Sled drags are probably the best option for conditioning in the early off-season for hockey players. After spending 7-9 months on the ice pretty much everyday, in a hip flexed position and stressing the hip joint with the skating stride over and over, hockey players’ hips need a break.
The early off-seas0n is definitely not the time to hammer the volume on the players, not with the lifting, not with the conditioning. They need a good amount of corrective exercises and things that will help them reverse the damages a long season will put on their body. You want to follow the same mentality with the conditioning protocols. It’s definitely not the time to use shuttle runs and slideboards. And as far as the stationary bike goes, even if it’s easier on the joints, you’d still be stuck in hip flexion sitting on the bike.
Sled drags are a great option as in puts the athlete in a pretty upright position, it requires a good amount of active hip extension (reverse the tight hip flexors effect), and there is no eccentric stress, so it’s a lot easier on the joints including the hips, but also the knees and ankles.
Take it easy on your hockey players in the early stage of the off-season conditioning wise; they need some recovery from the season. So the overall conditioning volume should be pretty low, and joint-friendly and full range-of-motion modalities like the sled drag are optimal.
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We hear it all the time that athletes should train in a “sport-specific” way. They should perform exercises that are similar to the movements they perform in the practice of their sport, and training programs for different sports should be totally different. I flat out disagree.
We always see athletes performing these fancy exercises in the gym that reproduce the same movement patterns that they perform in playing situations.
Do you SERIOUSLY think this is gonna improve your slap shot just because it looks like it?
This kind of practice is FAR from optimal for a couple of different reasons: first, when you load a movement pattern, you affect the efficiency of it (for example, if you perform an exercise similar to a slap shot with a load, you’ll actually affect your original slap shot pattern, and you’ll be less efficient at performing it on the ice). Second, the more you stress the same structures the exact same way over and over, it will lead to overuse injuries a lot faster. But I digress.
Let’s take a step back for a minute, and consider what every athlete needs. I think it’s fair to say that what any athlete is looking for is speed, power, strength, endurance (relative to their sport, obviously) and a better level of conditioning (again, relative to their sport).
The hang clean will develop power for ANY sport!
Basically, all athletes are looking for the same thing. So why would their training be that different? You’re going to tell me that conditioning demands are different for a football player than they are for a hockey player. And you’re right. Conditioning demands are different, and the energy systems used are different. And the same thing goes for injury prevention; the overuse and non-contact injuries that happen in different sports are different, so therefore require special injury prevention strategies adapted to the demands of their specific sport. There are also variations that are gonna take place if you play a rotational sport (think hockey, baseball, tennis) in the way you train power. But the biggest differences pretty much stop there.
Rotational sports require more rotation-based power exercises like med ball throws
Strength training will never be “specific” to a sport. Like I mentioned above, performing exercises similar to sport movements in the weight room is far from optimal, and even detrimental to athlete’s performance. Speed, power, strength, endurance and conditioning are all developed through the same modalities (or pretty much) no matter what sport you play, because what you are developing when you’re training is not your sport-related skills, but rather your athletic qualities (muscular and cardiovascular), and those are not specific to one single sport, but common to most sports.
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, there are going to be some minor tweaks in the way you write performance programs for different sports, especially when it comes to conditioning and injury prevention, but the big lines and the structure of the programs might be a lot more similar than you think.
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Before I in delve into today’s subject that is the groin pain epidemic, I want to make a short side note. I just finished reading the Hero Handbook by Nate Green yesterday, and I must say that it is one of the most inspiring thing I’ve read in a while. Nate talks about how to become your own hero through your lifestyle, your mindset, your training and your nutrition. It is a very quick read, it’s 136 pages and the characters are big, so you should be able to read it in less than an hour. And the best thing of all (which I still can’t believe) is that Nate gives the e-book for FREE on his website! All you have to do is go to Nate’s website and download it. As simple as that; no tricks, no signing up for anything, nothing! It doesn’t get any easier than this. Do yourself a favor and read the Hero Handbook RIGHT NOW!!
As for today’s subject…Groin pain, adductor strains and sports hernias are becoming an epidemic among athletes today, and especially among hockey players. Playing the same sport year-round, poor training protocols (or simply no training at all), over-training and faulty movement patterns are all perfect set-ups for groin pain, especially for hockey players because of the nature of the sport.
Before I go any further with my recommendations, I will say this: it is very important to clear out any other possible underlying issues in the first place. Groin pain may be caused, for example, by Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI), which would warrant the subject of a whole book in itself. In short FAI is an abnormality (usually a bony lesion) on either the femoral head or the acetabulum itself that creates impingement and may translate into groin pain. But I digress. What I’m saying is to get checked out first to make sure the issue is not coming from somewhere else.
The first step to take with groin pain problem is to stay away from anything that hurts for a little while. If you’re a hockey player and have some groin pain while skating, the first step to take is to stop skating, and I mean completely. I know it sucks being forced to stay away playing, but this is a necessary process to follow, and it will all be worth it in the long run. If you think the injury is not that bad and you’re just going to suck it up and keep playing until it goes away, it’s a BIG mistake. First of all, groin pain, groin pulls and adductor injuries don’t magically disappear, especially if you keep doing the same thing that’s been causing the pain (skating, in this case), and first thing you know is the pain is going to get worse and worse and you’ll have to suffer for months. So as much as it sucks, you need to take that time off.
Foam roll your adductors and your hip flexors. Most of the time, athletes will have scar tissue built up in their adductors and some kind of soft tissue limitation in their hip flexors.
Stretch your hip flexors, glutes and hip external rotators. Because of the nature of a sport like hockey (repeated hip extension, abduction and external rotation), athletes will have a loss in adduction and internal rotation, as well as hip extension range of motion.
Rectus Femoris Stretch (Hip Flexor)
Prone 90/90 Glute Stretch
Strengthen the adductors and the psoas, which is usually the weakest of the 3 hip flexors. These 2 muscles usually are very weak because they are underutilized in different sporting motions, especially the skating stride.
Lying Med Ball Crush
Seated Psoas Lift (make sure the thigh is above 90°)
Using this approach, you want to make sure to use these strategies at least twice a day, everyday (foam rolling, stretching and activation drills). We’ve had hockey players (and many of them) with pretty bad groin pain getting back on the ice totally pain-free in as little as 2 weeks after they start applying those exact recommendations. The key is really just to stay away from anything that hurts and be consistent with the exercises, and chances are you’ll be back on the ice (or the field) in no time.
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2010 is coming to an end, and I must say it has been an incredible year for me! In the spirit of the holidays and as we’re wrapping up 2010 by the end of the week, I’ve decided to do the first ever DavidLasnier.com Best of 2010 Awards. So without further ado, here it is:
Best Website: HockeyStrengthAndConditioning.com . This website contains all the information you need from the top guys in the business. If you train hockey players, or if you’re a hockey player yourself, the information on this website will be of great help.
Best New Exercise: Standing Belly-to-Overhead Press. I got this one from my colleague Tony Gentilcore, and I simply love it. The Standing Belly Press was already one of my favorite exercise, especially because it’s so functional and also because there are so many variations you can use. Here’s the latest variation; it adds an overhead/anti-lateral flexion component to an already great core stabilization exercise.
Best Blog Post (from me):Keep Your Goal in Mind. This was definitely one of my favorite blogpost, because I feel so many athletes are studying for the wrong test when it comes to training for sports peformance.
Best Blog Post (from someone else): The Case Against Conventional Dairy by Brian St. Pierre. Technically, Brian wrote it in 2009 (December 21st, to be more specific), but it is by far the blog post that had the most impact on my life in 2010. Brian raises many interesting facts on conventional dairy; the way it is produced, the way the cows are raised and how it affects the quality of dairy, and how low fat dairy products are linked to different types of cancer. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not just Brian’s opinion; there are enough scientific proofs to support his point. Simply put, if you are still consuming dairy products, you NEED to at least make the switch to the organic kind.
Best Quote: “We judge others by their behaviors. We judge ourselves by our intentions.” by Stephen Covey. I read that quote for the first time on Kevin Neeld‘s website a couple of weeks ago. Think about it for a second. We all judge people around us by the way they act, even if their intentions might be different, but NEVER will we ever judge ourselves by our actions; only by our intentions. This is a very powerful quote that impacts all of the relationships we have with other human beings.
Honorable Mention: On a funnier note, this is the most hysterical quote EVER: “Arguing over the internet is like the special Olympics; nobody wins and you’re still a retard” by Tony Gentilcore. Hahaha…I have nothing else to say!
Best Sport Moment of the Year:
Enough Said.
Best Training Related Product: Show And Go by Eric Cressey. If you have been reading my blog consistently this will come to no surprise for most of you. The Show and Go program have been tested and approved by the whole Endeavor staff; and the results speak for themselves. If you’re looking for a great training program that’s been proven effective without taking any guess on the results, Show and Go is what you need.
Best Song: Sitting on top of DavidLasnier.com’s Billboard for the past 3 months, none other than No Love, featuring Eminem and Lil’ Wayne:
Best Supplement: Vitamin D. I have blogged many times in the past HERE and HERE about the positive effects of supplementing with vitamin D, so I won’t go over all the benefits in details again. I will simply say this; with all the scientific proofs piling up, vitamin D is now considered an ESSENTIAL supplement. It has been proven to increase levels of awesomeness and decrease the risks of everything that doesn’t make you awesome.
Best Picture:
Best Conditioning Modality: Split Squat Iso-Holds Into Slideboard. I will admit that this is very hockey-specific type of conditioning, but 80% of our athletes at Endeavor are hockey players, so did you expect anything else?! My colleague Kevin Neeld came up with this idea this past summer, and I’m still amazed at how great that idea was! Hockey is exactly that; iso-holds positions (when just gliding on the ice) alternated with short powerful bursts of acceleration (when skating).
Best TV Show: Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets. That show featured on HBO was simply awesome!
Rex Ryan is the freakin’ man!
2010 was a great year, and honestly I’m sure 2011 will be just as exciting, if not more! I wish to all of you nothing but the best for 2011; may this upcoming year bring you health, love and joy! I will see all of you in 2011!
P.S. I have postponed my special announcement and my surprise to you, my readers, after New Year’s day, as I’m sure most of you will have something more interesting to do than read strength and conditioning blogs on December 30th and 31st.
This year marks the first time in probably over 10 years that I finished all my holiday shopping more than 2 days before Christmas! Hopefully you did too! But if you still have gifts to buy to people around you who are either athletes, a coaches or just fitness enthusiasts, here’s a couple of ideas that you might want to consider.
This might be the perfect gift for anyone who doesn’t have access to a good coach or trainer, or anyone who doesn’t want to spend hours writing his own programs and going through trial and error to find what works. Eric Cressey has done an outstanding job with this product, and he’s basically eliminating the guessing work one needs to go through when building his own training programs. Show and Go is a proven system that has been put to the test by many before Eric actually launched the product. It provides you with 16 weeks of programs that guarantee you the results you’re looking for. The whole Endeavor staff has been on the Show and Go system for the last 10 weeks, and we’ve ALL made tremendous gains in both size and strength! Click HERE to get your copy now!
This is a great gift idea for anyone involved in hockey training; whether it’s for a player or a coach, a membership to HockeyStrengthandConditioning.com is a gift that will help them get better. Some of the brightest minds in hockey training are behind that website; names like Mike Boyle (Boston University), Sean Skahan (Anaheim Ducks), Mike Potenza (San Jose Sharks), Darryl Nelson (USA Hockey) and Endeavor’s own Kevin Neeld are all contributing to the website to help develop better hockey players. For less than 10$/month (less than 100$/year if you pay all at once), a membership to this site will guide any hockey player in the right direction when it comes to his training. What’s even cooler is that you have the option of signing up and getting a 30 day trial for only $1! If you’re not satisfied with the content (which won’t happen trust me!) you can just cancel you subscription. Click HERE to get the 30 day trial.
With the new year coming up, for all these people making fat loss related resolutions, the Precision Nutrition System is definitely the ideal present to guide them through their lifestyle and nutritional changes that will lead them to their results. The Precision Nutrition System includes everything you need to help you make necessary changes in your eating habits in order to get results; everything from cookbooks to online support through the Precision Nutrition website, everything is included. The price is currently down from $147 to $97 for the whole system, so order now!
So if you need a last minute gift for the athlete or fitness enthusiast in your life, one of these should be a perfect fit.
On a side note, as I’ve mentioned last week I’m working on a couple different projects. One of them is related to my website and my readers; stay tuned next week for a special announcement as well as a thank you gift for my readers who have been following my work!
Complex training refers to a form of training that uses a combination of a strength exercise and a power/plyometric exercise to improve total power output. The concept is to do a loaded (preferably a maximum strength exercise) followed by a power exercise like a jump variation for example. The science behind this method is that by doing the strength exercise first you will increase the efficiency of your nervous system by engaging a maximum number of fast twitch muscle fibers, and immediately taking advantage of this improved neural drive by performing a power exercise; the result being more fast twitch muscle fibers engaged in the power exercise, and therefore a better force output (resulting in higher jumps if you’re using a jumping exercise for example). This method is very effective to develop strength, speed and power.
Here is a good example of complex training by combining a Trap Bar Deadlift with Broad Jumps (Please note that in the video I’m actually doing the 2 exercises within 15 seconds apart from one another. In reality, you would want to wait longer, somewhere between 30 seconds up to 3 minutes) :
You want to keep the number of reps low on the strength exercise and the weight below your RM (rep max); the goal is to take advantage of the increased CNS (central nervous system) activation without creating fatigue, which would defeat the whole purpose of the method. Also you will want to use 2 exercises with a similar movement pattern because the increased neural drive will be movement specific to a certain degree; by doing this you will benefit the complex method the most.
The possibilities are just endless with the complex training method; your imagination really is the only limit. A great tool to have for complex training is the Vertimax platform. However expensive, the Vertimax gives a lot of options when it comes down to complex training.
My colleague and friend Kevin Neeld put up an awesome video on how we use the Vertimax with our athletes at Endeavor. Kevin talks about how to use the Vertimax for complex training, but also talks about how to use it for hockey-specific movements. The video is just great and it’s only 6 minutes long, so make sure to check it out:
It’s been a little while since I’ve done a random thougths post, and since I have a couple interesting things to share with you I figured now would be a good time!
1. All the Endeavor staff is on Eric Cressey’s Show and Go program right now and the progress we’ve all made since starting the program 6 weeks ago has been phenomenal! I hit PRs on the trap bar deadlift and the front squat and I also added 5 pounds of muscle since starting! And all the Endeavor staff has made similar progress. Eric actually gave us some love in his blog this past Tuesday in that regard; CHECK IT OUT HERE. Eric has done an incredible job with Show and Go and the results speak for themselves. If you haven’t already, I strongly suggest you get it. You are provided with 16 weeks of programs to get bigger, stronger all while reducing your risk of injuries and imporving your posture. How much better can it get? Eric also provides you with videos for every single exercise in the Show and Go programs. Get your copy of Show HERE.
2. I really like to learn new exercises and stretches as it adds variety to your training, and most of the time these new exercises and stretches will feel totally different than any other thing you’ve been doing. This is why I like the wall adductor stretch so much…probably my new favorite one!
I will admit that the position is a little suspicious, but the benefits you get from it are totally worth it! Give it a try, and make sure you keep your butt as close to the wall as possible and keep your knees straight.
3. Last week, I celebrated my first Thanksgiving by eating a lot of food and watching football all day! That holiday also marked the return of a couple of our hockey players who took the opportunity to get a couple of training sessions in at Endeavor while they were back home for Thanksgiving. While conditioning the guys on the slideboard with Phil Collins blaring on the stereo, it just reminded me how much of a good time this past summer was.
I can’t wait for next summer!
4. Last week I was talking with one of my friends in Montreal who was telling me about some knee problem he’s had for a while. He also told me that he saw a professional who recommended he gets some orthotics because his feet were the problem. After getting the orthotics, his pain magically disappeared. But within 2 months though, his knee pain came back to bother him. I was trying to explain to him that his feet probably weren’t the problem and that someone needed to look at him with a more global perspective than just looking at the feet. He agreed to go see anyone I would refer him to, but he also insisted on the fact that the professional he saw put him through different tests for his feet and that there was clearly a problem there. And he also said something like: “the guy’s gotta know his stuff he’s worked with professional sport teams in the past”. As I’ve said before, and as I’ll say again, I don’t care if you work with pro athletes, you still can suck at what you do. That doesn’t mean you’re good; it only means you have good contacts and you’re good at selling yourself. But I digress. After contacting an athletic trainer I used to work with in Montreal and explaining her the situation without letting her know what I thought about the situation, here was her reply:”Orthotics might help in the acute phase, but in the long run they are crutches most of the time and they probably won’t correct your real problem. You need to look at the global picture and not focus only on the knees and feet, and assess everything from the hips down.” I couldn’t have agreed more. It’s really great to see people in the field who really get it. And more than anything else, it also highlights the importance of having a good network of professionals around you.
Funny story. Actually, it’s a pretty shocking story…
I was at a U-16 hockey game this past weekend at the rink close to where I work. I like to watch pretty much any hockey game at any level, as I just loved that sport no matter if I’m watching an NHL game or if I’m watching a squirt team. I witnessed what was the most ridiculous thing ever, and quite frankly, I just couldn’t believe what I saw. The home team was up 5-3 going in the 3rd period, and just like in many other minor league game, parents were yelling at the referees because he blew a couple of calls. The visiting team then came back and tied the game with 2 quick goals. Needless to say that the intensity was ramping up on the ice….and in the stands. Parents were cheering louder and louder on both sides and parents from both team kept yelling more and more at the referee for blown calls (in their totally un-biased opinions, of course). After the referee called a penalty on the visiting team, one of the dads from the home team and one of the dads of the visiting team started arguing with each other while being seated 2 sections appart. These guys (both clearly over 45 years old) were going at it, calling each other out, like 15 year old kids would do. I just couldn’t believe it.
This stuff really is happening!
Fast forward to the end of the game; the visiting team is winning 6-5, the clock runs out and the kids on the ice all start fighting. As the referees was trying to separate everyone, one of the kids from the home team comes out of the the pack holding a kid of the other team by the head in a choke-hold, turns around to face the crowd and waves to his parents…and his parents actually cheered while the kid was still holding the other kid in a choke-hold. Remember, this is a U-16 team, and what makes it even worse is that it was a Tier 2 organization!
Ridiculous. Plain and simple.
Seriously, where is that going to end? We’ve been hearing for many years now how parents don’t always behave when attending youth hockey games, but I guess I just never realized how bad it is now. How are kids suppose to behave when they see their parents being aggressive and immature in the stands while they’re playing? I just don’t get it. Acting like a moron when you attend your kid’s minor league hockey game is not going to make them better; it’s not going to make them a better athlete and it certainly is not going to make them a better person. How do you think your kid will see your behavior? He will think that it’s acceptable to act like an asshole; he will think that offensive language and violence are the way to solve problems.
We have a problem as a society. Sports are supposed to teach you good behavior, discipline, sportsmanship, respect and most of all the fun of playing sports. With the way parents are acting more and more, none of these values are being transmitted to kids playing sports. Where is that going to lead us when these kids grow up and have kids themselves? We need a serious reality check. Something is wrong right now in youth sports that needs to be fixed.
Being involved a lot with kids and sports as a strength coach, I am very concerned with that situation. In what we do as strength coaches, we want to help kids become better athletes, but whether we like it or not, we have a responsibility to transfer good values to these kids. Discipline, sportsmanship and respect; those same values they are supposed to learn in their sporting organizations and at home, we are responsible to reinforce during all the time we spend with these kids. But if they’re not even getting those values from their teams and parents, we have a tough situation to overcome.
If you have been following my website for a while now, you probably know that I’m a big advocate of an appropriate long term development plan for every athletes. I strongly stand against early sport specialization and I honestly think that if we would get away from that, we would have a lot less of injuries in sports and surgeries related to overuse. It is very hard to get people to understand that when you have 90% of people involved in sports training (parents, coaches and trainers) that advocate the exact opposite: if you want to get better in a certain sport, you need to play more and more and more and do it year-round as young as possible so you can develop better.
I went into great details in previous blog posts why this is a totally retarded way of thinking. By doing so, you’re not developping better athletes, you’re actually developping patterns for overuse injuries. That being said, it is our job as strength coaches to educate athletes and parents on why this is so bad and how they should go about training the right way and following a good development model for optimal development and long career as injury-free as possible.
The first step to take in that direction is obviously to have the different national sport associations to endorse a good development model and help promote that to organizations, coaches, parents and players. The big problem we have right now is that these organizations don’t get it. So when you see steps taken in the right direction, it’s really satifying to know that they start to get it and want to help change the trend that is currently poisoning most sports. Mike Boyle gave a presentation about the long term athletic development for hockey players to USA Hockey a couple of days ago. Coach Boyle is one of the smartest, most experienced strength coach out there; he has seen it all in his long career and he has probably trained more hockey players than anybody else in the world. Most athletes he trains, if not all, turn out to have long careers and very few injuries; so, there’s gotta be something he’s doing right. Here is the video of the presentation. I need to warn you that it is an hour and 20 minutes long, but make sure you listen to it; it’s all really worth it.
To me, to know that USA Hockey actually took a step in the right direction and took the time to listen what coach Boyle had to say, tells a lot about the organization and where they’re headed (they also made several changes within the organization and to their development model recently). Don’t be surprised to see more and more American hockey players emerge at the pro levels in the next decade or two.
Please, if you know anyone involved (closely or not) in sports, you need to forward this blog post or just the video to them, whether they’re parents, coaches, athletes and anyone else.
I know there is a book out there with the same name, and apparently it is really good.
It has been recommended to me by a couple of persons but I have yet to read it (shame on me). But just by reading the title, I’m sure I will agree with what’s in the book and I definitely believe that quote to be true.
I have worked with many athletes so far in my career, and every kid is different; every one has a different level of talent, every one has a different attitude, a different work ethic, a different interest in getting better. Simply, they all are very different. And when you train them to become better athletes, you notice things in the way they behave and how much effort they put in.
Some of them are very talented and work very hard, some of them are average players and work hard, some of them are not very talented and goof off all the time. But what really strikes me is that even at a very young age (10-12 years old) kids start making excuses for not working hard. I’ve worked with many, and I mean MANY kids over the years that don’t work hard. Some of them it’s because they’re very good and they think they don’t need to improve since they are already the best player on their team and they have the talent to make up for the lack of effort. I totally don’t agree with that mindset, as I think this is wasted talent, and worse of all, it’s going to catch up to them sooner than later. But what’s even worse are the kids that are less talented who make up excuses for not putting in the effort. Most of the time, it’s the ones who are scared to be embarassed of not being as good as the talented kids, so they don’t even try. At such a young age, they don’t realize that even if they are not currently the best player on their team right now, it doesn’t mean they won’t be the following year, or the year after, or in two years. Eric Tangradi has been told at age 12 by a well respected coach that he was not good enough and that he could never play high level hockey because he didn’t have what it takes! Yes, that’s right at 12 years old! For those who don’t already know, Eric scored his first NHL goal a couple of weeks ago! He is one of the best example of determination I know, because he pursued his dreams no matter what people told him.
This simply amazes me: how can you tell a kid at 12 years old that he doesn’t have what it takes? Especially as a coach! You simply don’t have the right to destroy a kid’s dream at such a young age.
I have been working with a group a very young hockey players (under 12) for the last couple of months and we had our last session togheter yesterday. My words to them was:”Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough. If you want to become a better hockey player, you can. At your age, if you dream of playing in the NHL one day, you can. Each and every single one of you can. Whether you’re the best player on your team right now, or not. It might not be easy, and you WILL need to work hard and give all you have in every game, every practice and every training session you will have. Anything is possible. Anything is possible if you work hard. You need to stop comparing yourself to your teammates and the guys you play against, and focus on yourself and do the best you can do to become the best you can be. There is no limit to what you can achieve if you really want it. You have the potential, just use it.” As I finished my speach I looked at them and saw one of them drawing an imaginary picture on the wall with his finger. He probably didn’t get it. In fact, a lot of them probably didn’t get it or didn’t even pay attention. But if only one really got it and he makes the most out of it, I will be more than satisfied.
Talent is not what will get you to the top in the long run. Hard work and dedication will. It’s our job as coaches, trainers and parents to make kids realize that they have what it takes to get where they want; they just have to work as hard as possible every single day to get there.
