Complete Sports Nutrition Interview

Today I’m excited to share a quick interview I recently did with sports nutrition expert Dr. Chris Mohr. In addition to being a fellow UMass alumn, Dr. Mohr has an impressive professional background, including being a consulting Sports Nutritionist for the Cincinnati Bengals and an Expert Contributor to Reebok. He’s a Nutrition Spokesperson and Consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including – Discovery Health Channel, The Dairy Council, Clif Bar, & Nordic Naturals. He often appears on TV as a nutritional guest expert, including an appearance with Chef Emeril Lagasse. Lastly, he’s on the Advisory Board for Men’s Fitness Magazine and has written over 500 articles for consumer publications, such as Men’s Fitness, Weight Watchers, Men’s Health and Fitness, to name a few.

Needless to say, Dr. Mohr knows his stuff. He recently released Complete Sports Nutrition, a video series geared specifically toward delivering applied sports nutrition information for youth athletes. Complete Sports Nutrition is on sale for 50% off through the end of this week so if you’re interested in grabbing a copy, check it out today.

Click here for more information: Complete Sports Nutrition

KN: Dr. Mohr, let’s dive right in. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see youth athletes make with their nutrition?

CM: Youth athletes don’t often make the connect between nutrition and performance. Most start the day without even eating breakfast. In fact, one time when giving a talk to one of the top ranking HS football teams in the country, I asked how many of them ate breakfast that morning. With close to 80 people in the room — 3 raised their hand. Now this talk was supposed to be about dietary supplements, but I asked that first because no supplement in the world will replace what’s lost in the diet. This is where youth athletes need ideas for quick and easy meals. Research shows they’re tired, stressed, bored and rushed; breakfast therefore is the last thing on their mind. A cup of Greek yogurt 2 minutes before leaving can work. Trail mix can work. A peanut butter and banana sandwich. They need quality calories, protein and some carbohydrates. There are a lot of options; it doesn’t need to be fancy.

KN: Speaking of supplements, what is your stance on supplements for youth athletes?

CM: I like to give and take a bit here. Young athletes will respond better to someone who listens versus someone who simply tells them “no.” Ask why they’re wondering about the particular supplement(s). Who they heard about them from and what they think it will do for them. This is another chance to talk about nutrition, but then a little give and take here – a protein supplement is certainly safe – share some great smoothie recipes. Fish oil is certainly safe and has merit. A multivitamin can also have some value. It doesn’t need to be as black and white as “supplements are good” or “no kids should be taking supplements.” The most important thing is that many youth athletes are interested in supplements and this offers an opportunity to discuss nutrition with them.

KN: If you had to make a single recommendation, what ONE dietary change do you think most youth athletes would benefit from?

CM: As I mentioned above, the overwhelming majority of youth athletes aren’t eating breakfast. Eating breakfast, EVERY DAY, will have the biggest impact on overall health and performance for most kids. They need to start the day with quality calories to “get their engine” running.

For more information on Dr. Mohr’s new program, check out this link: Complete Sports Nutrition

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

Common Hockey Training Mistakes & Hockey Training Podcast

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you’re just getting CRUSHED with work?

Last week I had to wrap up some work (basically “Finals”) for my Applied Sports Science and Technology & Informatics classes as part of my doctorate program, make some last minute preparations for our upcoming wedding in Costa Rica on December 5th (…can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away), and do some mid-season testing on our junior team.

It was in the middle of this that I learned all of the media files on all of my product sites were blocked, which is slightly worse than worst case scenario.

After a long weekend of work, I’m excited to say that all of the sites are up and running again and that the dust has settled a bit. To celebrate making it through the experience without doing anything brash, like deleting all of my websites out of frustration…or smashing my computer through the floor), and with Black Friday right around the corner, I’ve decided to offer my Ultimate Hockey Transformation “Olympic Package” at a substantial discount. This package features Ultimate Hockey Transformation, the accompanying nutrition manual (which I still consider the best hockey nutrition resource available today), and my book Ultimate Hockey Training.

If purchased separately, this package would cost $182.

Until Friday at midnight, you can get access to all of the material for only $67.

This is less than the price of any of the Ultimate Hockey Transformation packages alone, so even if you’ve already bought my book, this is a great deal.

If you’ve already invested in these products, feel free to pass this offer along to a friend that you think would benefit.

