Month: July 2022

Size vs. Strength

One thing I used to hear from a lot of hockey players is “my legs are big enough.”

In most cases, this was the player’s way of saying “lower body training is hard, and I don’t want to do it” but aside from the laziness, there’s a misconception that bigger means stronger.

Muscle size relates to the strength POTENTIAL, but a significant portion of strength is driven by the nervous system – in terms of improving coordination, maximizing activation, and minimizing inhibition.

In other words, for any given size, strength can vary widely; so strength training is important to maximize the ability to produce force REGARDLESS of whether gaining muscle is a priority.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Kevin Neeld, PhD (@kevinneeld)

There are 2 things that I love about this video:

1️⃣ Kyle hits an easy 3 reps at 205 at a body weight ~165lbs early in the off-season while he was in college. His relative strength was a key factor in his speed development.

2️⃣ When most players suffer an injury, they’re told to take time off while it heals. Kyle was back in the gym as soon as he got his cast put on, focusing on what he COULD do, instead of what he couldn’t. It’s this drive/leadership that lead to him becoming the first 2-time captain at Harvard since 1923.

As more and more team sport athletes prioritize speed development, improving relative strength should be a foundational training target.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. If you’re interested in year-round comprehensive hockey-specific training programs for players at different ages, check out Ultimate Hockey Transformation.

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Recovery and Training Adaptation Time Cycles

In making workload or recovery recommendations, it’s important to consider the timeline of the anticipated training/recovery response.

Recovery recommendations are often made with minimal consideration for the primary goal of the training phase or time an athlete has before they need to be recovered.

???? For example, cold water immersion can help reduce soreness/fatigue, increase parasympathetic tone, and better recover next-day measures of power. There’s also reason to believe cold water immersion will blunt the inflammation response to exercise, and compromise tissue adaptation.

???? The same method can be a great option for an athlete in-season with a competition the next day, and a poor option for an athlete in-season with >48 hours before their next competition or training to improve strength in the off-season.

In a similar context, workload monitoring and related recommendations to address specific physical capacities (e.g. additional high speed running or skating), overall volume, or recovery recommendations should be made with respect to layered time cycles and how they relate to short-term performance and recovery.

???? For example, if an athlete with a low overall volume of work over the previous week has a high-volume practice day, their NEW workload over the previous week will still likely be low, but the short-term fatigue response from the high-volume day may be significant and warrant either adjustments to their next day training volume or their recommended recovery strategies.

⚡ In contrast, an athlete with a typical or high volume of work over the previous week may still benefit from some day-before-competition priming strategy – (low volume of sprint, power or strength work).

???? Whether you start wide (looking at an athletes work over the previous 3+ weeks) and zoom in (work over 1-3 days), or start narrow and zoom out, it’s important to consider training and workload habits over various time cycles to better balance performance, training adaptation, and recovery.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For more information on in- and off-season program design, training and reconditioning for injured players, and integrating sports science into a comprehensive training process, check out Optimizing Adaptation & Performance

Enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Sports Performance and Hockey Training Newsletter!