring force from a strong hip drive to the bell on the way up, and shutting down momentum around chin height to throw the bell back between the legs on the way down.

The KB Hike will NOT teach the hip drive or upper/lower body sequencing necessary to perform a swing properly. Coaching up the actual swing will do that.

However, the 4 biggest flaws I see when people are first learning to swing are:

Performing more of a “squatting” motion than a “hip hinge” motion. In other words, they drop their hips down as the bell lowers, not down and back, as in a deadlift position.
Swinging the bell too low, which drives more of a squatting motion, and/or an upper body collapse. Neither of these are desirable.
Breaking at the hips too early on the way down. One of the biggest benefits of the swing is the “plyometric” action of quickly loading and reversing energy from your posterior chain (think hamstrings and glutes). If you bend too early at the tips, you lose a lot of this, as you’re essentially sitting in the back waiting for the bell to catch up.
A lackluster “thrust” of the hips coming out of the back.

The last two points are essential to an effective swing, but they’re also pretty easy to teach. To address #3, I just tell people it’s a game of chicken between the bell and their hips. “Stay tall for as long as possible then think load and get out quick.” #4 is just about putting more gas on the fire.

The first two points, however, can be harder to address because the “back” position is a little less familiar or comfortable for most people, and effectively swinging the bell back to the right place requires the ability to get into the right “end” position.

Enter the Kettlebell Hike.

It’s a simple exercise that allows people to get into the proper starting position, and get a lot of reps holding the “back” position of a swing.

If the purpose is to use this as a “corrective” exercise for the KB Swing, you may not have to spend much time here. Sometimes we’ll program a swing, come back to the KB Hike for a set, and then once the athlete feels comfortable with that position, we’ll immediately transition them back into a swing.

If they default back to swinging the bell too low, we’ll tell them to “throw it back above their knees” which is usually a quick fix.

Wrap Up

The KB Hike can be a great tool for teaching the starting and back position for a KB Swing and other hip hinging exercises. With any exercise, you can sometimes learn optimal technique faster by dissecting out the hardest part of the range of motion and focusing more on that.

If you have any questions about this exercise or concept, post them in the comments section below.

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!

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

Should you Foam Roll your IT Band?

Should you foam roll your IT band? This is a question that has perplexingly persisted at the forefront of arguments within the rehabilitation and fitness fields for several years.

The topic took social media, annoyingly, by storm last week, as everyone linked to a recent post from Dr. Andrew Franklyn-Miller: Ilio-Tibial Band: Please do not use a foam roller

To provide a quick backdrop, the iliotibial band (or IT Band) is a thickening in the fascia on the outside of your thigh. If fascia is an unfamiliar term, just think of the thin clear film that’s wrapped around your chicken breasts.

That white band is actually just a thickening of a tissue that encompasses the entire thigh and spreads continuously above and below throughout the entire body. (Image from athletico.com)

Fascia, like all structures within the human body, responds to stress. In an effort to provide improved lateral stability to help accommodate the loads of single-leg stance, the fascia lata (which surrounds the entire thigh), is thicker on the outside. This thickened band of tissue has been cut out with a scalpel in cadavers and given its own name (i.e. the IT Band), leading to a number of misunderstandings common to isolationist approaches to anatomy.

The IT band has direct connections to the gluteus maximus and the TFL (tensor fascia latae; one of your hip flexors), and extends down to blend with structures on the lateral knee.

Because it’s common for people to have lateral knee discomfort, the IT band often gets blamed as the culprit, leading to recommendations to smash the IT band with a foam roller, and then stretch it.

Clearly, this is a misguided approach. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the IT band doesn’t elongate appreciably (which Dr. Franklyn-Miller cites in his article), meaning you can’t really stretch it.

Further, blaming a thickened part of fascia for lateral knee pain without consideration to factors like ankle mobility, tibiofemoral rotation, hip range of motion, hip control, capacity of the muscles controlling the hip, leg, and foot, total volume of work placed on the system, among others, is about as sensible as Billy Madison’s take on Reflections of Society in Literature.

