Tag: hockey training

This Week in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

I hope you’ve had a great week. I started massage school on Wednesday, and was happy to hear that I was able to test out of the two Anatomy and Physiology classes they have in the first semester. I’m hoping to test out of a business class over the Summer too. It should make tackling the program a bit more realistic given an already chaotic schedule.

This week strayed a bit from the traditional content topics here, as I was excited to announce the release of two great products. It seems like great products tend to launch in clumps, which makes it difficult for people on a limited budget to choose which direction they want to go. Either way, Eric Cressey’s lower body assessment video is completely free so be sure to check it out! Here’s what you’ve missed over the past week:

Outwork Everyone (MUST READ FOR ALL PLAYERS!)
Elite Training Mentorship (Read this to get Cressey’s Assessment Video)
Body By Boyle Online in the Palm of Your Hands (Outstanding resource now more accessible than ever)

I’ve been busy over at HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com this week too. Check out what you’ve missed over the last week!

Exercise Video: Chin-Ups from Sean Skahan
In this mini-article and video, Sean outlines a change he’s made to how he teaches/coaches chin-ups, which are an exercise that should be in the programs of almost all hockey players. Great tip from a coach that’s been in the NHL for 10 years now!

Hockey Training Program: 2-Day In-Season Training: Phase 4 from me
This is the 4th Phase of our in-season training program. I wrote this program for the midget teams I train, and it was originally scheduled to be the last one entering the holidays. Because of tournament weeks, and unplanned deload weeks, we actually didn’t get to it until this month, which is fine. It will likely be the last “high intensity” program of the year, as the final phase or two will have only sporadic high intensity lifts. The home stretch is the time to minimize non-hockey stresses and focus everything on the ice. It’s peaking time!

Youth Hockey Training Program: Youth Hockey Training Program Phase 2 from me
This is the second phase of the in-season program I wrote for the ’00-’02 birth years we train. The idea is to begin to implement a little bit of structured training, while being aware of their sensitive periods for the development of specific training qualities, AND in allowing them to have some fun. At this age, it’s important to remember that they’re likely going to base their opinions on training (and potentially physical activity in general) on how much fun they do or don’t have during their off-ice training. Fun is the number one priority, but some of that is delivered in how we coach, not necessarily in the exercise selection (although mirror shuffles are fun for kids!). You’ll have to excuse the demonstration of this particular drill from Matt and Karl. It looks like they were shuffling through quicksand!

Hockey Strength Podcast: Anthony Renna interviews Darryl Nelson
Anthony really does a great job with these. In episode 2 of the Hockey Strength Podcast, Anthony speaks with Darryl about set and rep schemes in hockey training programs, hockey conditioning, and several of Darryl’s articles. Be sure to give this a listen!

If you have some extra time on your hands, last week’s update featured a ridiculous amount of content, so go back and read through anything you haven’t finished!

More hockey training content here >> Last Week in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

That’s a wrap for today. As always, if you aren’t a member yet, I encourage you to try out Hockey Strength and Conditioning for a week. It’ll only cost $1, and if it’s not the best buck you’ve ever spent, I’ll personally refund you!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

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This Week in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

This has been a great week for us at Endeavor. We had a handful of new sign-ups and a number of returners join us. I also am in discussions with a few different people about exciting projects, but it’s too early to say anything definitive. I do have an exciting announcement for personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, and those of you that passionately train yourself, so stay tuned for that early next week.

Since our last Hockey Strength and Conditioning update, I’ve added quite a bit of content here. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out:

Hopefully you’ve been keeping up over the last couple of weeks so that list isn’t too overwhelming!

We’ve been busy over at HockeySC.com over the last few weeks as well. Check out what you’ve been missing:

Articles

Youth Hockey Training Blueprint: Part 3 from me
AC Joint Injuries in Hockey from Anthony Donskov
Using Kettlebells in Professional Hockey from Sean Skahan
The Mechanistic Connection Between the Trunk, Hip, Knee, and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury from Timothy Hewett and Gregory Myer

The Youth Hockey Training Blueprint wraps up a 3-part series on how I’ve gone about designing and implementing training programs for an entire youth hockey organization with minimum equipment and space, and an unfavorable coach:athlete ratio. This series is probably the best real-world look at youth off-ice training for youth coaches and parents that are charged with the formidable task of development an off-ice training program for their kids.

