ATHLETIC STRENGTH AND POWER

Strength Training for Hockey

St. Xavier Hockey Strength Training & Conditioning

Today's post is an article for the coaches and players of the game of hockey. It was written by Carlo Alvarez, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at St Xavier High School, located in Cincinnati, Ohio.   He served in the same capacity for the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club, and worked for the Cleveland Indians, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Cincinnati.

Fall is upon us and most hockey players are working on their pre-season strength and conditioning programs to help them report to camp as fast, strong and powerful as possible. As hockey has grown more popular, so have strength and conditioning specific programs.

Hockey is an interesting sport to train due to its high energy system needs, as well as it's high muscular demands. Hockey is a game of speed and power and should be trained according to its specific demands. When you look at the playing intervals of hockey players, you find that most athletes experience a three times rest to one part work ratio. So having said this, it’s important to think about developing the ability to play hockey, not the theoretical model of conditioning.

For the full article, click below and download the pdf.

Download training_for_hockey.pdf

Copyright 2006       A.S.A.P. Athletic Strength And Power         All Rights Reserved      

ABSOLUTE CRUNCH TIME

Crunch Time

Today's post features an absolutely great abdominal / core training workout for you to get a start on that 8 pack that you've been wanting. This workout comes in pdf form and is just a download away. Sarah Ensminger, a former North Carolina State University volleyball player used her graphic design degree to get "Crunch Time" for ASAP Athletic Strength And Power. She picked up part of this routine as a member of the Wolfpack VB squad...then added her own twist, graphically designed the stick people, and sent it on to www.athleticstrengthandpower.com ASAP.  So here's the download and believe me, that's the easy part! .... Coach C

Download crunch_time.pdf

A Closer look at Abdominal Training

A strong midsection or...CORE... is important for both athletes and non-athletes. The focus of today's post will be on training the abdominal muscles. The elusive "eight pack". Dr Ted Lambrinides has written some research on this very subject and how to get started on a CORE strength training program. Download the pdf file and make return visits to ASAP Athletic Strength And Power this week for more information on this important fitness topic. There is also an upcoming podcast and also some CORE and Abdominal Routines to follow. For now, study the anatomy artwork and get ready for Crunch Time!

• Download a_closer_look_at_abdominal_training.pdf

It's Crunch Time

Several years ago, the fitness industry was overcome with a new aspect in physical training and conditioning called: CORE training. Exercise physiologists scurried back to their physiology and kinesiology textbooks to learn more about this new concept in physical training. What is core training...and where do you find out more about it? There are even books and online sites where you buy the "secrets" of Core training. Had personal trainers, physical educators and strength coaches been in the dark for all those years?

More than likely, Core training has been going on for many a year.... just by a different name. And as for those textbooks? Well, there is really no mention of Core training in any of the collegiate physiology textbooks that I researched.  When I asked Ted Lambrinides PhD, an exercise physiologist, he stated that the Core could include muscles anywhere from the latissimus dorsi....all the way down to the knee, and that if one has been following a total body training program...they've been training their Core area all along.

And, as for the "secrets" of Core Training, if you wanted to pay an introductory $9.95 fee, you could go to a website and enroll.  Please email us or click on "comment" at the end of this post if you do an enlighten us on those secrets.

On the serious side though, the Core Craze has placed a re-emphasis on total body training. Many athletes were using just a few "Core Movements" (different from Core Training) and subsequently leaving many muscle groups undertrained. Core Training has been a long time emphasis in Dan Riley's strength and conditioning program, going way back to the 70's...yet he never referred to it as Core Training. Riley worked as head strength coach with collegiate national champion teams at Penn State and Super Bowl  teams with the Washington Redskins. Never referring to as CORE... but his workout routines are full of CORE training exercises. So, the pendulum swings back with emphasis on these muscle groupings again...just that now, it has a different name. So, for many of you long time coaches, rest assured that you probably have been training your athletes right all along.

Coming soon to ASAP Athletic Strength And Power, will be the Podcast interview regarding CORE training that I conducted with Ted. I'm sure that you'll find of interest and you'll be able to take some of the information and inject it into your, or your athletes' workouts.

Also, later this week, we'll explain a great abdominal/ CORE routine that that we picked up from Sarah Ensminger, a former North Carolina State "Wolfpack" Volleyball Star. You'll like this one... so will your Abs... and we'll reveal the secrets of that routine....for free!!!! There is also a downloadable pdf that will accompany it. Make your return visits this week as we delve into the CORE!

Keep Training! .........Coach Cicale

All Rights Reserved  Copyright 2006 www.athleticstrengthandpower.com

Speed Can Be Taught.... Part Three

Welcome back for the third segment of "Speed Can Be Taught". Please refer to parts one and two as you make your coaching progressions. In this segment, we'll examine the LOWER BODY Speed Vocabulary. This program was designed by Kevin McNair a speed development coach and running authority from California.

LOWER BODY SPEED VOCABULARY

• Hang: Create and maintain a 90 degree angle at the knee in the recovery phase. Your leg should be inactive from the knee down to the toes. Lead with the knee. Kep the foot and foreleg down and under the knee. When the 90 degree angle is lost (foreleg reach) the leg slows down.
• Punch: Drive the knee out and forward....not up....on the initial movement from the ground. A foreward and upward knee action rotates the hips....leading to covering more ground.
• Snap: Pull the foot down and back under the hip during the recovery phase. Anytime that the foot hits ahead of the hip, forward momentum is broken.
• Lift: Run tall....as if someone is measuring the runner's height. Lift occurs after the first 10 yards during a forty yard dash.