Of course, leave it to the internet to perpetuate a wide-spread over-reaction. This is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Just because the IT Band doesn’t elongate appreciably and likely has very little, if anything, to do with lateral knee pain, doesn’t mean using a foam roller on the lateral thigh doesn’t have value.

It’s interesting to me that so many people would ignore positive feedback from people that have foam rolled the area and have felt better both immediately afterwards, and over the long term. I imagine the conversation goes something like this:

Self-Proclaimed PubMed Expert (SPPME): “I know I told you to roll that area last week, but now you shouldn’t.”

Human: “But I actually feel a lot better after I do it.”

SPPME: “Yes, but last week I read an article on Facebook that says it doesn’t do anything.”

Human: “But I feel better after I do it.’

SPPME: “You’re not getting it. The article cited several studies that took a dead person’s leg through common orthopedic tests and it CLEARLY showed that the IT Band didn’t stretch.”

Human: “Did the cadaver foam roll?”

SPPME: “Of course not. Dead people can’t foam roll.”

Human: “Then I guess they couldn’t report feeling better afterward either. I’m outta here.”

Not so subtly hiding underneath the IT Band is the vastus lateralis, the biggest of your four quadriceps muscles. This muscle wraps around ~50% of your femur, from the middle of the front part all the way around to the middle of the back of your femur.

Image from http://www.corpshumain.ca

It, like every other muscle in your body, still has blood flow. It still has neural inputs and sensory receptors providing feedback about the resting tension in the muscle. It can still develop trigger points.

Foam rollers and other rolling implements, can generally be used to accomplish three things:

Facilitate circulation by rhythmically compressing the tissue, similar to “effleurage”, a common technique used in Swedish massage
Provide feedback to the nervous system about areas that may be harboring unnecessary tension
Attempt to address trigger points using pointed compression, similar to ischemic release techniques used commonly by manual therapists

ALL of these things can still be accomplished by rolling your lateral thigh. You can still roll this area, just don’t call it your IT band.

Even better, instead of plowing directly over your IT band, try rolling directly in front of it and directly behind it. This will allow you to more directly address your vastus lateralis, which is ultimately what you’re targeting when you roll the outside of your thigh anyway.

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!

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

Good News in Hockey

Last week I came across a few articles that I think fall into the “good for hockey” category. Check them out at the links below:

High school hockey player scores OT winner hours after father’s death from USA Today

I can’t imagine the emotional turmoil this kid was going through when he stepped on the ice for this game. It was great to see him bury the game winner, and all of the support he’s gotten from the hockey community at large. It really is a big family.

Here’s Johnny from the Players Tribune

I’ve enjoyed a lot of the Players Tribune articles and videos. This one is obviously of particular interest because of my work with John. This is a very well-articulated vantage point of what it takes to succeed as an under-sized or otherwise disadvantaged athlete. The key, I believe, to John’s success is that he took every “set back” as a challenge, which fueled him to work even harder to get better. This is highlighted by the quote:

“I was going to force people to ignore my size because of my production.” – Johnny Gaudreau

Image from Mark Zaleski/AP at http://www.calgarysun.com

Sometimes people tell you that you can’t accomplish something because they’ve never seen it before. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

John Scott Named MVP from ESPN

Not a lot that needs to be said here. This is a great outcome to what started as very bad PR for the league.

Daniel Sedin gives $125,000 to Canucks trainers from Van City Buzz

This is a quick read, but a great display of character from Daniel Sedin. The support staff as a whole arrives before and leaves after the players. The job requires exceptionally long selfless hours, and despite what you may think, many are severely underpaid. Great gesture here.

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!

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

3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Goalie Training

Goalies are weird.

Anyone that voluntarily chooses to make a living blocking hard rubber being shot at them as hard as possible is…different.

Yes, the equipment is cool. This is why most kids, including me for about 10 days when I was younger, want to be a goalie. But eventually, the reality of the position sets in.

