What Does Hockey Specific Training Look Like?

This is one of the most important questions a hockey player or parent should ask. What does it mean to train for hockey? Does that mean doing a lot of push-ups or doing bicep curls in the weight room? Not really. Those are okay exercises, but they are not hockey specific. Hockey specific exercises are almost always conducted from the 90 degree angle position. That is, the thigh and the calf make a right angle at the knee. Below is a one-legged squat hold. It's a simple position. A lot of times I'll extend my other leg forward. If you are a parent, see if you can do this. Better yet, see if your son or daughter can do this. For most, they can't do it correctly. Their knees will extend right over their toes because they have never done anything that resembles true hockey training (or they're too young and simply haven't developed the strength yet)

Hockey specific training consists of two main types of training: 1) explosive plyometrics and 2) skating form training. In the first, we start in a squat position (most of the time) and explode up in the air. We are working on training those fast twitch explosive muscle fibers. Getting low and exploding - that's huge in hockey. An exercise that is good for skating for training is above, the one-legged squat hold. I use tons of variations of squats, lunges, etc to help teach athletes to get into the 90 degree angle, into what I call "the pocket" when squatting. Would you rather get checked from a squat or standing straight up? Will you jump high from a squat or from standing straight up? Do you skate faster from a squat position or when you are upright? It's simple right? Everyone knows the answers to these questions. The low athlete always wins....

Developing a Good Stride: Part II

First of all, let me state that I am an open-minded individual and that my views in regard to skating technique could change tomorrow if someone provided me with evidence or reason to do so. Personally, I think the arguments and techniques put forth by Jack Blatherwick and Barry Karns are the best.

Anyways, let's get to the topic at hand. Developing a good stride requires perfect repetition of perfect form over a consistent period of time so that the athlete's muscle memory memorizes the movement. This memorization must become instinctual. You can't think about your stride during a game.

When an athlete is young (12 years or younger), I recommend that he or she do simple off-ice technique drills. This might include doing skating lunges, lunges, wall-sits, etc. These movements and exercises are not so much for strength as they are for coordination. Below is a picture from my website demonstrating one part of the skating lunge:

This exercise is literally just skating on a dry surface with shoes. Working with youth players on their stride by utilizing this exercise and one's similar to it is an easy and inexpensive way to teach good skating form.

You'll notice that in the picture my leg extends at something like a 45 degree angle. Depending on the body type and player the angle at which the player skates most comfortably may be a little more or a little less than 45 degrees. But the basic idea is that the athlete pushes outward, toward the side and slightly back, in order to force his or her momentum forward.

Now, some argue that a skater should flick their toe at the end of each stride, digging it into the ice. I agree with Barry Karn that this should not be done. Instead athlete's should keep their entire blade on the ice. If you've ever skated before, you know the difference between skating with a full blade and trying to skate on the first half of the skate. Those players that do the later have short, choppy strides. They move their feet fast but look like they are moving no where. The best skaters always seem to be moving effortlessly. When you watch some on television they don't even seem to be trying.

When an athlete is young it is also imperative that on-ice instruction focuses on quality repetitions over quantity. Bag skates with squirt teams are counterproductive if done too often (perhaps even done at all, I don't know), because the skater will bend over at the waist and start to skate poorly. He or she will learn improper form.

To summarize:

-Utilize off-ice technique drills to teach skating stride and form

-Extend blade at roughly 45 degree angle

-Keep entire blade on the ice, do not cause unnecessary friction

-Quality repetitions at young age are imperative, bag skates can be counterproductive (be careful coaches)

Developing a Good Stride: Skate Less?

What's the best way to develop a good skater? If you listen to all the hype it's to do clinic after clinic, AAA leagues, and private lessons. Basically, what most skating coaches will tell you is this: "Johnny's stride is good, but he bends at the waist a little too much. He doesn't get low enough a lot." They might go on and on about a certain issue with Johnny's mechanics. He doesn't extend fully or doesn't use his full blade on his crossovers.