Common Hockey Training Mistakes & Hockey Training Radio Feature

A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article for our Endeavor Sports Performance website on 3 common hockey training mistakes and how to avoid them. The article sparked a lot of conversation (even some spirited debates) through social media, so I wanted to share it with you.

I was also recently a guest on Mike Robertson’s Physical Preparation Podcast. Mike is one of my most trusted resources in the field, and his podcast is arguably the best training podcast out there. Needless to say, I was humbled to be a guest on it. On the show, we discussed:

My background and how I got started in hockey.
What originally led me to the world of physical preparation.
My “Big Rocks” when it comes to athletic development.
The physical tools and traits I would bestow upon a perfect hockey player (if I could create one)!
Thoughts on anaerobic/glycolytic development for hockey players, and why this may NOT be the best way to train them.
How I deal with the short off-season in pro hockey, and attempt to balance true time off with getting back into shape.
My experience working with USA Hockey.
The BIG Question.
And of course a scintillating lightning round, where Mike asks me my favorite hockey team, my favorite non-hockey sport, and much more!

You can check out the article and the podcast at the links below:

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

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Get the Ultimate Hockey Transformation Olympic Package 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 “Olympic Package”

“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

Hockey Hip Injury Prevention Project

A while back I consulted with the Foundation for Goalie Research and Education on their Hockey Hip Injury Prevention Project.

FGRE is an organization that I was introduced to by Molly Schaus, long-time member of USA Hockey’s Women’s National Team. The goal for this particular project was to help create a simple, equipment-free warm-up that goalies could perform on a regular basis to help minimize their risk of future hip injury. While this is designed with the goalie in mind, these exercises would also benefit players at all positions.

Molly did a great job with this, so I wanted to share it with you. Please pass this along to other players and coaches, as these types of exercises can make a big impact on your long-term health and durability.

Check it out here: Hip Injury Prevention Project

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

11 Speed Training Tips

A couple weeks ago Endeavor held its first ever “Social Media Takeover” that specifically dove into the topic of speed training. Today I wanted to share 11 of the speed training tips we shared on that day. Check out the Endeavor Sports Performance Instagram page for more training tips and exercise videos.

If you train athletes, I’d strongly encourage you to check out Lee Taft’s Certified Speed and Agility Coach program. In it, he lays out a comprehensive speed development system, outstanding movement progressions, and HIGHLY effective coaching cues. Since reviewing Lee’s material, we’ve made several changes to the way we teach, progress, and coach speed development in our athletes. Well worth the investment!

1) Speed development in youth athletes starts by understanding their stage of development. Kids respond better to certain training stimuli at different ages and maximizing the work they’re most receptive to will lead to more significant progress.

2) Profiling the specific movement demands of a sport is important to identify limiting factors to speed development and to design more sport-specific transitional speed exercises.

Movement analysis helps identify functional limitations to more optimal patterns and should drive programming for a more sport-specific transfer

3) The top pictures show a sprint initiation with a back foot push emphasis, which leads to an incomplete drive off the front foot and a low foot position on the swing through (see how close right foot is to ground). Bottom pictures show a teaching progression we use to emphasize front foot push-off. Note the more complete extension on the left leg and how much higher the right foot is after it swings through, leading to a more powerful second stride.

Emphasizing a strong front leg push is crucial for a quick start

4) Quick feet training is NOT speed training. Michael Flatley has the quickest feet in the world. Usain Bolt is the fastest in the world. One moves feet fast, but doesn’t move the body at all. The other produces extreme amounts of force with each stride to propel his body forward. Very different training implications.

5) One of the keys to a quick start is an aggressive arm action. Throwing the front hand back will reflexively drive a stronger first push coming out of the gate.

6)Not all speed training needs to look like speed training. This med ball throw variation is great for teaching a powerful front foot drive, full hip extension and a counter-rotation through the shoulders.

7) Optimizing movement efficiency increases speed and endurance by minimizing internal resistance to movement. It uses more effort and energy to run/skate with bad technique.

Slide taken from my presentation at the 2015 NHL Strength and Conditioning Coaches Conference

8) One of the most common mistakes while performing butt kickers is swinging the foot back behind the butt instead of pulling the heel up directly under the hip, which more directly mimics the pull through action of sprinting.

Pull the heel under the hip, not around the back.

