Phoenix Coyotes Care » Player Development

Ladder Drills = Quicker Feet

Kelly Anton — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:03:39 +0000

Hockey is a unique sport that requires quick hands, quick feet and excellent hand-eye coordination—all at the same time. Dryland training for hockey needs to incorporate all these elements to be effective. An agility ladder is an excellent tool to help accomplish this task. Using an agility ladder is especially effective in developing footwork quickness, transitional movement and change of direction. These are all critical components to becoming a better hockey player.

Activities and drills for the agility ladder are limited by only your creativity. Most athletes, and certainly most trainers, are familiar with basic agility ladder use. This versatile tool should not be limited to basic use, however. Incorporating advanced hand-eye activity and upper body exercises helps make the ladder even more effective. Passing exercises, doing upper body movement while in the ladder and using the ladder as part of an obstacle course are examples of ways to make it a more effective—and fun—exercise.

I highly recommend getting an agility ladder and using it diligently. You will be amazed at how versatile it can be as an exercise, too. You will also be amazed at the results as your feet get quicker and you become a better hockey player!

Editor's Note: Along with working with HockeyOT.com, Mike Beckman is a physical therapist and founder of Valley Rehabilitation Services. He has been in practice since 1986. He has worked with athletes at all levels and sports in both rehab and performance training.

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Keep Up the Training!

Kelly Anton — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:24:15 +0000

Strength and conditioning is critical to the success of hockey players at all levels. Athletes will spend time in the off-season increasing speed, power, strength, endurance and agility as well as rehabbing injuries. Considerable amounts of time and resources are spent in these endeavors.

Unfortunately, many players end up wasting these efforts during the season. After all the hard off-season work to get into peak shape, all they end up doing during the season is going to practice, doing some sprints and agility training, mixing in some plyometric exercises and playing games. With this routine, research shows that performance will begin to deteriorate after about four weeks. What good is all of the off-season work if you are going to let any gains decline by mid-season? It is important to make time for in-season strength and conditioning to at least maintain any gains from the off-season. Not only does this improve game performance, it also helps decrease the risk of injury.

Naturally, time is a factor when considering an in-season program. Research does suggest that a two-day per week off-ice training regimen can maintain performance. HockeyOT training—a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web—is an ideal way to develop in-season programs because it creates time-efficient workouts that target specific player needs. Regardless of what system the player or team uses, strength and conditioning should be a priority in-season.

Some key points for in-season training:

Strength train at least two days per week for no longer than an hour per session

Decrease volume of exercises in sets and reps vs. intensity

Continue to target your weaknesses

In summary, in-season training is still a critical part of overall success in hockey. It can help decrease risk of injury, prevent performance deterioration and maintain strength and power gained in the off-season.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Mike Beckman for this story. Along with working with HockeyOT.com, Mike Beckman is a physical therapist and founder of Valley Rehabilitation Services. He has been in practice since 1986. He has worked with athletes at all levels and sports in both rehab and performance training.

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Strength Train Safely

Kelly Anton — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:54:30 +0000

I train a lot of athletes in a team setting and have done fitness training with kids as young as 8 years old. Most of the kids I work with really enjoy a fun strength-training session with their teammates. Occasionally, I will have a player sit out of a training session because a parent told the child that he or she is too young to participate in the workout. Sometimes, the parent is basing this decision on misconceptions about strength training. Both the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association state that children can safely engage in strength training with the proper instruction and supervision.

According to the Mayo Clinic, children can start strength training as young as age 8—as long as the child is mature enough to follow directions and practice proper technique and form. An article authored by Chan et al. in Team Physician, estimates that 15 percent to 50 percent of all injuries sustained by youth while playing sports could be prevented if more emphasis was placed on developing fundamental fitness abilities prior to sports participation.

Strength training is defined as a specialized method of physical conditioning that involves the progressive use of a wide range of resistance loads designed to improve muscular fitness. Using this definition of strength training, probably the most appropriate resistance load for the younger athlete to start with is his or her own body weight. Examples of effective body weight exercises include the prisoner squat, front plank, and push-ups.

