I recently got a facebook message from a 12-year old hockey player in upstate New York. In the interest of anonymity, we’ll call him “Future Crosby”.

Future Crosby told me he’d been reading my website and really liked the information.  He asked if I had any recommendations for him regarding hockey training programs to help him become stronger and faster.

Of course I did! That’s my specialty.  When I asked if Future Crosby had read my Off-Ice Performance Training Course, he said no, but he’d love to check it out.

A couple days later Future Crosby sent me another message and said he was going to start saving up his own money now so that he could buy it.

I have to tell you, I was EXTREMELY impressed with his attitude.  Having paid for almost all of my equipment my whole life, I can relate to having to save money for a long period of time to get something you really want.

That got me thinking. I originally discounted the Off-Ice Performance Training Course to $97 (down from $200) because I wanted to make it available for EVERY hockey player and coach.  I didn’t want the price to stop anyone from getting all the information they need to develop effective off-ice training programs for themselves (hockey players) or their teams (hockey coaches).

It never occurred to me that there would be young players saving up their allowance and yardwork money to invest in their own development!

I’m an idiot.

Lucky for everyone, I’m an idiot with a pretty good learning curve.

I’m in the process of developing TWO new hockey training websites that will completely change the hockey industry.

I’ll fill you in on more details about one of those sites as I finalize everything.

While the second site is a work in progress as well, I am selling my Off-Ice Performance Training Course on it now, at a substantial discount.

You can now get my off-ice hockey training course for ONLY $47!

It’s a little late Future Crosby, but I hope it helps!

Click here to check out my new hockey training site. I’d love to get your feedback on it so post your thoughts below or shoot me an email.

To your continued success,

Kevin Neeld

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Picking right up where we left off:

KN: I can’t agree more. I’m an outspoken supporter of unconditional optimism, in sports and in life.  I know you went into great detail about this in your book “Best Hockey Season Ever”, fill us in on what hockey players can do to correct these performance-limiting attitudes?

KM: Players need to own their accomplishments and own their strengths. There is nothing wrong with saying “Thanks” after someone tells you that you played a great game. You aren’t being conceited – you are acknowledging your accomplishment. On the same note, players need to know what they are good at and commit to being the best at those things each and every time they are out on the ice. All too often, players get wrapped up and focus on their weaknesses instead of showcasing their strengths. Don’t get me wrong – players have to improve their weaknesses as well, but they also need to know what they are best at and commit to being the best at those things all the time. The negativity issue is a hard one to fix, but it can be as simple as getting players to stop slamming their stick against the boards in frustration after missing a sure goal. That’s a little step in the right direction that will get them to think about being more positive.

KN: Great point. Taking small steps and cutting back a few negative behaviors is a great way to start improving your playing mentality.  Most people are familiar with the fact that an off-ice training program can help improve the strength, speed, power, and conditioning of ice hockey players.  I’m a strong believer that these things are just the tip of the iceberg.  Do you notice changes in your players’ confidence and mental toughness after a few months of training?

KM: My favorite thing about off-ice training is the psychological benefit it gives players. I know that when I was a young player, I took great pride in the fact that none of the other girls I played with trained as hard as I did off the ice. I may not have been as skilled as them on the ice, but I knew that I was fitter, faster, and stronger. Quite often, when it comes to off-ice training, the most skilled player on the team isn’t the best athlete off the ice. Sometimes it’s the 4^th liner who is the most fit. While fitness isn’t the only thing that will get that player better on the ice, the confidence they will gain knowing that they are in the best shape will have tremendous benefits to their performance.

I felt the same way when I trained! As a 13 year-old I got cut from a Bantam Tier II 2^nd team! I remember training that whole year just knowing that nobody was working as hard as me off the ice, treating the whole world as my competition.  It sounds like that mentality paid off for both of us!

Thanks a lot for taking the time Kim!

For anyone that hasn’t already looked into this, Kim has put together the most comprehensive resource for youth hockey players that I’ve ever seen.  It includes step-by-step formulas to improve your training, nutrition, and mental preparedness.  It’s truly a must-have for dedicated hockey players (and coaches!).  Click here to read more about how Kim’s Book, “The Best Hockey Season Ever” can start helping you compete at a higher level.

-Kevin Neeld

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For those of you that don’t know Kim, she’s a BRILLIANT hockey coach that has invaluable insight into improving every aspect of your game on the ice (on-ice work, mental preparation, off-ice training, etc.).

She’s also the author of the ebook  Best Hockey Season Ever, a book I recommend to every hockey player and coach.