Sean’s kettlebell article is fantastic. I’ve been following Sean’s work for years, and he continues to be a great teacher for me. This may be his best article ever. He goes into detail on how he implements specific kettlebell exercises and what the advantages/disadvantages of the exercises are in his setting. If you didn’t know, Sean also released two great DVDs called “Kettlebell Lifting for Hockey” and “Slideboard Training for Hockey“, which are worth checking out.

Exercise Videos

TRX Core Exercises from Mike Potenza
Vertimax Exercises for Hockey Players from me

These videos both display multiple exercises that can be strategically applied at various times of the year. As with any exercise, it’s important to put these in perspective and recognize when it’s appropriate to use them and when it’s not. Simply plugging “cool exercises” into your program will rarely work and will often hurt, if the broader perspective of the exact goals of a specific training phase are not considered. For the most part, all of the exercises in my video are ones we use in the off-season.

Training Programs

Off-Season 2011 Phase 4 Strength Training from Sean Skahan
Return From Holiday Break from Darryl Nelson
Muscle Endurance Workouts for Goaltenders from Mike Potenza

Great programs from some of the best in the business. It was interesting to see how Mike incorporated some of the Olympic lifting progressions into the warm-ups of his goalie training program. With that said, I also think it’s worth pointing out that there’s very little about this program that comes off as “goalie-specific”, and I mean that in a positive way. Hockey goalies are still a population that falls victim to the over-hyped circus-like training trends out there. Goalies need to be mobile, strong, explosive, and have great work capacity, just like all hockey players. This means they need to lift, they need to do plyometric work, and they need to train hard in general. Stretching and chasing reaction balls all over the place won’t quite cut it!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

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UCAN Perform, Look, and Feel Better!

I hope you and your family had a great new year! Last week we wrapped up the highlights of 2011. If you missed those posts, you can check them out at the links below:

4 Pillars of Athletic Success
While I was in Minnesota, I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Colleen Hacker speak to the players and staff about mental preparation. Her entire 2-hour talk was nothing short of riveting, and was one that I think every athlete should hear (probably more than twice). One of the things she mentioned was the idea of there being four pillars to athletic success:

Technical Preparation
Tactical Preparation
Mental Preparation
Strength and Conditioning/Nutrition

Simply, a failure to fully realize any of these categories will widen the player and/or the team’s “Performance Gap”, the difference between their current performance level and where it could be. Focusing on the last category, there are a lot of athletes that make huge sacrifices to train hard in the off-season and even during the most rigorous times of their season to ensure that they are continually progressing toward their goals and toward their full potential. A HUGE proportion of these athletes go on to practice and compete with a COMPLETE neglect for proper nutrition. The same can be said for athletes that work exceptionally hard (and smart) all season long for a complete neglect for proper nutrition. They’re passively widening their Performance Gap.

Proper nutrition can mean a lot of things-food selection, food timing, consistency, etc. One area that I think is especially important is activity-related nutrition. In other words, to perform at their best, athletes need to properly fuel themselves before, and even DURING the event. In this regard, I think there is one solution that is far superior to the alternative options out there!

Perform Better, Lose Body Fat, and Have More Energy!

Generation UCAN offers a revolutionary sports drink that is taking professional, collegiate and recreational sports by storm, and for good reason. Typical sports drinks provide a simple carbohydrate source (basically energy in the form of a sugar derivative) that causes a fast, relatively large spike in bloog sugar levels. Unfortunately, this energy supply is short-lived, can have a negative rebound effect (lower blood sugar than before the drink), and blunts the body’s ability to burn fat in the process.

In contrast, Generation UCAN’s products have a time-release effect. This serves to provide an energy supply over a long period of time, avoid the negative effects of a plummet in energy supply, and allow the body to rely on fat as a primary fuel source. It is possible to train the body to rely more heavily on fat for energy (which is in more plentiful supply than carbohydrates and many of the other fuel sources for high intensity activities) by having a well-developed aerobic system. That said, ingesting a sugar supplement (like most sports drinks) will cause a spike in blood sugar, which causes a spike in insulin and consequent blunting of the body’s ability to rely on fat for fuel, REGARDLESS of training status. In other words, it is best to attack this issue from a training AND nutrition standpoint to ensure that you can perform at a high level, consistently and without wear.

Notice UCAN’s consistent, long-lasting energy supply (red) compared to a typical sports drink’s spike and crash (blue)

Note the higher level of fat burning after consuming UCAN (red) compared to a typical sports drink (blue)

In short, Generation UCAN has created a safe, healthy supplement that provides long-lasting energy AND promotes fat burning. It’s the perfect solution for all athletes, and even for the “desk jockeys” out there that may need a mid-day energy boost.

