What To Do About In-Season Training For Hockey

By : Lorne Goldenberg BPE, CSCS, CEP

High Performance Director

UPMC High Performance Center

UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex

Cranberry, PA

This article will deal with a topic that may help many of you right now. In-season conditioning is a key element to the total package for the successful hockey player, yet many players are unsure how to train during the season, or if there is really any benefit at all to it.

For many years strength coaches advocated that coming to training camp in shape, and trying to maintain that condition was the key to success. One particular strength coach actually used the following graph to emphasize conditioning maintenance:

The point was that if you showed up to camp in shape, you could do just enough work to maintain it during the season. Then by the playoffs, your technical skill will have peaked, and will meet your high level of conditioning. Therefore you would be physically and technically ready for the playoffs. This Technical model has been used for years. In many cases with some Skill success. The question you have to ask though is: what if you could increase your conditioning level even higher than it was at training camp. Some people would not advocate this type of concept. Many people of the "old school" do not believe Training Playoffs there is a place for off-ice conditioning during the season. Camp This is unfortunate because it has been my experience that speed, strength, power, quickness, and aerobic endurance can be improved during the season with off-ice training.

This is even more possible for the player who may report to camp out of shape. By participating in 2-3 off-ice workouts a week, you can expect to see very positive gains in all aspects of conditioning levels. Nevertheless, regardless of your level of condition, you should continue off-ice workouts in-season. As minor hockey players this is your way of obtaining an advantage over your opponents who may not be training.

Now that you understand the reason to continue off-ice training, lets look at the acute variables that will assist you in continuing your physical improvements. Strength is one area that people are very unsure about. Many are concerned that if you strength train to soon before a game, you will not recover in time to play. This will only occur if you perform the wrong type of workout, meaning by performing high repetition lifts. An example would be doing leg presses or squats for sets of 8-12 reps. This type of scheme will cause fatigue. The fatigue is actually caused by lactic acid, which is a metabolic byproduct of this type of exercise. The way to avoid this and to work on your strength would be to use reps in the 2-6 range. This would mean using a much heavier weight, which will develop strength, and allow you to recover in time for your game. The best example I can provide would be the type of workout that I had Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche on during the 1994/95 season. Joe would use the following workout the day before a game or occasionally the morning of the game:

1. Warm-up - Cycle 5 minutes, and stretch
2. Lateral hops over box - 2 sets of 12 foot contacts
3. Hang cleans - 3 sets of 6 at @ 95 pounds
4. Squat - 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps @ 322 pounds
5. Bench press - 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps @ 252 pounds
6. Hyperextension - 2 sets of 8-10 reps with a 35 pound plate

Obviously you would not use weights this heavy. But it should give you an idea with regard to training intensity.

You may have noticed that most of this article has focused on the physical component strength. The other physical capabilities are more easily developed or maintained on the ice as it pertains to in-season work. As far as strength goes, the only way to enhance it, is to overload the muscle. This can only be done efficiently in the weight room. A lack of strength will also affect your injury potential. This means that your joints may be more susceptible to injury, if the surrounding muscles have lost size and strength. The other benefit to working on your strength is it will also have a positive effect on your speed, and power.

As a hockey player there are many challenges that you will face in physically preparing yourself for the game. In-season conditioning can be one of the most demanding aspects of your training calendar. This is especially so when you are trying to juggle school, practices, games, and social life. It takes careful planning but is very achievable.

REMEMBER: THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY!!

Lateral Shuffle Test - An Effective Method of Assessing Lateral Speed & Range

Speed is always a physical characteristic that everyone would like to improve on.  In many instances linear speed is where emphasis is placed and assessed, but in many game situations its lateral range and speed where races are won.  There are many assessments available for agility, change of direction and linear speed, but one test that I have always used over the past 25 years is the lateral shuffle test.  It assess: foot quickness in the frontal plane, change of direction, allows you to see how the core reacts to frontal plane loads, and provides you with an accurate and reliable tool to assess this movement.  I have used this for many sports including hockey, football, and soccer.  Measure 2 lines, 12 feet apart, start on the inside of one of the markers and shuffle heel to heel (no crossovers) complete as many lengths as you can in 15 seconds and measure to the closest half length.  What I love about this test, is that you can see how much more ground you can cover in subsequent tests after training.  I.e. if you improve from 12 to 13.5 lengths, you have covered another 18 feet in the same amount of time.  This means you are racing after pucks or balls with greater lateral speed.  Good NHL skaters are getting 15-15.5 lengths per attempt....where do you score?