Prisoner Squat

Front Plank

Push Up

Once the younger athlete feels that body weight resistance training is manageable, free weight training can be included in the training program. When using free weights, the younger athlete should focus on doing the exercises correctly with lighter weights. When done correctly, strength training can help the younger athlete improve body awareness, control and balance. One of my favorite light resistance exercises to help athletes with body awareness is the 3D dumbell sequence. Once younger athletes decides to start strength training, it is important that they follow some type of plan that will ensure that they do each exercise safely and effectively with the appropriate amount of resistance and number of sets and repetitions.

At Hockeyot.com, we create age and skill-level customized workouts for athletes as young as 11 years old. To ensure safety, the workouts feature:

Athletes begin each strength-training session with five minutes of light aerobic activity, such as jogging or jumping rope. This warms up the body and helps reduce the risk of injury.

Many of the exercises take into account the three-dimensional nature of human movement.

When working with external resistance such as dumbells, the weight is kept light so that the exercise technique is not sacrificed.

Text and video descriptions are provided so each exercise can be performed correctly and safely.

Easy stretching is performed at the end of each workout to help promote flexibility and decrease any muscle soreness related to the training.

Rest periods are important between each exercise session.

At Hockeyot.com, we recommend that younger athletes only do three or four workouts per week so there is no risk of overtraining.

If you have any concerns about your child’s health or safety, you should check with your child's doctor before you begin any strength-training program.

Remember, strength training is more than just increasing muscular strength. Teaching youth about body awareness through strength training can have a significant impact on reducing injuries during sports participation and can help form the habit of regular exercise while encouraging the child on a lifetime path to better health and fitness.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

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The Jump Rope: An Underestimated Training Tool

Kelly Anton — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:15:56 +0000

A tool that we like to use for training is the jump rope. It is a low cost, portable and highly effective piece of equipment. A good plastic speed rope will cost you approximately $12. Plus, if you are going to be away from your local training facility for a period of time, the rope is easy to pack and bring along.

Jumping rope is easy to add to any workout. It can even be used between sets of a strength training exercise to keep the heart rate at a certain level. In a recent study, this has been shown to improve muscle recovery.

If you think jumping rope is just for kids on the playground, I challenge you to try this workout. We use our 3D jump rope sequence for beginning hockey players. As with any exercise make sure your physician has cleared you for vigorous activity.

Perform each of these drills for 15 seconds, getting as many jumps in as you can.

2 foot normal jump

2 foot side-to-side jump

2 foot twisting left to right

Rest for 45 seconds

1 foot alternate skipping

1 foot high knees alternate skipping

1 foot skater hop alternate skipping

Rest for 45 seconds

Repeat steps 1-8, one more time

I guarantee this 3D jump rope sequence will get your heart rate up! You will also experience the added benefit of working on your foot speed and coordination. You won’t get this kind of workout sitting on a stationary bike! Check it out here:

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

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Get More Speed in Your Game: Part 1

Kelly Anton — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:41:54 +0000

For hockey you need to be more than just fast. You need to be able to repeat your fast performance on the ice again and again. Most players will play between 10–30 shifts in a game with each shift lasting 30–60 seconds. During each shift, you may reach top speed 2–5 times. Many players I have trained have good speed on a one-time, blue-line-to-blue-line skating test. When we make them repeat the test 10 times, however, their performance rapidly deteriorates as fatigue sets in. For these players, we focus on speed endurance training.

Speed endurance is the toughest aspect of fitness to train because the training hurts. You have to push until your muscles are loaded with lactic acid. Speed endurance training produces a hockey player who can go hard every shift, every period. A player with high levels of speed endurance becomes extremely valuable toward the end of each period, especially the third and overtime. One of the best ways to train for speed endurance is with interval training on the track in the off-season.