The next segment of "Speed Can Be Taught" will concentrate on how the upper and lower body phases work together.

until next time.....Coach Cicale

All Rights Reserved    Copyright 2006     ASAP Athletic Strength And Power

Game Changers in The Strength & Conditioning Field

In today's post, we head back to East Lansing, Michigan and Coach Ken Mannie who is in his 12th year as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Michigan State University. Mannie always provides an interesting and inside perspective on many of the issues regarding the strength training and conditioning of athletes. Coach should be in a good mood today following the convincing wins that the Spartans have had lately. However, with the University of Pittsburgh game looming, Mannie won't be resting on his laurels.... players, no doubt,  will be forcing out some extra reps this week. Good Luck to Coach Mannie and the Michigan State Spartans and thanks Coach!    

...Coach C

 

...."while there have been myriad advancements, ever-evolving scientific pronouncements, continuing debates on a wide range of issues, and ongoing upgrades taking place at a frenetic pace, the following occurences have  left indelible fingerprints on the strength and conditioning profession:"     .........Ken Mannie

• The Proliferation of Professional Organizations
• The Development and Advancement of Modern Training Equipment
• The Emergence of the Internet
• The Elevated Status of Strength and Conditioning Professionals
• The Inculcation of Performance Enhancing drugs...and the Ongoing Fight Against Them

For the complete article which recently appeared in COACH Magazine, click here for the pdf file download:

GameChangersDownload    

Speed Can Be Taught.... Part Two

In Speed Can Be Taught.... Part 1, we explained some of the basic fundamental principles of Speed Development. This program was designed by Kevin McNair and has been used by many college and professional athletes since around 1990.  

As explained in Part 1, there are a number of key words that reinforce the training techniques and will help with the on-the-field speed development aspect. This post will feature the Upper Body Speed Vocabulary.

                                   Upper Body Speed Vocabulary

• Pinch    -    Serves as a way to control rotational force of arm action which hinders straight ahead speed. The actions of the right arm affects the left leg and the actions of the left arm affects the right leg. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Run with the palms toward the belly button and control the hand by placing the thumb against the forefinger while keeping the hand like a fist.
• FOCUS- Keep the eyes on the horizontal plane....imagine a conversation taking place while you are speaking with someone your own height. Avoid tilting the head up or down. A downward head tilt causes the body to lean due to the weight of the head.
• FIX - Maintain a constant arm angle of 90 degrees
• ROTATE- Swing the arm through the shoulder area. Remember to keep the arms fixated at 90 degrees through the entire motion
• LOW- Aggressively bring the fist "through the pocket" ...below the hip and past the butt "pocket"
• PULL - make a violent pull, backward with the arm movement, from chest height back to the butt. The further that the arm is pulled back...the greater the leg extension will be...which is one of the keys!
• Lockout- The freeze position of the upper arm with the shoulder going down and through the back pocket.
• CHOKE- The forward swing of the fists stops at sternum level
• CRACKDOWN- Hands and knuckles will point downward quickly as if cracking a whip.
• HAMMER- Aggressive arm swing at the shoulder. Point the knuckles toward the ground and extend the wrist. Imagine that you have a hammer in your hand and that you are forcefully driving a nail into the wall behind you.
• SQUEEZE - Keep the arms close to the torso, and avoid creating a space between the arms and the upper body.
• ARCH- Pinch the shoulder blades together...the shoulders will be brought back slightly. Move the hips forward and curve the lower back slightly. This arching will flatten the spine and thus places the gluteal muscles in a position to maximize the leg drive.

Next week, in SPEED CAN BE TAUGHT  Part Three, I'll add the LOWER BODY SPEED VOCABULARY.

.....Coach C

Weight Gain for Athletics

Weightgain_for_Athletics_Podcast

Today's podcast edition of "The Extra Point" is with the program director of  A.S.A.P.Athletic Strength And Power, Ted Lambrinides and he'll be explaining how athletes can make gain weight for their athletic endeavors such as football, basketball and wrestling.

We also have a meal suggestion plan that can help athletes with ideas to add sensible caloric intake. The plan contains the amounts of carbohydrates, fats and proteins contained in that particular meal. ASAP will be posting more of these suggested meal plans in the future.

Download meal_suggestions.pdf

Today's Podcast Show Notes:

• Weight Gain for athletics needs to be Calorie focused
• Some guidelines suggest that for weight gain the athlete should consume 20 calories per pound of bodyweight. However, Ted Lambrinides stated that an athlete undergoing heavy resistance training may need as much as 30 calories per pound of bodyweight! This was discovered in a study done at The Ohio State University, in fact, the strength coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, Chip Morton was actually a participant in that study.
• Calories are the KEY....and protein intake should fall somewhere between 15 and 20% of the total daily caloric intake.

Ted's Protein Shopping Cart

1. Lean Meats
2. Fish
3. Beans (high in protein and fiber)
4. Eggs
5. Milk (he suggests 1% Milk or skim)
6. Nuts/Peanuts