It’s hard. It hurts. And you’re the only player that can really win or lose a game for your team.

From a personality and psychological perspective, goalies are different.

Image from http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3p6rr3

The demands of the position are also very different from other players.

This isn’t to say there aren’t ANY commonalities, but there are some distinct differences that can and should be considered when preparing goalies for the position.

Here are 3 simple ways to improve your goalie training:

1) STOP doing lactic work

Goalies need to be positionally sound, very explosive, and have the ability to repeat that explosiveness.

With this in mind, goalies are best served by focusing on alactic power (the ability to produce power as quickly as possible), alactic capacity (the ability to sustain high power outputs and repeat them consistently), and aerobic power (the ability to meet medium power output demands using primarily aerobic energy pathways).

Lactic work (think 20-45s intervals) leads to physical changes that directly compete with the qualities listed above. This is a necessary evil for forwards, and defenseman to a lesser extent, but completely non-specific for goalies.

If a goalie is working as hard as they can for 45-seconds consecutively, something has gone horribly wrong with the game plan. Odds are, they’ll never reach this length of work before a goal is scored or a puck is cleared or covered (e.g. a stoppage).

For the last few years, when we transition many of our skaters into a lactic phase to transition from off-season to the pre-season, we circle our goalies back into another phase intended to develop the ability to produce and repeat maximal power outputs. They NEVER do lactic work.

2) Bias your power work to lateral and single-leg movements

Players at all positions move laterally, but goalies move almost exclusively in lateral and diagonal (forward and backward) directions. Vertical jumping will have transfer, but lateral bounding, diagonal bounding, and rotational bounding are much more position-specific.

Quick deceleration and rotational power. The most goalie-specific exercise you can have without shooting a puck at him while he does it (don’t do that)Single-leg patterns like split squat jumps and step-up jumps are also suitable alternatives for double leg options, as these positions are helpful in developing a quicker return to stance or lateral push from a kneeling position.

As a related thought, forwards and defenseman will both benefit tremendously from using sprint starts and transitional sprint mechanics that involve a strong push-off through the inside foot. This inside foot pushing is used during all crossover and many change-of-direction patterns.

Lateral Wall March is a great exercise to teach inside leg drive

In stark contrast, if a goalie finds themselves with their feet crossed, something has gone horribly wrong.

3) Rotate goalies more frequently through drills

I’ve shown this graph before, but check out the heart rate responses below from a goalie in a game and in practice:

You don’t need a Doctorate in Sport Science to recognize that these things don’t look anything like one another. Practices aren’t designed for goalies, and this is a strong representation of how wrong it is.

Drills could be better catered to the needs of goalies by interspersing short periods of rapid flurries of shots with breaks (e.g. 30-60s). Some drills lend themselves to this interrupted tempo better than others.

An alternative is to rotate through goalies more regularly during high-tempo drills. In other words, if a drill is going to involve a continuous flow of shots, have goalies rotate in and out every 30-60s seconds depending on how many shots they can get during that time period.

If you’re a higher level team that carries 3 goalies, you can invite a 4^th goalie to help with practice so you can still rotate goalies in and out quickly if you’re running a drill at both ends. If this isn’t an option, set up the two starters at one end, and the 3^rd string goalie at the other, so the players most likely to start the games are being prepared most specifically for in-game demands.

The goal in all of these strategies is to emphasize quick, explosive movements while avoiding the required slowing down associated with longer duration work bouts.

Wrap Up

The goalie position could very well be the most important position on the team. Interestingly, it’s also the most neglected. The suggestions above will help make your goalie training more specific to the demands of the position. They’ll also help with buy-in, as the players will work harder when they know that efforts are being made to cater their program to their needs specifically.

Better prepared goalies competing harder. This is what I’d want back-stopping my team. These steps will help get you there.

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!

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

3 not-so-secrets to effective in-season recovery

Today I want to share another post from my friend Devan McConnell. I asked Devan to write a post on the 3 most important recovery strategies his team uses in-season, as his team consistently performs well coming down the home stretch of the season.

