I have seen many of these types of articles written by other strength and conditioning professionals and personal trainers.  These are just 4 thoughts that popped into my head while thinking about things that I have come across in the strength and conditioning field.  A few of these thoughts might be common sense or re-affirmations, but they are thoughts that I thought to myself “Why couldn’t I think of this sooner?”  These are also my opinions only.

1- Too Much Load Will Result in Poor Technique and Possibly Injury

This is probably under the “common sense” category.  I have seen many sets of exercises where reps 1 and 2 look perfect, but reps 4 and 5 don’t.  Watch your athletes perform a warm-up set with a lighter weight.  Their technique should be perfect.  When the heavier load is used, the only difference in the reps should be the speed of the movement.   If that isn’t the only difference, then the load is too heavy for the reps prescribed.  This is when injury has the best chance of occurring.

2- Hang Cleans and Front Squats May Be Better Choices than Power Cleans and Back Squats

The timing of this “thought” is funny as I am actually posting this right after an article by Jim Reeves- The Front Squat/Back Squat Debate: Part 1, was posted on StrengthCoach.com).  I am loooking forward to part 2.

This one has actually been part of my philosophy for some time.  The number 1 reason that I prefer Hang Cleans and Front Squats is because they are safer.  Number 2 is that I don’t think that the perceived advantage of the power clean and the back squat is better than the hang clean and the front squat.

Earlier on in my career when I was an intern or a Graduate Assistant, I would see many versions of the power clean and the back squat. What I would sometimes see is far too many athletes performing pulls from the floor and back squats incorrectly.  For example, some athletes may have been rounding their back or the bar may have been too far from their body.

What I noticed is that not many people are built to pull from the floor.  For example, there is difference in proper body alignment at the start of a pull from the floor for a 7 foot basketball player versus a 5 foot 9 hockey player.

Hang Cleans are more consistent as we coach the lift to start right above the knees. Everyone looks good across the board as the arms are straight and the hips are back.  Also, when you look at the Power Clean, specifically the 2nd pull, how different is that from a Hang Clean?  By Olympic lifting from the hang position, we are taking away the deadlift-pull out of the exercise.  I am sure the Olympic weight lighting supporters will definitely disagree, but the key is that I am referring to athletes who aren’t Olympic weightlifters.  This doesn’t apply to just hockey players, but all athletes in general.

The Front Squat has been a safer alternative to the Back Squat for us. I continue to see good technique with my athletes- consistently.  Upright torsos, proper elbow positioning, depth, and proper load on the bar, allow us to get our double leg strength work in.   With the addition of the Goblet Squat to the program, we are not even considering implementing any versions of the back squat.

Another note about Hang Cleans and Front Squat is that the Front Squat compliments the Hang Clean.  Using heavier loads with the Front Squat will help athletes when they use higher loads in the clean.  They will be stronger in the catch position, especially if they have to drop under the bar to a low position.

3- Using the F.M.S. in a Team Setting isn’t Complicated

 This is something that has taken me a while to figure out.   For a few years, I was trying to make all of our players’ assessments become “3’s” with the total result of all of the screens being a “21”.  I tried to ensure that each movement of the screen was corrected.

Now we will focus on one part of the screen where an individual needs to improve.  For example, if a player exhibits an asymmetry, we are going to add corrective exercises to help improve that.  If a player shows no asymmetries, but shows a “1” or a “2” on a movement such as the deep squat or trunk stability push up, we will then focus on that correction. We have applied one aspect that is specific to their movement screen on a daily basis.  Combined with our preventative core program, the results have been positive.

4- When Evaluating an Athlete, His/Her’s Efficiency of Energy Expenditure Needs to be taken into Consideration

This was a big Ah-Ha for me.  I have recently been re-reading Joel Jamieson’s book Ultimate MMA Conditioning.  Although the title does technically make it an MMA conditioning book, most of the books’ principles can be applied to any athletes’ conditioning program.  In the book, Joel talks about 6 components of conditioning which are: rate, duration, total potential of energy production, central governing control, efficiency of energy expenditure, and neuromuscular contractility (1).  He talks about the importance of each one in their role in conditioning.

When I read the description of the efficiency of energy expenditure, I immediately thought of several hockey players that I have had the opportunity to work with.  Some players never looked fatigued in comparison to their teammates. It was honestly mind boggling when some players would have less amount of sweat on their equipment in comparison to their teammates after a game.  They were also among the league’s fastest players.

Often, people would be intrigued about some of our elite players’ physical abilities. How do they train in the off-season? What are their VO2 max scores? What about vertical jumps? These are questions that were always asked. Actually, some of the better players exhibited average scores on all of them. How was this all possible?  After reading about the efficiency of energy expenditure in Joel’s book, my answer finally hit me.  Some players’ skating skill is superior than everyone else’s. Some players in the NHL look effortless in comparison to others.  Other players may have better physical components such as strength, power, speed, and conditioning, but they did not have the elite skating efficiency that some of the best players have.  The other players are going to “gas out” way before them.

