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

I hope everyone is doing great.  It has been a while since my last post on what is going on at HockeySC.com.  I really like the contributions that we are getting from coaches like Anthony Donskov, who I got to spend some time with on a recent road trip.  In addition to getting some good content from Anthony and the usual lineup of coaches, our forum is pretty busy.  There are always good discussions going on including some recent ones about vibration training, reducing inflammation in the diet, and barefoot training.

Here is what has been posted recently at HockeySC.com:

Quarter Sprints by Darryl Nelson.  This is an interesting progression or regression, depending on how you look at it.  Basically it is a sprint program where the distance and time to complete the sprint is higher at the beginning (starts at 40 yards in 6 seconds) and lower at the end (5 yards and 1 second).  I like this type of metabolic work.

Hockey Hips Assessments Webinar by Kevin Neeld.  This is a webinar that Kevin also did for StrengthandConditioningwebinars.com.  Good stuff here from Kevin.

Five Exercises that Hockey Players Should Do in the Weight Room by myself.  This one was posted here on my blog here.  I wanted to add it to the HockeySC community in case a member didn’t get a chance to read it.

Strength Training for a Hockey Player with a Uni-lateral Lower Body Injury by Mike Potenza.  These are the types of programs that I really like.  These programs are more real-world programs that strength and conditioning coaches need to know how to design.  Like Mike, I am also faced with circumstances where a program like this has to be incorporated.  I also know how important it is to have an injured athlete on a good program that works.  The strength and conditioning coach is going to be spending a lot of time with the injured athlete, so it is imperative that it is worth the time spent.

Why Shoes Make Normal Gait Impossible by Dr. William Rossi.  This was an article submitted by Northwest Foot and Ankle.  The more education that is made available about the foot and ankle is going to help us moving forward.  This shows more “support” for barefoot-like footwear.

Half Get Up with a Cup of Water by myself.  This is a video that shows a different variation of the Get Up.  I love Get Ups and have been using them now quite a bit with my athletes.  We have used this version with some athletes who are returning from shoulder surgeries and injuries.

2- Day In-Season Training Program Phase 2 by Kevin Neeld.  This is a continuation of Kevin’s in-season program that he uses with the 16u-18u team that he works with.  I like the exercise selection in these workouts.  Not much different from what I would do.

Thanks for your support!

Sean

We had another good week here at HockeySC.com.

Here is what we have added at HockeySC since my last update:

First up was Mike Potenza’s Frontal Plane Core Exercises.  This is the video of the week from last week.  In this video, Mike shows 3 good frontal plane core exercises that he uses with medicine balls and dumbbells.

Next up was my own Off-Season 2011, Phase 2 Strength Training program.  This is what I used this past summer with my hockey players.  This phase is highlighted by complex training methods where we are pairing strength exercises with explosive exercises.  I’ve actually been programming this phase for the last 4-5 off-seasons.  I see absolutely no reason why to change this.  I really like our results from this phase.

We re-posted the 1962 training camp letter from the Toronto Maple Leafs.  This is an actual letter from the Toronto Maple Leafs to a player during the off-season that has been copied and circulating around for a while now.  It is amazing how far we have come, but yet, this shows that players were required to come into camp in ok shape.  This is a must-read.  I’ve actually posted this on the wall in my weight room for all of our players to see and get a laugh.

The video of the week is Darryl Nelson’s Mini Bands.  Darryl shows us some really good exercises to use with the mini bands.  I really like the upper body drills.  I am guilty sometimes of thinking that the mini bands are just for the legs.  Great practical video from Darryl here.

Our Youth Training video is the Reach Roll and Lift by Kevin Neeld.  This is actually a terrific exercise that I have gotten away from.  It is still one of the best lower trap exercises.   I think a lot of people would benefit from this one- not just hockey players.  Great post from Kevin.

That is it for the week.  If you haven’t noticed, there have been 3-4 content additions every week recently at Hockeysc.com.  As a staff, we are doing our best to make this the best hockey strength and conditioning site.  It is amazing to look at how much information is on the site.  If you aren’t a member, you can try it for 7 days for just 1$ per day.

Have a great weekend!

I hope everyone who reads the blog is doing great. We are excited here in Anaheim as a new season is right around the corner. Our rookie camp went great and our main camp is going smooth as well.

At HockeySc.com, we have added some great content since my last post about the site.

First up is Darryl Nelson’s Fall Phase 1. What I have always liked about Darryl’s programs is the simplicity. Darryl ensures that his players get good and strong at the basics in the weight room. This is very similar to a way that I would design an in-season program.

Next up is my Off-Season Phase 1. I think this is actually the first off-season phase that I have posted on the site. We really had a good off-season here with a lot more players sticking around at the beginning of the summer before they headed back to their off-season homes. In the program, you can see how we switched over to a less CNS intensive model in the weight room. Mondays and Wednesdays were Leg emphasis days while Tuesdays and Thursdays were a more upper body emphasis.

Next up is Kevin Neelds’ Hip Stabilization Exercises video. Good exercises from Kevin here that are really easy to implement once your athletes learn them. We try to perform several hip stabilization exercise as well as exercises for flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction.

Darryl added his 2-Day In-Season Strength Program that he uses with a 14-year old goalie. This is a great 2-day total body program. We also use several of the exercises in this program in-season.

Next up was an article that I originally read at Mike Boyle’s blog. It is a good piece- Great Advice to Start the Season by Dan Bauer. It is really a good, common sense advice article that puts things into perspective for hockey parents. Even though our site is for strength and conditioning, these articles are a nice addition.

We hope you enjoy the site. If there is anything that you need to help make your experience at HockeySC better, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks for your continued support!

Sean Skahan