I realize that it has been a while since my last post. The reality is that we have been on a 2 week road trip that has consisted of 7 different cities. No complaining here as it is what it is.

One thing that I make sure that is taken care of before we head out is to make sure that we have adequate training equipment available. Not only for my athletes, but also for myself.

Personally, I have been getting in some great training sessions and not missing a beat on this trip. Thanks to the help from plenty of friends and colleagues, I was able to keep my training going just like I would at home. Today however, I was challenged as all I had available to me was a 16k kettlebell. In all honesty, I am not a fan of just wininging it and doing something different than what I am supposed to do on a given day. Sometimes you have to make sure you make due with what you have.

Here is what I came up with with a little idea from Dan John:

Movement prep/joint mobility

Each of the following done for 1 rep each x 3 sets:
Get up Tri Set with
1-Leg squat
And 1-Arm Push up with hand elevated (locker room bench)

3 exercises done in a row in decending sets- (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
Snatch (EA. Arm)
Goblet squat
Push Up

I hope everyone is doing great.  We are wrapping up our pre-season with our last game tonight before we take off tomorrow for a 14 hour flight to Finland.  We will be opening up our season there next weekend.  Although we will be there with the main purpose of winning hockey games, I plan on checking out some of the sights and sounds of Helsinki.  This will be my second trip overseas in the last 4 years.  Believe me, this is something that I do not take for granted.  It is unbleivable that I get to take part in trips to places like London and now Finland.

As for HockeySC.com, we have had some great content added this week.

First up is Mike Potenza’s Complex Training.  Mike shows 3 different version of complexes that he uses with his players during the pre-season and in-season phases.  We will use complexes during the pre-season phase as well.  Like Mike, we will also use versions of the Javorek complex.

Next up is Kevin Neeld’s In-Season Youth Training program.  This is a series of videos of some good things being done with some young hockey players.  Really good stuff here from Kevin.

Darryl Nelson’s book review: Spark by John Ratey was up next.  Darryl provides a brief review on this book.  The review talks about the importance of physical exercise, expecially for young kids.

Last is my Goblet Squat video.  This is a video of a Goblet Squat.  This was another exercise that I got to fine-tune at the RKC.  It also helped that my team leader was Dan John, who I believe founded the Goblet Squat (Do not quote me on that).  Dan showed us some good coaching cues that work.  The results have been great as I have seen all of our Goblet Squats look consistent.

Thanks for your continued support!

Sean Skahan

Here is a quick interview that I did with OC Metro Magazine.

Sean Skahan Interview

Hope you like it!

I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the summer. I am actually typing this on my parents back deck here on a humid night in Quincy, Ma. I have been out of the loop for a little while here at my blog. During the week of June 29th- July 6th, I was heavily busy with our annual prospect camp. We had a great week of coaching and educating our young players on our strength and conditioning program. I really enjoy these weeks because it really is a young prospect’s first exposure to professional hockey and their new respective team.

After the prospect camp, my family and I were on a plane heading to Boston for my sister Marybeth’s wedding. While we were there for the wedding, we also got to spend some time with family and friends. For training, Hillary and I got some good workouts in at the Boston Sports Club in Weymouth where I was able to use their kettlebells and continue my training for RKC which is now 5 weeks away. Hillary was able to get her own lifts in and at the same time, get plenty of different looks from the females on the elliptical trainers and treadmills doing their low intensity cardio.

While I was home, I also got to visit with Mike Boyle at MBSC in Woburn. What I really enjoy about my visits with Mike is that I always pick up something new that I can use immediately with my athletes. This time around, I got to see the 1-leg deadlift being performed by the athletes. This is another simple, yet effective exercise that definitely looks like a hybrid between a 1-leg deadlift and a 1-leg squat. Something I can see in the program real soon. After I observed the pro and youth athletes train, I was able to get in my own workout in. It was my first time I was at MBSC. I was really impressed with the facility and the flow of the workouts that were going on. Perfect technique across the board combined with hard work was what really stood out.

After my visit to MBSC, it was then off to the Boston University weightroom to visit with Glenn Harris. Glenn is the Director of Strength and Conditioning at BU and does a really good job. The weightroom has recently undergone an expansion which makes it look unbelievable. Check out Glenn’s blog at GameFitPerformance.

All in all, another good trip back home.