Kim and I recently spoke about one aspect of hockey training that can have a HUGE impact on performance that you may be overlooking.

Below is the first half of our interview:

KN: Kim, I’d like to start off by asking you a question that a teacher of mine once asked me: What percentage of hockey performance do you think is mental?

KM: I have two answers to this. In the beginning, when players are still acquiring basic skills, like skating, passing and shooting, that you might be at a 50-50% split between mental and physical. Once players have the ability to play the game without having to consciously think about performing the physical skills, I’d say we shift closer to a 70% mental and 30% physical split.  I’ve played with and against many players who were great practice players – but as soon as they had to think on the move during the course of their game, their skill all but disappears.

KN: I think we all have played with players like that! Considering that such a high percentage of performance is mental, what aspect of hockey players’ mentality do you notice is preventing them from playing their best?

KM: I would say the two biggest challenges for players on the mental side of the game are a lack of confidence and a negative attitude.  The lack of confidence issue I see more in girls hockey than in boys hockey, but it is a big issue in both games.  Players constantly downplay their accomplishments and allow the one or two little mistakes they made overshadow their overall performance.  I had a player score her first goal last season (she actually scored a hat-trick) and yet she was angry after the game because of one stupid pass she made on the power-play.

KM: Players will say things like, “I sucked today” or “I played the worst game ever” when they make a few mistakes out there.  Hockey is a game of mistakes and I can count on one hand the number of “perfect games” I played in my 10-year career.  I always made a few mistakes – the important thing is to move on as quickly as possible and focus on the next shift.  The negative attitude issue is huge in both boys and girls hockey.  It drives me crazy when players say, “I can’t do that”, “I can’t shoot a high backhand”, “I can’t score”.  Using the word “can’t” automatically puts you in a negative mindset and you basically give yourself permission to underperform on that skill.  I’m not saying players need to be 100% positive all the time, but there is never an instance where positivity will hurt you – and negativity always will.

Post your comments below and check back in the next couple days for the second half of the interview!

-Kevin Neeld

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One of the major training goals I hear from hockey players and coaches is to improve conditioning.
After all, being better conditioned than your competition will give you the advantage coming down the home stretch of the game.

My coach at Delaware always said, “Men are judged by how they finish!”.

While I’ll make the argument that a quick, explosive, fast team can build a huge lead in the first period and not need to lean on conditioning at the end of the game, I don’t think it hurts to be explosive AND well-conditioned.

With that being said, I don’t really think in-season is the time to DEVELOP conditioning.

The off-season and pre-season is really the time to focus on building a solid foundation of conditioning.

While I think some conditioning is appropriate year-round, it really only takes about 6 weeks for people to get in great hockey shape (overweight athletes may require more conditioning in the pursuit of fat loss).

Once you’re in great shape, most of that can be maintained through on-ice practices if they’re structured the right way, and games.

Adding a significant amount of conditioning during the season, especially when you’re on the ice 4+ times a week, increases your risk of overtraining (and under recovering).

In-season training should focus on improving strength and explosiveness, while actively facilitating recovery (through soft-tissue work, stretching, proper nutrition and hydration, and getting adequate sleep).

Regardless of the time of year, it’s important that you  perform the RIGHT kind of conditioning.

Hockey training expert Michael Boyle just released a great video on conditioning that you should definitely watch.

Click here to hear Coach Boyle talk about how one change in the type of conditioning he did with his hockey players made a HUGE impact.

-Kevin Neeld

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On Monday I got a nice present in the mail.

My mentor, colleague, and friend Chris Boyko (Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at UMass Amherst) mailed me back my Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson.

It was like Christmas morning when I opened that. It’s still by far my favorite training resource ever.

Every time I recommend that someone get it, I get the same response: “I’d really like to get it; it’s just so expensive!”.

I’ll save you the mystery; it’s a $200 investment.

It’s certainly not cheap…but it shouldn’t be.

My college tuition and associated expenses were over $150,000 in my combined 6 years of collegiate studies (4 years as an undergraduate at University of Delaware and 2 in grad school at UMass Amherst).

$150,000!!!!

And both of those schools have relatively reasonable tuitions (not $50,000+ a year like some).

Having invested $150,000 and thousands of hours in my education, I can’t help but laugh when people say $200 is a lot.

I learned more practical, instantly usable information in Eric and Mike’s 8-DVD set (that I watched in one day) than I did in all my years at college.

I wouldn’t recommend dropping out of school (at least not yet-I’ll spare my “college education is the biggest rip-off out there” rant for another day), but you’d have to be foolish not to invest in Building the Efficient Athlete.

-Kevin Neeld

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