By Billy Corbett, C.S.C.S.
Associate Coach
Article Last Updated: August 26, 2009
In Part 1, we spoke of the rationale of implementing a less traditional and more age appropriate training protocol for our developing athletes. Let’s speak a little more specifically about laying a foundation while still allowing the more developed and skilled players the opportunity to improve. Keeping in mind that training should always be designed with the intention that improvements will occur over a period of years.
Laying the Groundwork
Any training program I have developed, regardless of if it was one of my NHL players, a H. S. goalie, or a pee wee player; all started with a stability and a flexibility/mobility phase before jumping into the more traditional strength and power phases.
Why?
For the same reason you cannot build a tall strong building with a weak or shallow foundation and the same reason the strength of the oak tree has roots that go deep and wide. If you want to be strong you need a solid foundation. The foundation is rooted in what we call stability. As you already realize, Hockey is played much of the time on 1 foot. You are either transferring from one foot to the other or centering the 1 foot beneath for balance as you cross over. That means the base of support is narrow for the amount of torque and for the 3 dimensional movements that occur above the waist.
The program design for the young athlete should be determined by many factors including but not limited to: body type, maturation levels, gender and age. We will focus on players 12-18 years of age and up. Even this 6 year span of ages is wide when considering the physiological adaptations that will take place for this age group.
The topic of posture is rarely, if ever, discussed in the realm of athletics and sports. But when the goal is to improve athletic performance there is a significant impact on movement based on the positioning of the muscle–skeletal-facial system. Just as your car needs to maintain its proper alignment in order to maintain its efficiency and reduce wear and tear, so does our body. If our bodies are out of proper alignment there will be an altering in the force-couple relationship which can lead to compressive forces around the joint and will probably lead to a decreased performance and possible injury.
So what does this have to do with getting your kid in shape for hockey?
Referring back to posture and force couple relationships there are two examples of altered force couple relationships you should think about. The shoulder blade either rotates upward or downward to provide the upper extremity a stable platform that is required when producing any movement of the upper limbs. What do you think happens when there is too much of one kind movement, (i.e. traditional pushups), and not enough counter movement? I know it’s hard to reduce this “staple” from our exercise diet so we can break away from it slowly. What happens is you develop a muscular system that is imbalanced and inefficient. There is a much better way that involves a more rotational three dimensional way to train the upper body and will strengthen the entire upper body
Another example occurs down at the pelvis. Due to the unavoidable action of excessive sitting in school and the typical lack of variety of our kids sport participation, the young athlete ends up with a tilted pelvis and tight hamstrings. The tilting of the pelvis tends to decrease the force production of the gluteus maximus, (butt muscle), which will affect the amount of hip extension, or push off. Even more important than not having enough ability to maximally drive is the inability to control the forces leading to deceleration. This is where we see most of our injuries. It’s like having a very fast car but no brakes. Scary!
Our goal as conditioning coaches should be first to restore the length – tension relationships, (strengthen what’s weak, stretch what’s tight), and force couple relationships by functionally integrating the entire kinetic chain. Without going into too much more scientific detail, try to keep in mind that before we had exercise machines we had the only human body to work with and our environment was the gym. Also keep in mind that the brain recognizes and uses movements better when we integrate movements–vs.-isolating movements. Normal muscle action is the patterned response of groups of muscles.
The off ice training of today requires multi-joint and multi-planer movement. Exercises should be done in forward, backward, lateral and rotational directions. Off ice training of today also requires eccentric loading, (fighting gravity), to improve deceleration and injury prevention and it requires functional whole body strength to transfer to on ice performance.
Our motto at RetroFit Training Center is” Train like you play because you play like you train”.
Here are some ideas you can immediately add to current training programs:
1. Dynamic Warm-up
Goal: to create functional mobility through full range of motion in all 3 planes, and to prepare the body and mind for exercise and competition.
Walking lunge with twist – both directions
Squat hands behind head and with twist at top
Side lunge w/twist – also use back cross over step
Straight leg march – toe up and drive down leg into ground
Walking hip stretch
Walking bent forward hamstring stretch
Transitional skips
2. Core Training
Hip – T spine mobility
Plank series – progress to lifting an arm/leg
Prone frog press
Dynamic hip lift
Core rowing( push up and 1 arm row combo)
3. Strength
One leg squat
Split squat – 1 x 3 reps– 4 – 5 sets * add 1 rep/week
One leg raised squat/bench squat
Lateral squat – 1 x 3 reps – 4-5* add 1 rep/week
Rotational squat 1x3 – 4- 5 * add 1 rep/week
Single leg hip extension- on ground lifting hips
Matt Nichol, the Toronto Maple Leafs strength coach, demonstrates the Single Leg Bound and Stick exercise.
Billy Corbett is an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® and the owner of the RetroFit Training Center in Denver, CO. He serves as a consultant and an Associate Coach to the Colorado Hockey Institute directing hockey specific Strength and Conditioning programs for teams and athletes.