I hope everyone is doing great. We have had some great contributions on HockeySC.com  during the past week or so.  We also continue to have some good discussions on the forum including threads on power skating, body checking, and sled progressions.  Make sure you log on and check out the forum. 

Here is what we have added during the past week:

Training For Speed by Darryl Nelson.  Darryl explains the importance of developing speed properly for hockey.  Like myself, Darryl preaches the development of acceleration over top-end speed.  The game of hockey is all about acceleration as rarely do you a see a player achieve top-end speed.  Darryl does a great job explaining the importance of acceleration. 

The Hang Clean Breakdown and Other Olympic Lifts by Jaime Rodriguez.  This is a good article on Olympic lifting and its substitutes.  Jaime also does a great job breaking down a teaching progression for the clean.  This is really good information for someone learning how to teach the clean.  I love the hang clean and use it with my athletes and I have used these progressions as well.

Early Off-Season Program by Kevin Neeld.  This is a good look at a 4-day program that Kevin is doing with his athletes.  I like the focus on increasing range of motion and alignment while also building some hypertrophy. 

ACL Rehab Phase 3 by myself.  This is a continuation of program that worked for an athlete who rehabbed from an ACL tear a few years ago.  It is important to note that this program was implemented by myself daily for 6 days per week for 2 hours per day.  This was after the athlete spent a significant amount of time with a physical therapist.  This is not a program that is to be implemented immediately after ACL reconstruction surgery. 

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

This is a great posterior chain exercise that we do. The emphasis is keeping our hips extended by contracting the glutes. Then we will extend the legs, and the return. Try this instead of lying or seated leg curls.

I wanted to get this out before the weekend hits as tomorrow is a big day for the Skahan family.

As a hockey fan, I am really surprised at how the current playoff series’ are going. I would’ve never guessed 3 out of 4 of them could possibly be 4 game sweeps. There is some really good hockey being played on a nightly basis. Still tough to pick who will be in the finals.

On HockeySC.com, the forum currently features some discussions on summer seminars, ACL training, and a discussion on the Leg Circuit video. Don’t’ forget to check out the forum.

Here is what we have for new content at the site:

Off-Season Phase 2 by Darryl Nelson. Darryl shows phase 2 of his off-season program. Darryl’s templates and exercise selections are very similar to mine.

Mental Toughness Training for Hockey Players by Brijesh Patel. Brijesh is not only a great writer, but also a great coach. He does an outstanding job at Quinnipiac. This is a great read.

Slideboard Hamstring Curl Variations by Kevin Neeld. Kevin shows some good videos of how to progress the slideboard leg curl. Like Kevin, I love the slideboard leg curl. These are exercises that can be loaded with a little creativity.

Leg Circuit by myself. I added this to the hockey site a few days before I posted it to the blog.

Thanks for your continued support,

Sean, Mike, Anthony, Kevin, and Darryl

I am actually starting this post on the plane on the way home from Nashville.  I am looking forward to getting home so I can spend a few days with Hillary and Will before we head back to Nashville for game 6.  It is a pretty hectic time right now around the Skahan household as Hillary could go into labor any day/week now.  We are excited to have another baby boy during the playoff season as my son Will was also born during the playoffs back in 2006.

There has been some outstanding content posted since my last update.  The forum also has some good discussions including a discussion on favorite books.  I really like these discussions as I will sometimes pick up a book on someone’s recommendation.

Here is what is going on at HockeySC.com:

Scap Exercises by Mike Potenza.  Mike gives some interesting scapula stability exercises both on a stability ball and the wall.  We are always working our lower traps and other scapula stabilizers with our players.  These will be a good addition.

Anterior Core Variations by Darryl Nelson.  Darryl shows video of some anterior core variations that he uses.  What I like about Darryl’s videos is that they almost always show a group of hockey players training.  It definitely shows that Darryl is not just writing about training hockey players, but actually training them.

Off-Season Weight Gain: Eat that Elephant by Kevin Neeld.  Kevin gives practical, real-world, common sense advice on proper weight gain for hockey players during the off-season.  Great stuff as usual from Kevin.

Youth In- Season Introductory Program by myself.  This is an addition to our Youth Hockey Program section.  This program was done with a midget AAA program that I worked with a few seasons ago.  I would probably still use most of the exercises and progressions today.

Identifying Strength Qualities For Your Training Program by Mike Potenza.  In this article, Mike talks about strength qualities and how them into a program for any player at any current level.  This is a really good in-depth article that shows how smart Mike is.

Grier Persevered to Carve Out Lengthy NHL Career submitted by Mike Potenza.  Mike posted this up as he thought it would be a good addition to the site.  This is a great article that talks about a Mike Grier who is currently playing with the  Buffalo Sabres.  The article talks about Mike’s career and how important Mike Boyle’s work with him was.  It still is actually as Mike continues to train with Mike Boyle each off-season.

Changes to the In-Season Program by myself.  This season, I made some small changes to our in-season program.  In this article, I talk about what those changes were.  I think they were beneficial.

Thanks for your support,

Sean, Mike, Anthony, Kevin, and Darryl