We had another great week here on HockeySC.com. With hockey season in full go, we hope that you continue to read and watch our content that at we are putting up on the site each and every week.

First up is Lateral Speed Drills: Ring Technique by Mike Potenza. Mike shows some good videos of his lateral speed progressions with the rings on the floor. It is primarily an off-season progression, but he will do it during the in-season phase. We have used this progression in the past as well. Good stuff from Mike.

Next is Kevin Neeld’s Preventing Shoulder Injuries During Pressing Exercises. In this piece, Kevin writes about some issues he may see with some of his athletes including short a short pec minor and/or rotator cuff instability. The video shows a brief activation exercise for the rotator cuff before pressing exercises. Good stuff from Kevin.

Last up is an example of a program that I have used called Lower Back Reconditioning Phase 5. This is a 3-day program where we actually backed off from a 4 day program with an emphasis on strength development to a more strength-endurance program. I do plan on writing an article on the whole process of the reconditioning process from this type of injury.

We hope you enjoy the site and will continue to log on and interact on the forum.

Thanks!

Sean, Anthony, Mike, Mike, and Kevin

We have some great content added to HockeySC.com this week. We are getting some really good contributions from some really good coaches.

First up is “From the Ground Up” by Dan John. This one was originally on Strengthcoach.com and we liked it so much that we decided to put it up on here. Those who read this blog know that I am a huge fan of Dan John and his writing. Dan writes about a really simple and easy program that he had done in his ninth grade physical education class. It is simple, but very effective. A really good read from Dan John.

Next up is Mike Potenza’s “In-Season Lifts: Core Movements, Strength Movements, and Complexes”. Mike gives us a look at what his philosophy is on exercise selection during the in-season phase. This is a really good systemic overview of what exercises Mike chooses during the in-season phase.

Next is Jim Reeve’s “The Disconnect of Culture”. This is an article that is along the same line as “Diversify Your Athletic Lifestyle” article. I think that the development of hockey players has to include being athletes at other sports or activities besides hockey. Jim does a great job in this article in bringing about the importance of doing other activities in off-ice training besides “hockey-specific” workouts.

Next is a piece the John Buccigoss from Espn wrote called “Producing Elite U.S. Players Starts at the Bottom”. I originally read the piece on-line at Espn.com. I emailed John and asked if we could put it up on the site. I have always read John’s columns because I enjoy his view on today’s game and he is a hockey guy. In this article John looks at possible reasons why there aren’t more U.S. elite players in the NHL today. He also interviews Kenny Rausch, who is the manager of youth hockey for U.S.A. Hockey. This is a really good piece as we would like the site to have a direction on youth hockey development from a strength and conditioning perspective.

Next is my own, “Neck Strengthening For Hockey“. In this article, I outline what my philosophy is on strengthening the neck extensors. With the amount of head injuries in hockey today, proper neck strengthening is important for the prevention of whiplash associated with them.

We hope you enjoy this week’s new content in addition to the forum activity that is going on.

Thanks again,

Sean, Anthony, Mike, Mike, and Kevin

The Bar Complex is a series of 5 exercises done for 6 reps each with no rest once the first exercise is started.  We will do 3-4 rounds of this.  This is a warm-up that we do before our strength training on day 4 early in the off-season program.  We will also do it during the pre-season phase while we are doing more circuit work in the weight room.  What I really like about the Bar Complex is that you can really improve both your strength and conditioning by adding weight to the bar in a progressive manner over time.  I originally learned this from Al Vermeil who had learned it from Istvan Javorek.  This is also known as the Javorek complex.

Hey everyone, I hope you are doing great with your Thanksgiving day preparations. With the holiday and Friday also being the biggest shopping day of the year, I thought I would get this out today.

Anthony Renna and the StrengthCoach Podcast are giving away a year-long membership to Hockeysc.com (amongst other prizes) in honor of the 3-year anniversary of the show. Anthony has done an unbelievable job with this over the last 3 years. It has become a huge part of my own continuing education process. I will upload it to my iPhone and listen to it on my dog walks in the early mornings. Check out StrengthCoachpodcast.com for the details.

Here is the content that has been added to HockeySC.com since my last update:

Jaime Rodriguez added Rules For Training a Hockey Team. In this article, Jaime gives 10 rules that are needed to help train a hockey team successfully. Really good, real-world common sense stuffed from Jaime here.

Next up is an example of Kevin Neeld’s 2 Day Per Week In-season Program. This is a good look at how Kevin designs programs in-season for young players who play on the weekends. I’m a big believer in young players being involved in a strength training program versus some of the “dry land” methods that I see in parking lots outside of rinks before practices today. Good stuff from Kevin.