Interval training consists of short bouts of activity followed by short bouts of rest. For example, the athlete runs the straightaway and walks the turn on a 400-meter track. We call this the variable acceleration 400-meter—and the players hate it! For pro players, we will repeat this 5–10 times, asking the players to try to repeat their performances as consistently as possible. This type of training requires the athlete to train with a lot of lactic acid in their muscles. Lactic acid is a byproduct of the anaerobic metabolism required to do the variable acceleration 400-meter drill.

Check out our sprint training here:

For more information, please visit HockeyOT.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

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ADM Q&A: Blue Pucks & Passing

Kelly Anton — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Q. My 8-year-old is playing in a summer league that uses the regular black puck rather than the lighter blue puck he’s used throughout the 8U program. His team suffers from weak passing and the parents are blaming it on the blue pucks. If this is true, why would ADM require Mites to use the lighter pucks?

A. USA Hockey mandated the use of the lightweight blue pucks, which are approximately 2 ounces lighter than standard black pucks, in 2003–2004 primarily because the lighter pucks more readily promote the development of on-ice skills for younger players. The lighter puck is easier to shoot, pass and stickhandle for players in the earlier stages of physical development. The blue puck allows the younger, less physically mature player to learn proper technique in passing, shooting and stickhandling - similar to using a smaller ball in soccer or football.

According to USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager Joe Doyle, “Improper technique or lack of strength are typically the primary reasons for poor passing or shooting. If players have proper technique in passing the puck and the required strength, they will be able to make firm, accurate passes with the blue or black puck.” Making an accurate, firm pass to a moving target is difficult at any age and skill level and certainly for an 8U player. “Quality repetitions using the proper technique and physical maturation will improve the very difficult skill of giving an accurate, firm pass to your teammates.” Click the links here for details on teaching proper forehand passes in addition to wrist shots.

Editor's Note: Thank you to USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager Joe Doyle for assistance with this story.

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How to Improve Your Change of Direction Speed

Kelly Anton — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:01:17 +0000

If you watch a hockey game, it quickly becomes evident that the average time a hockey player skates at full speed at any time during the game is for less than five seconds followed by a change in speed or direction. This is not to say that hockey is not a very fast-paced game when played at the elite level. Hockey is about quick, explosive movements and efficient change of direction. The best skaters are able to quickly turn, pivot, shift laterally or delay, creating time and space to get open or make a play. Elite skaters have developed high levels of strength, power and quick reaction time—which all contribute to agility. Agility is the ability to quickly and efficiently change direction.

An efficient hockey-specific training program is based on understanding the demands of the game of hockey. Speed is one of the important skills of the game, but top speed is rarely reached—and when it is, it’s almost never maintained for very long before a player needs to change direction. As a result, the ability to change direction rapidly is much more desirable than simply being fast in a straight line.

At hockeyot.com, you’ll find multiple exercises to help improve your change of direction speed. A few of our favorites include:

Lateral Agility Drill: Set up 3 cones all 5 meters apart. Start at the center cone. Sprint towards 1 of the end cones, touch the ground in front of the cone, quickly change directions and sprint to other end cone, touch the ground and change directions and sprint back past center cone. If you have a partner, have them call out the starting direction (left or right) to start the drill.

Lateral Shuffle Partner Shadow: Start by facing your partner and make sure you have 10 yards of unobstructed space. Laterally shuffle side-to-side while your partner tries to shadow for 20–30 seconds. Don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you as both athletes will be working hard during this exercise!

Short Shuttle: Set up cones or markers at 0-5-10-15 and 20 yards (or meters). Sprint to each marker, touch the ground in front of the cone and back to starting marker. Make sure to turn towards the marker with each change of direction. To add competition to this drill, have your partner race you from the other side of the cones. One set of this drill will feel like a tough hockey shift!

For appropriate sets/reps and rest period prescriptions, please click here.

Work on your change of direction speed during your off-ice training and watch how your ability to maneuver on the ice improves. See the Lateral Agility Drill here.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

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The Problem with the 6-Week Promise

Kelly Anton — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:07:48 +0000

As you’re reviewing summer development camp options for your players, watch out for over-the-top promises. Many facilities, trainers, coaches and franchise-type facilities around North America are saying to mom and dad: “For $700 or $800, I’ll put together a six-week program that makes your young athlete as fast and powerful as possible, as strong and speed-based as possible.” But that type of promise is inappropriate on a number of levels.