9) Assessing the primary barriers to an INDIVIDUAL’S speed development should create the foundation for a more specific training program. These are the primary considerations for speed training.

Slide taken from my presentation at the 2015 NSCA Training for Hockey Clinic

10) A lot of athletes will actually run faster when told to run at 95% than they will at 100%. Simply, the desire to run at max effort causes the athlete to hold more tension in their muscles which slows down their movement. One of the best cues to help an athlete let go of excessive tension is to “relax your face”.

11) Sprinting posture can be taught with a Wall March, reinforced with a Sled March and integrated with a 2-point sprint start. Learn slow before you add speed to a movement.

Feel free to post any questions/comments you have below. If you’re interested in more hockey-specific speed training drills and information, 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!

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

Sleep and Sports Performance: Part 2

Part 2 of the Sleep and Sports Performance series will dive into specific recommendations to improve your sleep quality, including a cool trick to make your brain think you’re tired, and a few effective supplements you’ve never heard of. If you missed Part 1, you can check it out here: Sleep and Sports Performance: Part 1

The Foundation of Quality Sleep

Improving your sleep quality is a lot like improving your diet. The best strategy is master the basics, and then use more advanced strategies to troubleshoot individual deficiencies. With this in mind, these are the biggest “bang for your buck” strategies to immediately improve your sleep:

Make sure your room is completely black (e.g. no internal or external light at all) and cool
Stop using electronics, including TVs, computers, and cell phones ~30-60 minutes before bedtime
Put your phone on silent and turn it face down on your nightstand so it doesn’t make sound, vibrate or light up while you’re sleeping. “Do Not Disturb” mode will keep the phone quiet, but will still allow your alarm to go off.
Attempt to go to sleep and wake up within an hour of the same time each night.

Of these, the minimal electronic use is likely the recommendation that will be met with the most resistance. Your body naturally produces melatonin, a hormone that most people are familiar with as a sleep supplement, in anticipation of darkness. When you expose your eyes to light, particularly blue light from electronics, it inhibits melatonin release and essentially signals to your body that you need to stay awake.

“I SnapChat because I can’t sleep. And I can’t sleep because I SnapChat.”

Further, electronics that require interaction (e.g. everything except TV) lead to difficulties falling asleep and less refreshing sleep (Gradisar, Wolfson, Harvey, Hale, Rosenberg, & Czeisller, 2013).

Just as you can tell whether the lights in a room are on or off even with your eyes closed, your eyes perceive light even while you sleep. Even if your phone is on silent, if it lights up on your bedstand, it will still have a stimulatory effect and pull you out of deeper levels of sleep. Naturally, the same is true of lights coming through the window or from alarm clocks. Complete darkness is essential for optimal sleep.

Hacking Your Sleep

If you follow the above recommendations and are still struggling to get restful sleep, these are effective strategies worth the time and financial investment to try.

1) Take a nap

A complete sleep cycle lasts ~90 minutes. However, Thun et al. (2015) point out that 30-minute naps are effective at restoring performance to a higher level compared to a no-nap condition. From a practical standpoint, this means that naps should be ~20-30 minutes or ~90 minutes. Waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle is why many people feel groggy when they wake up; avoid the 45-75 minutes time zones.

2) Take a quick warm shower before bed

It is easier to fall asleep when your core temperature is low (Waterhouse, Fukuda, & Morita, 2012). Intuitively, you might think jumping in a cold tub would help facilitate this process. However, Rattray et al. (2015) commented that cold-water immersion had no effect on sleep measures, but increasing skin temperature did. This may be a combination of heat having a soothing/calming effect on the body and the fact that after heat, the body’s temperature needs to drop to restore homeostasis. This falls into the “try both and see what you like better” category.

3) Change your diet

According to Halson (2014), eating a meal with carbohydrates ~1-4 hours before bedtime can decrease the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, increase REM sleep, and decrease light sleep, and low protein diets impair Deep Sleep. There are a lot of considerations in optimizing your diet, but for sleep purposes it appears that making sure you get sufficient quality food throughout the day and eating a small carbohydrate-based meal for dinner (or post-game) will help optimize your sleep quality. This isn’t a free pass to punish a box of cereal right before you brush your teeth; food quality still matters. A “carbohydrate-based meal” may just mean a small chicken breast along with a sweet potato, and large serving of vegetables.