Now, as a skating coach, these are things that I tell my clients too! Here's the ticker though. Teaching proper skating technique is like learning a language. If you pronounce a word wrong, your teacher immediately corrects you because if you continue to pronounce it incorrectly, you will LEARN that word incorrectly Eventually, let's say you say the same word incorrectly 50 times, you will need to say it the right away a lot more before your brain fixes the mistake.

When kids go to clinic after clinic, AAA league to youth association season, to private lessons, they simply don't get any rest. A kid that is fatigued is like a language-learner that is continually mis-pronouncing words. Even if a kid performs proper repetitions with a skating coach, if he goes to two hour AAA practices that night, he'll be too tired that entire time to skate correctly. He'll shorten his stride, bend at the waist, lift part of the blade up, get sloppy on his edges, etc.

When this happens, parents and child alike get concerned. The natural tendency is to do more. It's to hire a skating coach and sign-up for some new skating clinics. This tendency may not be the right one. If a kid is skating a lot already, the issue simply can't be resolved by doing more. It will only be made worse because bad habits will be re-enforced. Even if the youth athlete works hard at skating lessons and performs repetitions correctly, they will mean nothing if he skates poorly throughout the rest of the week. The good will be erased by the bad.

Remember: Repetitions make permanent, not perfect. Developing a good stride requires an insistence on perfection and an attention to detail. It also requires proper rest and recover. Depending on the child, he or she may need more rest or more practice. However, in general I think we are seeing a trend where what kids need more quality less quantity.

The Weight Lifting Myth

Another post, another myth to correct. The most important years for training a future collegiate or professional athlete are most often between the ages 14-18 years old. Some kids mature earlier or later, but for the most, these mid to late teenage years are extremely important. Yet, most training programs botch these years. They WASTE them and actually often do more harm than good. I've seen this at three different high schools.

Students walk into the school weightroom in the summer prior to their freshman year , ready to hit the weights in anticipation for the upcoming seasons. They can't wait to start bench pressing and doing bicep curls (these lifts are generally more beneficial for getting a girlfriend than performing well in any sport). The big seniors and some juniors are in the weight room lifting heavy. The young kids walk in, the macho trainers approach them and scream, "hit the weights!" They throw them some pieces of paper with lifts on them and that's about the end of it.

Inevitably, the young athletes want to lift heavy so they sacrifice form and thus meaningful strength gains. Well, I shouldn't even have said that because guess what? Almost every single one of them isn't ready for strength gains!! They are too young. They've barely started puberty, if that, and aren't ready to put muscle on. They are ready to gain speed, to gain quickness, to gain specific skills, to become more coordinated. Essentially, they are ready to become more athletic.

Yet, ignorant training programs and 24/7 training programs neglect these principles. They think more is better. They think 15 year olds should run the same training regime as 21 year olds in the National Hockey League. They are ignorant of the very science that a few letters next to their name claim to give them legitimacy.

If you want to have smart training, that's what Fortis does. Fortis realizes that young athletes are ripe for athletic gains. In our camps, we have taken unathletic and slow athletes and transformed them. We have seen them make huge gains because they put in the hard work. That is, they didn't just do bench presses, they did explosive exercises, they ran sprints, and they performed agility drills.

If you want to see these gains yourself, then come check out what Fortis is all about at www.thefortisacademy.com.

The More is Better Fallacy

The easy road leads to a hard life, but the hard road leads to an easy one. And so it is with hockey training. There are hundreds of different training facilities and opportunities for youth and high school hockey players. Many of their programs are time intensive and equally trying on a family's wallet. These programs offer more. They offer more training options, classes, sessions, routines, etc. Many offer programs that skate 5x a week. Some parents have their kids skate even more.

Believe it or not, but this is the easy road of hockey training. It is the 98% path, the path of mediocrity, and ultimately underachievement. It is a path that almost everyone these days seems to be traveling. The fact of the matter is that the human body can only take so much stress before it begins to break down. Studies have shown for instance that the power output measured in watts on a resistance bicycle will start to decrease after only 10 seconds! Lactic acid builds and breaks down the body's ability to go 100%.

For those unfortunate players that go into tons of different camps, AAA teams, and the like, they confuse more with being better. You might ask, what is the alternative? What is the hard road you have neglected to mention thus far?