Mike Boyle posted More Support for Unilateral Training – a Facebook Exchange. This is great real-world information. Even though it is a dialogue between Mike and a football strength and conditioning coach, the information can be applied to hockey players. It is always great to see this kind of information applied in the team setting.

Last, but not least, is Dan Boothby’s Developing a Yearly Strength Training Program for Ice Hockey. For those who don’t know Dan, he is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Hockey at Northeastern University. Dan is a great guy who has done a real good job since his arrival at NU. This article is a really good in-depth look at what he does with his team.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and thanks for your continued support.

Sean, Mike, Anthony, Mike, and Kevin

The Kettlebell Swing is a great exercise that we use. Originally, it was used solely as a substitute for olympic lifts with players who may not be able to olympic lift due to wrist or hand issues. Now, it is more of a staple exercise for everyone. Unlike the explosive nature of Olympic lifts, the swing allows us to get the recruitment of the posterior chain muscles in a rhythmic-like fashion. What I also like about the swing is that it is a great in-season lift. In-season, I think there needs to be an emphasis on posterior chain strengthening due to the demands on the anterior chain in the sport of hockey. Sets and reps will be done in the 15-20 range. Unlike the Olympic lifts where sets of 5 reps max are done, the swings are more continuous, and can be done for longer periods of time when proper technique is established. We are not looking for a conditioning effect with swings, but we don’t want the bell to be too heavy either.

The authors looked at the effect of resisted skating as a “pre-load” on skating speed. There were 11 subjects who were players from the English National League. There were 2 experimental conditions. Condition 1 consisted of a 10-second heavy resistance sprint while condition 2 consisted of just resting. A timed 25 meter sprint was recorded before and 4 minutes after each condition. Condition 2 showed no improvement. Condition 1 on the other hand, showed a significant 2.6% decrease in times. Obviously, this study shows that a single resisted sprint on-ice was enough to improve sprint performance on-ice (with 4 minutes rest).

To me, this is an interesting study. I’ve always been a big believer in complex training. From a practical perspective, we’ve always included a phase of complex training in the off-season in the weight room. It is not uncommon for us to “complex” exercises such as front squats and hurdle hops or bench press and medicine ball throws. We’ve also done complex training with resisted sprinting and sprinting on land as well. The purpose is the development of power.

Late in the off-season, I think there needs to be a transition from off-ice sprinting and speed development to more on-ice speed development. This is usually mid-late august for us. We don’t do much off-ice sprinting when we start a higher volume of skating. From a practical perspective, I think resisted on-ice sprinting is something that would be beneficial late in the off-season for hockey players.

This Week on HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com:

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a great week! Happy Veteran’s day to all who have served our country. The Ducks have had a good November so far, hopefully we can keep it going. We had another great week at HockeySC.com. The forum is also picking up as we are getting some good discussions including one on pre-game and during game supplements.
Here is the run-down of this week’s content:

First up was Mike Boyle’s Phase 2 for an NHL or a college player- This is what Mike did this past off-season with his pro and college players. It is always great to see what Mike is doing with his hockey players. I really like how these workouts flow.

Next up was my TRX Lateral Line video which was shown on this blog last week. It is a progression from our off-bench oblique exercises. For us, this is going to work better in-season, as space is not adequate enough for some of the farmers walk progressions.

Mike Potenza’s article How Do you Customize or Individualize a Workout for a Hockey Player is an outstanding piece. This is something that I am always continually trying to do a better job with our players. Mike does a good job breaking it down to a system that makes sense.

Last, but not least, is Kevin Neeld’s, Powerful Influence of Posture.  Kevin does a great job talking about the importance daily posture on hockey performance. 

Thanks for the continued support- Sean, Mike, Mike, Anthony, and Kevin.

We have been using more half-kneel positions with some of our lifts. What I like about this position is that core stabilization is almost automatic because the athlete can’t compensate. Gray writes “It (half kneel) creates an interesting stabilization experience, because many individuals who have poor core stabilization can compensate at the foot, ankle, and knee. They can also compensate with poor hip, pelvic, spine, and shoulder positions, as well as faulty alignment. In half-kneeling, all compensations are removed”.

To me, this makes so much sense for athletes with spinal stability issues. Also, we are preventing spinal stability issues from happening in the first place by mastering stability and strength in this position.  All that we have to do is have our athletes maintain a tall spine with good posture. We will spend a greater amount of time in this phase so we can have a smooth transition into lunge position lifts.