Blogs

Claude Lemieux was always one of my least favorite players growing up. Don’t get me wrong, I respect him, but he was ALWAYS one of the most dominant players come play-off time, which was never good for the Flyers. It seemed like he’d have 30 points all season, then 25 in the playoffs. Lemieux joined […]

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Single-leg high force reduction followed by an explosive lateral or diagonal bound, followed by another single-leg high force reduction.  I love it.  You can progress this exercise by adding a high knee before the forward lunge (so you’ll be decelerating from a higher height, adding to the amount of force you’ll need to reduce) or […]

I have two weeks to finish up my research on motor unit synchronization and get ready to present it.  Free time is at an all time low, which means it’s a perfect time for Movie Appreciation Week.  It may not be what you think.  Each video will have a theme that somehow relates to performance […]

I think work capacity and alternating periods of static holds and explosive movements are essential training strategies for goalies. I do some traditional interval training on a bike with goalies, like I do with all hockey players, but I have a greater emphasis on iso-holds. I usually use a squat iso-hold, or a split squat […]

I think jump training is an effective way to improve lower body power development, and the ability to decelerate. Jump training gets a lot of emphasis because of the importance of maximizing force output while transitioning from a deceleration- to acceleration-based movement, or eccentric (muscle lengthening) to concentric (muscle shortening) contraction. This happens anytime you […]

The needs of an ice hockey goalie are very specific. They need to: · Be exceptionally powerful through the hips, especially in lateral and diagonal movements · Be quick through the upper body, notably in independent arm actions · Maintain a large amount of joint range of motion · Be able to maintain a squat-like […]

I recently started training a very talented goalie, with high aspirations. Her goal is to prepare herself physically to tryout for the Olympics. With this in mind, I think I should point out that I, as an athletic development coach, do not have any illusions of off-ice training making anyone Olympic-worthy. On-ice talent is by […]