My Thoughts on Spring & Summer Hockey As It Relates to Physical Development

As we are rolling into mid February, many competitive hockey teams are finishing off their season and are either heading into the playoffs or deciding what to do with all the free time.

Just like the pros, who have a very long and tiring season, competitive hockey can sometimes be just as demanding for kids aged 13 and up. Long road trips to tournaments with inappropriate nutrition, many weekly practices and games can all lead to a decrease in lean body weight, loss of power, and the mental strain that goes along with being on the ice for such a long period of time. As a matter of fact, most minor hockey players across all age groups, likely play MORE hockey than the average NHLer! Factor that into a year round calendar and the potential for physical development continues to go down. Here is a great article by Ken Cambpell that recently appeared in the hockey newshttp://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/how-much-is-too-much-hockey-for-youth-hockey-players/ add to this the likelihood that they may have been doing in-season circuits for off ice training and you are seeing a bunch of factors that go into declining physical development. I have called this the Jack of All Trades Workout for Hockey, click on the link to read.

Zach Bogosian 2005-15 yrs old 155lb

Zach Bogosian 2013 - 220lb NHLer

At the end of a long season, the pros will often take 10-14 days, depending on when they finish, to recuperate and re-invigorate their mind before that trek back to the weight room to focus on strength and conditioning for hockey. Most pros will not step back onto the ice until late June, and at that it might only be once a week to focus on their hands and to begin the process of ameliorating their new strength to the specific skill of skating. By late July this would increase to twice a week to focus on specific skills and by mid to late August they may be participating in scrimmages to prepare for training camp.

This process is critically important to their mental and physical development. Yet often I hear about young kids who are back on the ice within a few weeks of the end of the regular season, playing in spring tournaments and summer leagues. These are kids who are hoping to play at a higher level the following fall, and as with most cases, it’s IMPERATIVE that they become bigger, stronger and faster for hockey.  Depending on the age group, minor hockey kids should be in the gym strength training 2-5 days per week. The larger number is obviously for the older kids major bantam and up.

In most cases kids are pressured by their own organizations to participate, with the belief that this will be beneficial in their quest to make the team (the revenue stream for these teams are never mentioned as a benefit) In some cases its what a friend might be doing and peer pressure to participate. Whatever the reason, playing spring and summer hockey does absolutely NOTHING for a player that needs to get stronger, faster, improve his balance, correct some movement errors, improve his conditioning, or actively rehabilitate some chronic injuries. Strength and conditioning for hockey, off-ice training, physical development for hockey, or whatever you would like to call it, is what will make a young hockey player better. Build the engine to support the technical skills.

The off-season is just that, the OFF-SEASON. Use it wisely as you decide what physical components are important to improve on-ice ability.  In my 20+ plus years in the NHL I have never seen a player participate in a mandatory summer hockey league, but I do see them in the strength and conditioning room.

There are many options when it comes to trying to select a program for your young player. This article How to Pick A Hockey Conditioning Program may be helpful.

Check out the Athletic Conditioning Center for our spring programs and get a jump on your off-season off-ice training programs now!

The Push Press – Coaching Cues to Enhance Hip Extension

I have used the push press movement for over 25 years with my athletes in a number of settings and variations (ie. DB’s MB’s etc).  Having been introduced to it in 1986 at a US Weightlifting Federation Coaches Certification in Colorado Springs Colorado, it has become a valuable movement in developing power in my athletes.

