In a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research about hip joint range of motion improvements using different interventions, they found that after 6 weeks of traditional hip stretching and also core endurance exercises the groups that started in the 30th percentile for hip mobility jump into the 75th percentile. The 30th percentile would be in the “limited” hip mobility category, with the 75th percentile putting the groups in the “average” to almost “excessive” hip mobility. This shows that it takes time a dedication the hip joint for longer than a week or stretching before an injury occurs.

Tight hips or hip injuries are an issue and will continue to be a problem until a proper stretching protocol is done for tight hips. Athletic Lab frequently implements Olympic lifts, a squat variation, kettlebell swings, or all three in workouts every single day. If you are an elite level athlete or someone who just wants to improve their fitness, the hips are being used every day. Let’s make it an emphasis to make sure to never skip out on stretching the hips and keep improving range of motion to reduce the likelihood of injury.

[This entry was written by Drake Webster. Drake is a sport performance coach at Athletic Lab and a graduate of ECU. He has both his CSCS and USAW coaching certifications.]

Olympic lifts are used in training to develop power and explosiveness, not to enhance muscular endurance or power-endurance. Using power cleans for power-endurance (high rep sets) is like using a hammer to cut a piece of wood. You reduce the power aspect to a power clean or power snatch if you perform these lifts to muscular fatigue. If you are trying to train to improve your muscular endurance or power-endurance, there are other, safer, less technically difficult multi-joint exercises (i.e. squat jumps) to choose from that can do just that, while limiting fatigue-induced poor form.

Olympic lifts are among the most technically challenging of multi-joint movements. To perform these lifts, and perform them well, you will need to recruit almost every muscle in your body. As the repetitions increase in a set, your ability to produce power and velocity decreases in the later reps, due to fatigue. This increased fatigue can wreak havoc on the body, in the form of the ability to, or lack thereof, maintain proper form throughout the movement.  For most people, the lower back is usually the first to falter.  This can result in poor posture or rounding of the back during the first pull phase of these Olympic lifts.  If your starting position is not correct, everything can, and usually does, follow suit, putting you at immediate risk for injury.

Many speed-power athletes on the collegiate and professional levels use these lifts in combination with other exercises to generate sport-specific power and velocity.  At Athletic Lab, we run our CrossFit with this in mind; a smooth operating collegiate or pro-style strength and conditioning weight room.  This maximizes one’s potential to become the most athletic and fit they have ever been in their life while reducing the likelihood of injury.

To make any kind of progress in your workouts and personal best performances, you will sometimes need to push through the discomfort caused by fatigue (the people who don’t are known, in Athletic Lab, as ‘sandbaggers’). We don’t want people to become ‘sandbaggers’.  Rather, we want our athletes to embrace this fatigue and be able to mentally and physically push past their “limitations” to become better athletes or fitter individuals.

Listen to what your body is telling you though. Your body is the best platform to relay these injury messages to you, so don’t ignore them.  If they are telling you “I feel like I might seriously injure myself if I keep going”. Chances are, your body is right on point.

There is a fine line between these two types of pain and it is important for you to stay injury-free so you can continue to make progress to your ultimate fitness goals.  Whether it is to do one pullup or to hit a 300lb back squat. It might take some time for you to figure out the differences between these two types of pain and what your body is trying to tell you, but, with anything, in due time, this will become more natural.  Open communication between coaches and athletes is the key for the continuation of you on the road to your goals.

Hockey is a very physically demanding sport. To play at a high level athletes not only need a well developed skill set, but their body must be able to allow them to play at a high level. You do not want physical ability to limit performance. When training for a particular sport one should first identify the important physical characteristics, also known as a needs analysis. Various positions in hockey may require slightly different emphases. Generally the athlete should be fast, powerful, strong, and agile, as well as conditioned so as not to have a drop in performance toward the end of a shift.

Speed- This alone might have the largest impact on a game as it may simply come down to the faster player getting to the loose puck first. One of the best ways to develop speed is to simply sprint fast, and do so correctly. This could apply to on and off ice conditions. Some people may scoff at this but sprinting is a skill. Just like practicing puck handling you want to practice sprinting. The athlete’s body has to adapt and become efficient at accelerating and maintaining high speeds. The other aspects of training to be discussed will have a positive influence on speed as well. Agility is the ability of an athlete to change direction quickly. The athlete should be able to accelerate and decelerate efficiently in order to change direction as fast as possible. Like sprinting the best way to train agility is through practice.

Strength is the maximal amount of force the body can produce. This is important because it helps the athlete to overcome their own inertia, which is a vital component to acceleration (also resulting in better speed). For the hockey player it is also important for shielding off defenders and fighting for the puck against the boards. Maximal strength is best trained with combination movements such as squats, pushes, and pulls using higher resistance and lower repetitions. Increased strength has a positive influence on power production as well. Power is the combination of strength and speed. A powerful athlete can perform high force movements in the shortest amount of time possible.  This is important to all aspects of a hockey game from skating to shooting. One of the best ways to train power is by incorporating Olympic lifts such as the power clean, the snatch, and the jerk. These movements allow athletes to move heavy weight quickly. Another way to improve power production is through plyometric training. Plyometrics train the body’s stretch shortening cycle using explosive reactive movements with using lower resistance. An example of this would be performing lateral hops emphasizing explosive movement upon ground contact.  A special Consideration for hockey players would be to add upper body explosiveness using a medicine ball to throw between partners. This would also train the athlete to receive impact or force upon catching the medicine ball. Rotational throws might work best as they may transfer better to shooting.

Conditioning should not be overlooked in training for hockey. The athlete should be able to perform at a high level from the beginning of a shift to the end. When conditioning for sport, athletes should train the systems that will have the greatest carry over to that specific activity. The human body has three energy systems. When one is emphasized in training the body adapts and becomes more efficient by storing enzymes and other metabolites critical to performance. Hockey shifts can last anywhere from 45-90 seconds. This would fall in line with the body’s first two energy systems the phosphagen system and glycolysis. Speed and agility training should address the phosphagen system as it is responsible for short bursts of high intensity activities. To train the glycolytic system interval training mirroring that of shift times should be executed. The conditioning should be high in intensity and last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes with rest intervals of 1.5 minutes to 10 minutes. Aerobic training could be useful in the beginning of a training program but should be limited due to the negative impact it may have on speed and power gains as the training progresses.
If all of these needs are addressed during the offseason by the time competition begins the athlete should be ready to perform at a high level. When designing a complete program a training day should follow a template that begins with a warm up, followed by speed/ agility training, plyometrics, power (Olympic lifts), strength, conditioning, and finally a cool down which involves static stretching to help increase flexibility.