These are not glamorous, but they work.

3 Not-So Secrets to Effective In-Season Recovery by Devan McConnell

Recovery is a hot topic in sports performance.

Smart coaches understand that the goal of training is to improve performance, and that without sufficient recovery, improvement is unlikely at best and impossible at worst.

Thankfully, the idea of structured recovery work has become a much more widespread piece of the training process than it used to be.

However, where does one start? What is useful and what isn’t? Is it worth investing in gadgets and gimmicks, or are there more basic, tried-and-true strategies that work just as well? What really matters when games are on the line late in the season?

To be sure, there are tons of recovery “tools” and “technologies” on the market these days. And many of them work. Things like cryotherapy chambers, sensory deprivation tanks, hyperbaric chambers, and sequential compression garments are all fantastic tools that really can make a difference in high level athletics.

But do you have to break the bank to reap the benefits of recovery and regeneration? What if these just aren’t feasible? Is there no hope?

Well actually, these types of recovery tools should be thought of as the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

You see, even if you are an elite athlete competing on the highest stage, if you don’t take care of business with the basics, these fancy tools won’t make much of a difference. Just like athletic development, fundamentals are key. And the truth is, the fundamentals of recovery and regeneration will make a bigger impact than any technology when it comes to combating fatigue late in the season.

So what are the basics?

Here are my big 3 recovery strategies:

1) Sleep

Yes, sleep. Do you get 8 hours of sleep every night? No, you don’t. Do you really? Great, it’s still probably not enough.

You see, sleep is when your body goes through all of its restorative functions. Your brain, nervous system, muscular system, etc. all “heal” while you sleep.

More accurately, when you go through cycles of deep sleep or “REM” sleep, your hormonal system secretes Growth Hormone, and this is crucial in the recovery process. Sleep is the least fancy and most important “tool” in the recovery tool box. Just like we say about weight gain/loss, “you cant out train a bad diet”, you can’t “out recover bad sleep.”

At UMass Lowell, we encourage our athletes to strive for more than 8 hours of sleep per night, and set goals to sleep more than 10 during the late season/playoffs. We utilize sleep trackers to help inform our players of exactly how much sleep they are actually getting, and reinforce how important this is.

2) Post Workout Nutrition

If you aren’t taking care of this basic, easy to accomplish recovery tool, you really have no business worrying about anything else. There are a million products which are designed to fulfill the requirements of post workout nutrition (key: a mix of carbs and protein).

Even though current research is pointing more toward the importance of 24-hour nutrition over the immediate post-workout window, the reality is that the time immediately after activity is an easy one to influence and the easiest to control.

The best applied hockey nutrition manual ever: Ultimate Hockey Transformation

In fact, this can be as simple as downing a cup or two of chocolate milk right after training and practice. There really is no excuse not to get this simple recovery technique done. After every high intensity training session, you should be downing a post workout drink within 30 minutes. This means after strength and conditioning work, practice, and games.

Again…basics, basics, basics.

3) Foam Roll and Static Stretching

Once again, we are in the “not too sexy” category of recovery and regeneration techniques. But you have to be dedicated enough to spend 5 minutes getting your muscle tissue back to “neutral” everyday after training, practice, and games. A little goes a long way here too…its much better to consistently spend a few minutes every day doing this, then skipping it all week and then spending 45min after you are sore and tired trying to make up lost ground.

The idea is to both facilitate circulation to process the metabolic byproducts of activity, as well as address any areas where your nervous system may be holding unnecessary tension.

Wrap Up

So there you have it. The 3 fundamentals of recovery and regeneration. These are the basics that matter most. They are so important to our hockey program at UMass Lowell, our athletes don’t leave the rink each day without rolling, stretching, and having a chocolate milk. And they keep track of and report their sleep habits every morning. Once these fundamentals are all in place, we can begin to add in other tools to further enhance recovery. But until we are great at the basics, nothing else matters.

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!

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