Before I began using the push press, I utilized the simple standing front military press for a number of years.  When I finally started utilizing Olympic style weight lifting in my programs, it was apparent how much more the push press could provide an athlete from a power perspective.  Although the front military press is a great fundamental strength movement, as its also very effective for shoulder hypertrophy and to teach shoulder extension in a controlled setting, your athletes should also be using this exercise as a prep movement in early training phases to prepare your body for the increased power of the push press.  I feel it will help groove the movement pattern in a controlled fashion and thereby enhance the push press itself.

Whereby the front military is typically a controlled movement i.e. slower tempos 3:0:3 or 2:0:2.  The push press is an explosive full body movement that enhances the triple extension of the ankles, knees and hips that is so important in power production during training and sports competition.

Push Press Issues

Like any Olympic style movement, this exercise is very technical; there are some movement faults that should be monitored to ensure an optimal result.

The first issue that comes to mind is the placement of the bar.  It should be sitting on top of the clavicles as you come off the rack.  This can become a problem for many people, as they do not possess the shoulder or wrist flexibility/mobility to allow the start of the movement in the correct position.  Its beyond the scope of this article to talk about solutions to this common problem, suffice to say that not everyone can obtain the mobility necessary.  With that, I will allow for an elbows under the bar position or utilize dumbbells but only after I have exhausted all other possibilities regarding improving flexibility/mobility in the wrist and shoulder.  But only if the athlete can execute proper triple extension.

Another major issue has to do with the movement of the hips.  In any number of settings you might see either a hip dominant push press or a quad dominant push press.  For me, the quad dominant variation is not as effective, decreases power output and bar velocity, puts the lower back at risk and undue stress on the patellar tendon as the knees shift forward.  Let me explain…..

In a proper hip dominant push press you will see the hips drop back (with neutral spine) at the same time as the knee and ankle moves into flexion as the movement initiates.  Following this slight dip, the body will reverse movement, utilizing the stretch shortening cycle to enhance the upward bar movement.  When this is accomplished the glutes and quads will contribute to an effective movement.

Coaching Cues To Enhance Hip Movement

Here are 2 example video clips.  This is Mark Scheiffle of the Winnipeg Jets, training at the Gary Roberts High Performance Centre in the summer of 2013. 

In this first video you can see how Mark’s movement is not smooth or powerful. There is an uncontrolled rotation of his pelvis slightly tucking causing undue stress on his back, and the slight incorrect movement patterning of his legs.  The movement does not look clean or smooth.

  

The Correction

In attempting to correct this error, you can use a verbal cue such as “hips back”, “sit back” or “weight on heels as you drop” or with the use of a box, you can provide the athlete with kinesthetic awareness of where you would like his hips to be.  By using an appropriate height, and by cueing with the command, “Sit back just until you first feel the box on your glutes, and then reverse movement explosively” You do not want the athlete sitting down or pausing like you might in a box squat.  This will result in a weak stretch-shortening reflex response.

After he re-positions himself following the first rep,  you can see the movement in this second video is much more effective and the bar has more speed to it.

Like any Olympic style weight lifting movement, care must be taken to ensure proper patterning.  Allowing your athlete or client to progressive with this kind of a error will certainly result in injury over time and most importantly the opportunity to not reach optimal increases in power.

Technique before loading!

The Lateral Squat - A Movement For Everyone

The lateral squat is an exercise I first saw over 25 years ago, but in a slightly different version than the one I use now.  The one I had witnessed at one of my first NSCA conferences had the athlete coming up from a low position, to a hips extended position in the middle, and followed by a rep to the opposite side.  I really liked the movement, but had thought how could I enhance the movement, and possible keep tension on the muscles at all times.  By employing a sliding technique, and keeping the movement continual in the frontal plane, this was achieved.  If you have not tried this variation give it a try.

Check out my Next Level Video on execution and coaching points. Click the link below...

The Next Level With Lorne Goldenberg - Coaching The Lateral Squat

Low Position of the Lateral Squat
Compliments of Coach Adam Douglas - Team Canada Women Hockey Team

My Experience With Performance Therapy & ART

I was prompted to write this blog post after reading Stuart McMillan’s own post on Performance Therapy http://tinyurl.com/aocnjv4 and Matt Price’s tweet on twitter asking “Should a trainer/coach do therapy? When is it ok & when is it not? 

Before I begin I wanted to say Stuarts post was extremely informative and real world.  This is how it works in legitimate high performance sports.  Athletes are given every opportunity to train, recover, and rehab in an optimal setting. 

I was exposed the benefits of therapy in a training environment back in Ottawa in the mid 1990’s when I was a strength coach for the Quebec Nordiques.   I was introduced to Dr. Mark Lindsay, who was working in Ottawa at a local sports clinic.  He introduced me to ART and some of his therapy techniques which were way ahead of their time.  Dr. Lindsay began working on a number of my clients who suffered different issues that I saw in the gym and through my own assessment.  To witness these athletes receive 2-3 treatments and step back into the gym and perform was incredible.  For many years I worked with a number of athletes in the area of what I will call post physio rehab.  Mostly mobility, corrective exercise and strength training, but nothing as quick or as efficient to what ART could do.  With that, I felt the need to set myself apart and enhance my tool kit, this technique would be of great value to my career.

In 1998 in Chicago Illinois I took part in the first group ART course for the upper extremity.  It was the most intensive 5-day course I had ever taken, which required 2 months of prep work and practice before I ever got there.  I was fortunate to have the help of Dr. Lindsay at that time to help me with the moves and completely understand the neuromuscular anatomy.  Ironically in this particular ART course, it was the first time they allowed non-chiropractors to attend.  In addition to myself, there was strength guru Charles Poliquin, Gina Perez an Ottawa strength coach now based in Calgary and another massage therapist whose name escapes me.  The course was a little intimidating to say the least but we all graduated to become ART providers for the upper extremity.

This new tool was just so valuable to my clients.  The ability to get my hands on an athlete’s subscap or teres minor when the shoulder was not moving properly gave them instant relief and allowed them to continue training with no issues.  My intent was never to be an ART therapist, my intent from the very beginning was to enhance what I do in the strength and conditioning room.  I leave the real therapy to the AT’s and physio’s who in most cases oversee the athlete’s rehab program.

So with that all being said, Matt Price’s tweet question of the day “Should a trainer/coach do therapy? When is it ok & when is it not? And Stuart’s post was all very interesting to me.  My direct answer to Matt would be yes.  In my opinion good Strength coaches do therapy every day in some form or another in the conditioning room.  That might be a rotator cuff exercise that was necessary as a result of an assessment, it might be a hip and back exercise as a means to progress the rehab the athlete may have received from an AT, or its just ensuring proper movement patterns for positive transfer to sport.  But….. there are times when us strength coaches cross that so called barrier that have been put up by the “therapists” that can result in trouble.  Let me share with you a story that happened in 2009/10 season with the Montreal Canadiens. 

Yes I made it onto the big screen at the Bell Centre

In January of 2010 Mike Cammilleri who was one of our top forwards at the time suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain that was close to being a grade 1.  If anyone knows Mike Cammilleri, he plays and trains with great intensity.  (with Matt Nichol @M_nichol from www.biosteel.com a cheap plug for a good friend & colleague).  So 5 days after the injury, Mike approached me and asked me give him everything I can do in the weight room to help his knee.

This was taken before the MCL injury

He was out of his walking brace and moving along fine, but was wearing a custom brace, just in case.  Generally with an MCL injury, once the swelling is down and the pain has somewhat subsided, you can focus on sagittal plane work.  The sooner you can do this without any significant pain, then the quicker potential you have to recover by re-engaging the nervous system to fire muscles that have likely been dormant for a while. 

So I had him cycle for 6-8 minutes to loosen up, we did some foam rolling and we then worked on the following:

Vibrating platform static bilateral stance 5 x 60 sec @40hz in a quarter squat position – the result was pain free

Supine Ankle Hops on a MVP Shuttle with the equivalent of him using only 30% of his body weight (this piece unloads the body of its own weight) 3 x 10 hops – the result was pain free.

Front squat 3 x 8 on a slow 3:0:3 tempo with 65 lbs – result was pain free.