The hard road is what I preach and what I expect from my players in my hockey camps. It states that every drill (that is designed for speed or quickness) will be done at 100% and that adequate rest will be given to players so that they can truly go 100%. It is much easier to continuously skate at 95% than to go 100% - 100% requires just as much physical pain. The pain is shorter, but more intense. But it additionally requires that an athlete have mental toughness. It requires a tenacity to improve and to persevere and to continue to skate at 100% through the final 20 meters of drill when your legs want to quit. This doesn't occur in the all consuming training schedules that are being sold to parents today. Instead, trainers are satisfied with 95% or they look the other way when their player's skating form begins to deteriorate.

The hard road also requires rest and recovery. It's impossible to go 100% every day without rest, diversity in training modules, and proper nutrition. Yet, many youth parents get sucked into the more is always better fallacy. They figure that the more practice their players get, the better they will become. Sure, this is true if we assume that every increase in training hours does not result in a decrease in quality. Unfortunately, this simply isn't the case.

Remember, practice makes permanent. A lot of youth hockey players are learning to train at 90%. Is that really the best way to develop youth players? No. The best way to develop a great hockey player is to teach 100% training, but to do so this will require a reduction in training schedules. That is what Fortis training is all about - 100% training with proper understanding of the need for athletes to rest and recovery.

On-Ice Hockey Training: Condition throughout....not just at the end

Conditioning is often seen as something separate and different from the rest of hockey practices. Typically, coaches use conditioning to get players ready for games and they typically put conditioning on the end of their practice plans. Why? Well, they think that there are a lot of other important things to do like practice the power play or work on break-outs. Now, those things are important, and we need to practice them. However, drills should be designed so that they simulate game activity. That is, players should do the drill, rest shortly, and then get after it again.

So we can condition two different ways:

1) Players can condition at the end of practice by skating in straight lines (like many coaches have them do...it's very game-like!)

OR

2) Players can go through drills that work all types of skills at high intensity, with short rest intervals, and condition THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PRACTICE!!!

I'll let you decide which you think is the better method.

Why Template Workout Programs Don't Work

For some reason, it has been difficult for me to explain to some people why template workout programs are not beneficial and/or as effective as they should be. A template workout program is simply a workout program that is given to all athletes to promote strength and power. Template programs may have, for example, three workouts. Every week the same workouts are repeated with little difference - weights are increased or changed, repetitions lowered or raised, and maybe an exercise or two added or subtracted. The basic template of the program, however, stays the same.

What's wrong with this you might ask? There are two major issues with template programs: 1) they often don't reflect individual needs and 2) they become mundane, boring, and less effective over time.

The first issue is one I am extremely passionate about. We need to design programs based off of:

-Sport(s) played
-Gender
-Age
-Maturity level
-Body Shape Strengths/Weaknesses
-History of Injury

To demonstrate the complexity, let's look at one sport (Football), one gender (Male), one age (17), and one history of injury (none). So we are keeping everything constant besides body shape and maturity level.

We will need workouts that are specific to lineman and skilled positions. We can differentiate the skilled positions too between those who may need to sprint 60 yards (wide receivers or defensive backs) and those who may sprint 10 yards or less most of the time (running and full backs). We need to differentiate between those boys who have hit puberty and those who are lagging behind. We need to differentiate, especially now days, between those who are overweight and those who need to gain mass.

I haven't hit everything, but let's take this logic down to one exercise: the front plank. Lineman will have trouble holding their bodies up so we need to have them do the exercise for fewer seconds. They simply won't be able to hold it. The rest of the kids may be good for 1 minute so we can have them do that. But what about the 4-5 guys that have awesome cores!!? What should we do with them? Just like we don't want the 300lbs lineman doing a plank 1 minute when he can't yet, we don't want a ripped wide-receiver doing a 1 minute plank and being bored out of his mind. We want him doing it on a pseudo-ball or on one hand for 2 minutes or longer. We want to add in more instability to the exercise.

That's one exercise!! Within that one exercise we need at least 3 different variations to have an effective program.

Hopefully it is obvious that template programs don't work the best. If you're paying for them, I'm sorry. You might as well just learn the lifts and then do everything on your own. After a couple weeks you can do the whole program!