The development of a young person’s body and the corresponding mental and emotional development really do take time. It’s not about making kids as fast or as strong as possible in six or eight weeks. It’s about developing over the long term. You really can’t train young athletes in short bursts of time. I recommend that parents try and stay away from trainers who talk about “six weeks to maximum performance.” Those things shouldn’t really be involved in youth development—it really should be more of a long-term scope.

The best and most appropriate way to understand the concept of long-term development is to compare it to academics. After all, you can’t get a master’s degree before you get a bachelor’s degree. And you can’t get a bachelor’s degree before you get a high school diploma. As you know, in academics, everything is a cognitive building block upon itself. So think of training and developing young athletes as you would academics. You wouldn’t go through second grade in six weeks—you couldn’t. There is a rhyme and a reason for it and the same holds true for developing athletes.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brian Grasso, founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association, for this story. Grasso is recognized as the world's leading expert on youth athlete development and fitness.

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Elements of Power in Hockey Skating: The Release, Follow Through & Return

Kelly Anton — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:04:29 +0000

In this continuing series on the Elements of Power Skating, Laura Stamm explains the proper release, follow-through and return that produces efficient speed.

Release

After a proper windup, the pushing skate and leg drive directly and fully against the pushing edge. All skating pushes are outward/inward—not backward/forward. Too many players allow the pushing skate and leg to slip back into a walking/running motion. This is a huge mistake.

Follow Through

A push is complete only when the pushing skate and leg are fully extended. Full extension is the instant in a push during which the entire leg—hip, quads, knee, calf, ankle and toes—is locked. A well-executed follow through allows for the all-important “toe-flick,” the final push against the ice with the front of the edge.

Note that full extension is based on maintaining a 90-degree knee bend of the gliding leg at the point of full extension. A lesser knee bend produces a lesser range of motion and subsequently an inadequate push.

Return

The importance of the return is that it prepares the skater for the next push. As previously mentioned, each push must begin directly beneath the center of gravity. An incomplete return means that the skates and legs will be outside the “battery pack” at the beginning of the next push. The subsequent push will be “empty”—inefficient and ineffective.

Players who push from a wide base feel as though they’re going fast because they can move their legs rapidly. Of course they can move their legs rapidly—their range of motion is very short. In actuality, they end up working hard and accomplishing little. These players also tend to tire quickly because they waste a lot of energy “going nowhere fast.” Our goal is efficient speed. To accomplish this, each push must go through its full range of motion.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating for this story. Kelly Anton, managing editor of the Grow the Game initiative, edited this story.

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Common Sense is the Foundation of High Performance

Kelly Anton — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:43:46 +0000

Champions usually believe the essentials of life were learned in kindergarten. Their world view is that success is simple and constructed fundamentally from common sense. While average people search for complex answers to their problems, the world class looks for the simple solution first—and usually finds it. They solve more complex challenges by looking at the situation as an outsider viewing it for the first time. Larry Wilson, the famous speaker and author, says the great ones get out of their own way by viewing the problem from ten thousand feet in order to gain a new perspective. They separate themselves from the everyday details and gain a three-dimensional view of the problem. While average people strain to create a solution, champions think for a while then create a mental distance to take their direct focus off the problem. Many times the answers come to them in the shower, in the middle of the night, or at the health club while they’re working out. The law of indirect effort is one of the most powerful problem-solving processes known to man. Champions realize the secret to tapping their true genius is sometimes hidden in the act of not trying so hard.

Action Step for Today: Write down your five most pressing problems and ask: “Is there a kindergarten answers to this seemingly complex problem?” Let your mind revert to childlike thinking and write down the first answers that come to mind.

“Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811–1896, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Steve Siebold’s book, 77 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class: The Thought Processes, Habits and Philosophies of the Great Ones.

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