seanskahan

Great Weekend

 Athletic Training, Coaching, Hockey, Physical Therapy, Recovery, Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Jun 082009
 

This past week, I made my annual summer trip back home to Boston where I was able to see some of my family and friends.  I was also able to get in some good continuing education and networking.  On Thursday afternoon, my wife and I were able to get a training session in at the Boston University Weight room.  I was able to hook up  and catch up with Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Glenn Harris.  Glenn has now been at BU for 12 years as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach.  He is a great guy and I will always be thankful to him for giving me an opportunity back in 1998 to do an internship.  Friday morning, I was able to observe a Boston University Hockey training session.  I try to make it over to watch these guys train every time I get back home.  Mike Boyle is the Strength and Conditioning for hockey at BU.  Also joining me to observe were 3 strength coaches from other college hockey programs.  Mike is another friend/mentor to me who is always doing something new with his guys.  I always learn something new when i visit with Mike.  Friday afternoon was the 3rd Annual distinguished lecture series in sports medicine at Northeastern University.  Art Horne, Strength Coach/Athletic Trainer for Men’s Basketball at NU helped put on an outstanding lineup of speakers.  Some of the best speakers/clinicians in the industry including Mike Boyle, Dave Tiberio, Eric Cressey, Dr. Mark Phillipon, and Stuart McGill gave some great presentations.   What I really liked about is that there were several presentations given on common areas that I am constantly trying to learn more information about. I picked up a lot of new information that I am really looking forward to implementing with our athletes.  In my opinion, whenever I go and attend seminars and visit with coaches, I always judge it upon how excited I am to try new ideas when I get back to training on Monday.  This trip didn’t disappoint.

More Posts to Come

 Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
May 182009
 

Sorry I haven’t been posting in a few weeks here.  The Ducks went on a good run all the way to game 7 of the second round of the playoffs where we lost to the Detroit Red Wings.  Now that the off-season has officially begun, I promise to deliver more content on the blog.  Thank you very much- Sean Skahan

5 Coaching Cues

 Coaching, Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Apr 162009
 

I’ve been asked by a well-known fitness professional couple to come up with 5 coaching cues that I use when training my athletes.  They are going to collect coaching cues from several strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers and come up with a small handbook.  I think this is a great idea.  We can always learn something from other people and use with our athletes. 

Although these are definitely not earth-shattering coaching cues, these are definitely some phrases that I use on a daily basis. 

1-      “Chest Up”- I find myself saying this more with athletes who are first getting started, especially with squats.

2-      “Touch Your Chest”- This is the #1 coaching cue on the bench press, especially with heavier load on the bar. 

3-      “Sit back, keep your weight on your heels”- Another coaching cue that I use with squats.   

4-      “Arch your back”- This is one that I use with exercises such as dumb bell rows.  (Actually it coincides with #1.)I am looking for more of a flat-back posture rather than arched.  However, when I do tell people with a rounded back doing rows to arch they’re back, then the result is a flat back. 

5-      “Keep the bar close to your body”- This one that I use with our Olympic lift variations such as dumb bell snatches, hang snatches, and hang cleans.

There are 5 coaching cues that I use.  I remember learning to keep coaching cues to a minimum amount of words, but get the point across. 

 

 

 

The Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group

 Athletic Training, Coaching, Physical Therapy, Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Apr 132009
 

header

 

 

Every off-season, I try to attend as many seminars that I possibly can.  One seminar that I was referred to is the Third Annual Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine.  This looks to be an outstanding seminar on June 5th and 6th featuring some great presenters including Dr. Stuart McGill, Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle, and Dave Tiberio.  Also presenting is Dr. Marc Phillipon, who is becoming really well known amongst NHL players as well as several other professional athletes for his hip surgeries.  I am looking forward to hearing what he has to say as far as hip injury prevention goes.

10th Annual Cougar Strength Clinic

 Coaching, Hockey, Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Apr 082009
 

newcougarstrengthwhiteback

I will be speaking at the 10th Annual Cougar Strength Clinic at the College of the Canyons on May 16th, 2009 in Valencia, CA.  My topic will be Off-Season Training for Hockey.  Robert Dos Remedios is the clinic host and was kind enough to ask me to be a part of it.  I am really honored to be participating along side some really quality professionals in Chad Waterbury, Greg Vandermade, Valerie Waters, and Ken Vick.

Steve Cotter

 Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Mar 262009
 

 

ikff_button

 

 

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours yesterday with Steve Cotter at our facility.  Steve is a Kettle Bell master who is pretty well known in the industry when it comes to the bells.  For me personally, I am always trying to figure out a way to implement them into my guys programs.  Steve’s approach is a little different as he uses them as more of a conditioning tool vs a pure strength implement.  I do like that concept because I do think that barbells and dumb bells still have their place for strength and power development.

We spent the time going over my own technique on the cleans, jerks, and snatches.   I found that once some little changes were made, my movements felt effortless.  To learn more about Steve and his workshops and DVD’s, check out his website at www.fullkontact.com.  

Conditioned to lose: Weight room inconsistencies at fault for injuries

 Coaching, Strength and Conditioning  No Responses »
Mar 192009
 

Good piece written by Ross Tucker at SI.com.  As most NFL teams open up their important off-season strength and conditioning programs,  Tucker talks about how the strength coach’s job is all about injury prevention.  jackdelrioHe does make some good points as all current NFL players are almost certainly strong enough.  More attention must be given to helping the players feel better and “healthy” during the season.  With the functional movement screen and other protocols being used along with corrective exercises, I think that there will be a shift towards more corrective programs being done in the NFL.

Congratulations to Dan Bylsma

 Coaching, Hockey  No Responses »
Feb 182009
 

Congratulations to a former play who I had the opportunity to work with and who is now the Head Coach for the Pittsburgh Penguinsimages-23.  I got to work with Danny for 2 seasons as a player and 1 season as an assistant coach in the minor’s.  I always had a hunch that he would get into coaching when he was done playing.  He has quickly climbed the ladder in the ultra-competitive coaching profession.  He was a guy who played with passion and had an unbelievable amount of enthusiasm for the game.  If he can continue to bring that positive energy everyday, the Penguins will certainly succeed.

Team Hoyt

 Motivation/Inspiration  No Responses »
Feb 152009
 

hoyt1I was driving down the street the other day and went by a billboard.  It was an add that featured a picture of Rick and Dick Hoyt- some really inspiring people to me.  For as long as I can remember, I always recall seeing a man pushing a boy in a wheelchair in the Boston Marathon.  I remember thinking to myself that “Man, that must be hard”.  To this day, they are still doing it amongst other challenging events such as triathlons.  Please take the time to check out their site and read their story.  You will be inspired to.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries