Graig posted on December 02, 2015 09:18
Winning a championship at most levels can be challenging. In order to increase the odds you as a player have to do everything in your power to be a positive force on your team. The coach, in that same spectrum must do all they can to create strategies that will help lead to victory. When it comes to structuring comprehensive training protocols please believe that there is a lot of work that should be done.
The concepts my staff and I focus on are, the philosophy of the coaching staff as it pertains to the game and the physical demand the style of play has on the athlete. We also monitor skating mechanics and the differences between on-ice and dry land training. I am a huge fan of the “run and gun” style of play, open ice end to end, odd man rushes and the "muck and grind" play like the broad street bullies, but know that we will be prepared to grind out wins as well.
Durability is a key concept with our protocol. An injured athlete has little value to us while they are injured, so our goal is to keep injuries to a minimum. The foundation of our training in the beginning is of a higher volume. The objective during this time is to maximize muscle growth and enhance peak strength. This tends to be a very important stage for our younger guys, since the training intensity will more than likely be tougher than anything they may have experienced in the past.
Our training is based on logic. You rarely will see us train with both feet in the same plane. When you are competing rarely are your feet next to one another so we work to emphasize single leg training. Case in point, skating with optimal mechanics, a player must drop his (or /her) hips into a position that closely resembles a lunge while keeping his (or her) shoulders over their hips. For this we use various lunge techniques on a number of different directions. We also utilize single leg squats, while elevating one leg on a box 12 to 15 inches high. Once our athlete has demonstrated a certain level of mastery we then add either dumbbells to be held overhead or an Airex pad to create a bit more instability. Once the athlete create strength on lots of different planes we have a hockey player who will still be effective even if they find themselves in a position that is less than ideal.
One squat technique we work to stay away from is the back squat. This exercise tends to put athletes in a position where their torso is flexed, especially when they are first learning to execute the exercise. It is our belief that this move puts the body in less than ideal position for skating. If a hockey player is leaning forward while skating their balance is compromised, it tends to shorten their strides in the long run. This will make the athlete have to work harder for the same result. Our suggestion to rectify this would be the front squat.
When dealing with the upper body, it seems that the emphasis has been placed on the muscles we see or the “show muscles”. One of the things we stress is that when you come in you may have been built for show, but when you leave, you will be built to go!
When our younger guys show up we tend to see a marked deficiency in the rear shoulder and upper back. Deficiencies in these muscles tend to lead to impingement, lost range of motion, and increased injury risk throughout the shoulder capsule. The technique we use to correct this is the low cable row done at various speeds, angles, grips and the like. Standing, seated, lat raises shrugs we need to be really thorough about this.
Creating a well balanced, fit, strong hockey player can be challenging. Time and space doesn’t allow me to go into all of the nuts and bolts of our 5 stage program, but if you are interested please feel free to contact me at gwhite@teamconditioning.com or follow me on Twitter tcs4life. I would be happy to speak with you.
Written by Graig White