As strength and conditioning professionals our job is to provide a safe platform for our athletes to develop strength, power, speed and other specific variables that can directly impact athletic performance. Simply put, we manage stress for a living. We prescribe specific doses of stress to elicit desired adaptation(s). Too little we fail to alter performance. Too much, overtraining and organism breakdown are the result. It is our goal to apply the right amount of stress at the right time to allow adaptation to occur (hypertrophy, strength, power ect.).
Donskov Strength and Conditioning has built a niche over the years training hockey players. I would imagine my previous career in the sport (both at the college and semi-pro level) has led to the large influx of players and organizations entrusting DSC to train their athletes. I would also hope that my thirst for knowledge and professional experience in exercise science far surpasses my so-called career as a player. John Wooden once said “Don’t confuse professional experience with your ability to teach it.” Just because you played, doesn’t mean you’re a qualified coach. Although we take pride in our niche base of hockey players, I’ve never been a fan of what I would call “specificity overkill”, or sports specific overkill. Our job is defined, as Strength and Conditioning professionals not sport coaches. What’s the job of a strength and conditioning coach? Pretty simple; improve strength and conditioning qualities that can tangibly be carried over into competition! Some qualities overlap regardless of sport. Some do not.
The current state of youth development is at a crossroads. What we’ve done for the past decade or so has been sub par. Kids have been encouraged to specialize at an early age (year round), play too many games, and parents dream on behalf of their children with the cumulative result to this equation leading to burnout and an underdevelopment of our youth. Hockey is a glaring example. Here are some of the issues currently plaguing youth development (exert taken from Misha Donskov/ADM presentation):
There is nothing better than my Mother’s home made Thanksgiving dinner, 4000 calories of turkey, gravy, stuffing, salad, and enough pumpkin pie to feed a small army. In order to make it through without passing out, it’s mandatory to eat one bite at a time. Failure to do so can cause some serious indigestion, nausea, and a quick trip to the men’s room. Indigestion can also occur in the weight room. Although our athletes don’t fill their bellies with turkey dinner, they do fill their minds with auditory, kinesthetic, and visual cues. Take home point: Don’t over coach! Repetition is the mother of success. If your athletes spend more time listening to muscle insertion points and the finer hip angle of the hang clean, you need some ex-lax because indigestion is just around the corner.
Hockey is an extremely demanding sport! A quality strength and conditioning program needs to reflect these demands. Components such as: soft tissue work, static stretching, mobility, dynamic flexibility, upper/lower body plyometrics, speed development, strength training and energy system capacity are all vital for performance gains. When designing programs we often overlook one of the most fundamental questions, what are the demands of the sport? Does my program reflect these qualities?
There is currently a major buzz going on in the strength and conditioning field centering on the concept of thoracic spine mobility. Coaches are actively seeking ways to build mobility in this anatomic region in order to reduce lumbar rotation and enhance scapular stability. The idea revolves around the concept of Kinetic Linkage where each joint is affected by the integrity of the joint above or below. The T-Spine is extremely important. A proximal to distal linkage of the thoracic spine, scapula and GH joint is critical in long-term shoulder health (as is ankle and hip mobility). The thoracic spine needs to be mobile to allow adequate translation of the scapula over its surface. This enhances the GH joint and prevents anterior/superior humeral head migration, which leads to impingement. Take a look at the picture below.
As a former competitive athlete, I enjoyed being pushed in the weight room and on the ice. Intense workouts, overnight bus rides, three games in three nights and a body the recovered faster than David Hasselhoff’s lifeguarding career.
Building a strong “posterior dominant” shoulder has been shown to be of great value for the overhead athlete. Based on the demands of the sport (the fact that many great overhead athletes have acquired laxity) and the construct of the joint (the shoulder joint in and of itself sacrifices large amounts of stability for mobility) this anatomical landmark plays an important role in the athletes’ protocol. However many times direct cuff strengthening is overlooked in the practical programming for the contact athlete. Is this valid or do we need to look deeper into preparing our athletes for the demands of their sport? Lets take a look at the evidence regarding shoulder injuries in contact sports.
Program design is a nearly extinct art form based on sound principals and components. It is backed by current science and practical application. It takes years to master through education, mentorship and deliberate practice. A well-educated trainer/coach can defend each and every exercise in their program and explain why it is applicable to their training population(s). One size does not fit all! Weight loss clients train differently than elite athletes. Program design is a GPS system; it guides us through the obstacles taking our clients step by step to their final destinations.
I never thought I’d use the words billiards and strength training in the same article, but the fact is that there is some correlation. Cuing is a tool used in both professions. Using the proper cue in pool allows the ball to travel in its destined path with efficiency and ease. Strength and Conditioning is no different! Cuing is an art/tool that allows ease, understanding and efficiency in the weight room. There are two types of cues that reinforce proper motor programming, verbal and physical. Combined, these cues build technical proficiency without “over coaching” and confusing athletes by speaking a different language. The key to cuing is SIMPLICITY. Below are several of my favorite verbal and physical cues. Some are original; many are “borrowed” from well-respected coaches in the industry.