4) Fall asleep faster with brain “entrainment”

Sleep zones, and all states of being, are associated with different frequencies of brain wave activity. For example, Deep Sleep is characterized by “delta frequencies” at 0.5-2.0 Hz. Brain activity within certain bands can be stimulated through auditory stimulation. This simply involves playing two sounds at different frequencies in each headphone, such that the difference in their frequencies falls within the range of the target brain activity. In other words, if we wanted to stimulate 2.0 Hz activity, we could put a 6.0 Hz tune in one ear, and a 4.0 Hz tune in the other. 6.0-4.0= 2.0.

Assuming you, like me, have no idea how to do this on your own, you can download an app called “Neuroathlete”, which allows you to select the desired outcome (in this case “Rest and Recover” and it will play the appropriate tunes for you. It also lets you superimpose “sounds of nature” tunes on top of the humming of the different frequencies. Abeln, Kleinert, STruder, & Schneider showed that this technology had a positive impact on the sleep patterns of youth soccer players (2014), and given the cost, it’s definitely worth trying. I’ve used this personally and had several athletes use it as well.

5) Supplement

Most sleep-related supplements receive mixed reviews. Tryptophan in doses as low as 1g has been shown to improve sleep quality (Halson, 2014). Magnesium supplementation, which has a relaxing effect on the nervous system, improves sleep time and sleep efficiency (the amount of time spent asleep while in bed; Abbasi et al., 2012). Valerian is an herb that has a similar calming effect on the nervous system, and results in improved self-reported sleep quality (Halson, 2014). Lastly, L-theanine is an amino acid that may help promote relaxation.

Some of these ingredients can be found combined together. For example, I really liked Poliquin’s UberMag Plus Px, which has magnesium and tryptophan.

The end of sleep trouble

6) Sleep More

Lastly, you may just need to sleep more. Two studies have shown that lengthening sleep duration have had significantly positive outcomes on speed and skill-related performances in basketball players (Mah, Mah, Kezirian, & Dement, 2012) and swimmers (Mah, 2008).

Wrap Up

Sleep can have a profound impact on your physical and mental performance. Use the sleep “hacks” in this article to help optimize your sleep, and troubleshoot issues as they arise.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

References:

Abbasi, B., Kimiagar, M., Sadeaghniiat, K., Shirazi, M., Hedayati, M, & Rashidkhani, B. (2012). The effect of magnesium supplementation on primary insomnia in elderly: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 17(12), 1161-1169.

Abeln, V., Kleinert, J., Struder, H., & Schneider, S. (2014). Brainwave entrainment for better sleep and post-sleep state of young elite soccer players – A pilot study. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(5), 393-402.

Czeisler, C. (2011). Impact of Sleepiness and Sleep Deficiency on Public Health – Utility of Biomarkers. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 7(5), S6-S8.

Gradisar, M., Wolfson, A., Harvey, A., Hale, L, Rosenberg, R. Czeisler, C. (2013). The Sleep and Technology Use of Americans: Findings from the National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America Poll. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 9(12), 1291-1299.

Halson, S. (2014). Sleep in Elite Athletes and Nutritional Interventions to Enhance Sleep. Sports Medicine, 44, S13-S23.

Mah, C., Mah, K., Kezirian, E., & Dement, W. (2011). The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. Sleep, 34(7), 943-950.

Mah, C. (2008). Extended sleep and the effects on mood and athletic performance in collegiate swimmers. Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, June 9; Baltimore, MD.

Rattray, B., Argus, C, Martin, K., Northey, J., & Driller, M. (2015). Is it time to turn our attention toward central mechanisms for post-exertional recovery strategies and performance? Frontiers in Physiology, 6(79), 1-14.

Reyner, L, & Horne, J. (2013). Sleep restriction and serving accuracy in performance tennis players, and effects of caffeine. Physiology & Behavior, 120, 93-96.

Thun, E., Bjorvatn, B., Flo, E., Harris, A., & Pallesen, S. (2015). Sleep, circadian rhythms, and athletic performance. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 23, 1-9.

Waterhouse, J., Fukuda, Y., & Morita, T. (2012). Daily rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 31, 5-18.

Wright, Jr., K., Drake, A., Frey, D., Fleshner, M., Desouza, C., Gronfier, C., Czeisler, C. (2015). Influence of sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment on cortisol inflammatory markers, and cytokine balance. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 47, 24-34.

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