Reference- Jamieson, J.  (2009). Ultimate MMA Conditioning.  Performance Sports Inc.

I hope everyone is doing well, especially with the holiday season amongst us.

We have had some more great content additions at HockeySC.com.

First up is Kevin Neeld’s 2-Day In- season Training Program phase 3. This is a continuation of the previous 2 phases that Kevin has posted. I like how Kevin sets up his workouts with adding in some corrective exercises and progressions that almost hockey players surely need at some point.

Next up is Mike Potenza’s In-Season Workout: Rate of Force Development. This is a 3-day program that includes core training, Olympic lifting, strength, plyo’s, and assistive movements assuming that there are no restrictions. This looks like a solid, 3-day program. Looking at this, this would be a program that Mike would use with guys who don’t play as much.

Next up is Eric Renaghan’s The Joseph Pilates Method: Contology. This article gives a brief history on Joseph Pilates and his methods. What I really like about this article is that there are some exercises provided which don’t require any special equipment.  Really educational piece from Eric.

Up next is the first ever HockeyStrengthandConditioning Podcast episode 1. In this first ever episode, Anthony interviews Mike Potenza of the San Jose Sharks. In this interview, Mike talks about his approach to strength and conditioning at this time of year for his team. I am really excited about this new feature on the site. This kind of content is really what makes Anthony really good at what he does. Look for more episodes in the future.

Last is a video of How Diet Soda Causes Weight Gain. This is a really interesting educational video. It is more like an entertaining chemistry lesson. You may need to watch this more than 2 times or so. What it looks at is the levels of acidity and alkaline and how much is included in nutrients and where they are on the scale. This is really interesting and is honestly a little over my head which is why I need to watch again.

Look for an announcement for the release of my 2 new products that will be available soon on my blog. You will be able to purchase them right here through a PayPal account. I can tell you that I created 2 DVD’s that were made based on my thoughts and experience from coaching thousands of high level athletes including hundreds of hockey players.  You will not be disappointed.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a great holiday season!

Sean

Hey everyone, I hope all is well.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday last week and hopefully a long weekend to follow.

I actually got to watch my 5-year old son play in his first holiday tournament.  This was a mite-B tournament that Will played in.  He was actually the second youngest on the team as he played with mostly 7 and 8-year olds.  Believe me, I am not a parent who is pushing hockey on him.  He absolutely loves it.  I think what he loves the most is the camaraderie with his teammates both on the ice and in the locker room.  Right now he is participating in an in-house league where he really having a blast.  I don’t know if he will play in a tournament again for a while.  I think he would rather play with kids his own age.  It is amazing what a difference in a 5-year old and an  8-year old is.

During the past 2 weeks, we had some great contributions to HockeySc.com.

First up was Mike Potenza’s Off-Ice Skating Strength Exercises.  This one is an article/program with some accompanying videos. This piece got my wheels spinning. I really like these exercises and most importantly the why these exercises are done.  The low-position is imperative to maintain in hockey. Players need to demonstrate the ability to stay low during the course of a shift and game.  These drills can be beneficial for players to learn how to stay low for longer periods of time.  I like them so much that I am considering adding these progressions to our program.  Thanks Mike!

Next is Mike’s Skater Crossover-Step Lunge.  This is a video which shows an interesting exercise that is a way to increase strength in the crossover aspect of skating.  As you may already know, I am a believer in strengthening and using the crossover off-ice to help strengthen it on the ice.  Here is a link to an article that I wrote on it- Improving the Crossover Step in Hockey.  I like this exercise that Mike put up but I am not sure of how it would workout logistically.  You need to have progressively higher boxes.  If you do, then this would be a good addition to your program.

Next up was my Off-Season phase 3 strength program.  I put these programs up so that the readers can see the progressions from phase to phase. What is also interesting is that you can see the changes that I made
from the 2010 off-season to the 2011 off-season.  Some exercises are still there, but there have been some changes.  Same movement patterns but different exercise selections.

Kevin Neeld’s Athlete with Bilateral CAM Impingement is up next.  This is almost like a case study where Kevin is working with an athlete (lacrosse player) coming off of 2 surgeries on each side of his hips. Kevin does a good job showing on video what is going on currently.  This is an interesting piece.  Good stuff from Kevin.

Next up is Darryl Nelson’s Christmas Break program.  This is a simple 3-day program that can be done over the holidays while a player is home on break from their team.

Jamie Rodriguez submitted Clarkson In-Season phases.  I really like to see real-life programs.  I know Jaime is doing a great job at Clarkson and is making an impact on the program.

As you can see, there has been some awesome information being shared at HockeySC.com.  I don’t think there is anywhere else where you can access to some of the best people in hockey strength and conditioning.

Thanks for your support,

Sean