DB RDL 3 x 8 with 30lb DB’s – the result was pain.

So what did I do?  I could have just said “ok Mike you are done, everything else was good but the RDL caused pain so lets stop” this would have been the safe thing to do.  But I had an athlete with me, who was extremely motivated to get better and an issue with an exercise that seemed to cause some pain.  I knew because of the MCL injury the fascial lines up the adductors were going to be very tight, leading all the way down to the pes anserinus ligament.  So instead of shutting him down, I put him on the massage table, I gave him some ART all along his adductors down to his VMO, but not over the ligament.  I also worked a bid of medial hamstring. I treated him for a total of 6 or 7 minutes.  Mike got off the table and tried the RDL again.  After 8 reps he looked at me and smiled and said “Goldy, that is perfect” We finished the sets, he iced down after and went home in a great state of mind.

The next morning as I walk into the Habs strength room, I have to pass through the therapy area. As I go by, I notice Mike is on the table getting his treatment from one of the therapists.  He looked up at me, smiled and winked.  Just then the therapist looked up at me and said “hey Lorne, I don’t know what you did to Mike last night, but he looks better and feels better, what did you do?  I then started to tell him the whole story as described above.  He was nodding his head in agreement the whole time, until I got to the description of the ART of his adductors.  The guy started yelling at me “NO NO NO you cant do that, you just broke up a self adhesion mechanism that protects his knee”  I just about lost it with this guy right there.  I responded, “did you just hear what you said to me? He looks better and feels better!!! That is what it is all about!” and I slowly walked away.

I had never heard of this so called “self protective adhesion” before.  So I called Dr. Lindsay and asked him about it.  He had not ever heard of such a thing and indicated the most important thing in a speedy rehab is getting function back ASAP and re-setting the nervous system.  I thought we had accomplished that.  Nevertheless, the therapists then reigned in Mike and slowed down his training to a level they were comfortable with.

Is this performance therapy, training, or just stretching?

Was I wrong for doing what I did?  I don’t think so.  Should I have consulted the team therapists first, maybe….and this is where there is an issue.  It seems that instead of working as a team, certain people like to take ownership of specific areas in pro sports therapy/training.  I have seen this often in my 20+ years in the NHL.  The unfortunate part here is sometimes the athletes suffer the result of the training and strength staff not working well enough together.  I know in my private business this never happens, as I have a good team of therapy and coaches working together to ensure the focus is on the athlete.  At the end of the day this is the only thing that matters. 

I have never scored a game winning goal in the NHL, but I have trained many who have….Hopefully they keep on doing it, and we can all just get together for a common goal and keep our athletes healthy.

ACC Skate Test

As we continually try to evolve our evaluation system at the ACC, we attempt to look at all things that can help us determine points that can make our athletes the best they can be.

This spring we converted all of our Keiser air pieces to their new display option that provides more information to the user and to us as coaches.  The internal mechanism is fitted with a force transducer to allow us to monitor the amount of watts performed with each repetition.   This is indicative of power and more importantly as the athlete completes an entire set, we can monitor the drop off.  This is important, because unlike high intensity circuit training, where you reps continually loose speed with no feedback, and you loose training power, this Keiser system allows us to completely focus on the quality of the reps and provides feedback to the athlete on how much harder he or she should be pushing.

One interesting new test we have created, is the Lateral Skate Test.  The idea of this test was provided to me by Pierre Allard, strength coach of the Montreal Canadiens.  I made a few modifications and came up with the test we have today.

As you can see in the video, the load is set up to be in line with the athletes waist.  The board they are jumping off of is set at a 20 degree angle, biomechanical research into the skating stride demonstrates that the skate is at an 18 degree angle with the ice.  The Athlete gets low, and explodes off of one leg.  They land on both, and re-set for the next rep.  We use a load of 20% of body weight for resistance, and measure the left and right leg to determine if there are any discrepancies that should be addressed.

Have a look below as Zach Bogosian of the Winnipeg Jets goes through his evaluation, and one of the players from the Nepean Wildcats women intermediate team.  Great form here and excellent power by both of them.