Until the end of the month, Generation UCAN is offering an exclusive 25% discount for you on ALL of their products. To take advantage of this great offer, simply follow these 4 easy steps:

Click this link: Generation UCAN
Click the “UCAN Shop” button on the upper left
Click on each of the products you’re interested in on the left hand column and add them to your cart
On the checkout summary page, enter the coupon code “competehard”

Nutrition can have a profound impact on your performance, body composition and overall energy and well being. Generation UCAN offers a truly revolutionary option that will have you playing, looking, and feeling better than ever before!

To your continued success in 2012!

Kevin Neeld

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2011 in Review

With 2012 officially upon us, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year, which was the busiest year of my life.

I knew 2011 was going to be an interesting year based on how it started. On New Year’s Eve last year, Emily and I went out with a group of our friends to a bar/restaurant in Center City Philadelphia to celebrate the occasion. At the end of the night, Emily wasn’t feeling too hot so we left early to grab a cab home. Unfortunately, and very uncharacteristically, there wasn’t a cab in sight. Apparently the other ~100,000 people in the city that night also decided they didn’t want to walk home in the sub-freezing weather. After 5 minutes of futile searching, we decided to huff it ~1 mile through the city to our apartment. About 23 feet into that journey, Emily was shaking because she was so cold. Dresses don’t make great windbreakers. At a loss for resources, I offered for her to wear my khakis to help warm her up, which she graciously accepted. 2011 kicked off with a freezing, pant-less saunter through the city! About a quarter of the way home, a clever gentleman yelled, “I guess we know who wears the pants in that relationship!”

All partial nudity aside, 2011 has been an exciting year for me. In addition to being swelteringly hot, the Summer was extremely busy.

Keeping cool in our 3rd floor Philadelphia apartment

Our off-season hockey group at Endeavor included 41 elite players from the Tier I youth level through those competing for NHL jobs, the majority of which were Junior A and NCAA players. This is in addition to the dozens of youth players we had. Naturally, with all of the assessments, individualized corrective work, and ongoing program management, our off-season hockey group kept me pretty busy over the Summer! I’m very proud of the work these guys put in over the Summer, and to see the growth in players competing at elite levels from the Mid-Atlantic area since I was a player. I always joke with people that I run a hockey-specific training facility in the hockey hot-bed of South Jersey. The Mid-Atlantic still isn’t Minnesota or Quebec, but the sport has grown tremendously over the last 15 years and as more players gain recognition from the area, it will continue to do so.

The kids took their liberties when I lifted all dress code policies for the last day of the off-season

Superimposed on this off-season group was my most concentrated continuing education efforts to date. From June 3^rd through December 1^st, I completed one home study course, attended 6 seminars, and 3 certification programs. These included trips to Boston, Chicago, New York City, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Lincoln, Nebraska. This was on top of the two trips I made to Blaine, MN and one trip to Quinnipiac University to help with the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team camp testing and strength and conditioning, a trip to San Jose to help with the Sharks’ Training Camp, and a trip to San Diego with Emily to relax for a few days. Needless to say, I’ve gotten to know the Philadelphia airport!

Me and Coach Boyle at the Perform Better Summit in Chicago

In the midst of the busiest year of my life, the release of my new book Ultimate Hockey Training stands out as the highlight of the year. Ultimate Hockey Training, which is only a few months old at this point, has sold extremely well and has received outstanding feedback from parents, coaches, and sports medicine professionals from all over the world. I appreciate all of your feedback and help in spreading the word. In 2012, I’m going to make a bigger push to improve the book’s exposure in hockey pro shops, super stores, and magazines. If you’re interested in selling it at your location and/or have any other ideas on how to make more people aware of it, I’d love to hear from you! Just shoot me an email and we can work through the details.

The Ultimate Hockey Training Package

This has been a groundbreaking year for KevinNeeld.com as well. Over the last year, the site has received 188,535 page views, a ~99% increase from the previous year. Much of this growth can be attributed to you, as it’s through you forwarding the posts you like via email, Facebook and Twitter that most people come across my site in the first place. Throughout the rest of the week, I’ll be recounting the top hockey training and athletic development posts of 2011. Stay tuned! And thank you again for your continued support. I couldn’t do it without you.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

This Week in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

This Week in Hockey Strength and Conditioning

UCAN Perform, Look, and Feel Better!

Top Hockey Training Posts of 2011

2011 in Review