Blogs

If general warm-up and mobility work doesn’t open up sufficient range of motion, it’s possible the athlete needs to “create” motion by adding length to the tissue. A key stimulus for adding sarcomeres in series (i.e. length to a muscle) is to hold a stretched position for 2+ minutes. The “Box Quad PNF” allows players […]

We often hear about the importance of building an aerobic base early in the off-season to help establish an ability to better tolerate higher training volumes moving forward. The reality is that the characteristics of the “base” should be specific to the athlete AND to future training phases.For example, the “aerobic” base for a marathon […]

A 2013 study from Philippon et al. found that over 1/3 of 10-12 year old hockey players have a structural change in their hips that limits hip flexion range of motion. Roughly 1/2 have hip labral tears. To your success, Kevin NeeldSpeedTrainingforHockey.comHockeyTransformation.comOptimizingAdaptation.com P.S. For more information on how to assess movement and integrate specific strategies […]

Great post on taking a broader view on ankle mobility from @timlebbossiere. Give these a shot, and feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit. From TIm: One of the things I’ve strived to get better at over the years is finding meaningful ways […]

The Alternating MiniBand Elvis is another exercise we integrate into our prep work.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Kevin Neeld, PhD (@kevinneeld) There are a couple things this exercise can help accomplish: 1️⃣ Help athletes […]

Over the last 10 years, there’s been a wide-spread emphasis on “high intensity interval training” to improve conditioning in team sport athletes. Recently, there’s been more attention paid to the importance of repeat sprint ability (i.e. clustered maximum efforts with incomplete rest before longer periods of lower intensity activity or complete rest), either as the […]

The 90-Degree MiniBand Step-Out is an exercise we’ll integrate into our prep work both in the off-season and during the year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kevin Neeld, PhD (@kevinneeld) The goal here is to teach the player to “hold strong” on the front side knee as they open-up in the […]

Coaching is a people business. Click here to share: Future of Sport Performance To your success, Kevin NeeldSpeedTrainingforHockey.comHockeyTransformation.comOptimizingAdaptation.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 […]

Stumbled upon this picture the other day of the “Commitment Continuum.” This was something Dr. Colleen Hacker shared with USA Hockey’s Women’s National Team, and serves as a powerful tool for all team sport athletes to self-evaluate their own commitment. The off-season is a time when players in all sports can completely re-invent themselves through […]

One of the primary goals of the early off-season is to re-establish full joint range of motion and control. A consistent (i.e. daily) focus on hip mobility work during the season can help players maintain their range of motion throughout the year; however, for players that are NOT consistently doing this work, it’s normal to […]