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The Importance of In Season Training in Hockey

The grind of a hockey season can take a toll on a player’s body. There can be upwards of 50-60 games plus two to three practices a week and private training during a season that can run from August until USA Hockey Nationals in April. This grind can break down the muscles in the body leading to decreased performance and possible acute or overuse injuries. A common oversight is to either stop “Dryland” training during the season or to train the wrong systems leading to more breakdowns in the body. 

The Importance of Core Strength

The look of an “eight-pack” is what most desire and expect when training their abdominal muscles. Except true core strength is not represented by the appearance of an eight-pack but provided by an overall stabilization and control during athletic and everyday activities. The three main core muscles are the rectus abdominis, which is the “eight pack”, the transverse 

Knee MCL Injuries in Hockey

The medial collateral ligament in the knee or MCL was the second most common injury in NCAA hockey in 2013 as stated by Grant, Bedi, Kurz, Bancroft & Miller. The study showed that only concussions had a higher injury rate in male collegiate players. The MCL is one of four ligaments in the knee and is located on the inside or medial portion of the knee connecting the femur and tibia. The ligaments purpose is to provide support to the inside of the knee helping 

The medial collateral ligament in the knee or MCL was the second most common injury in NCAA hockey in 2013 as stated by Grant, Bedi, Kurz, Bancroft & Miller. The study showed that only concussions had a higher injury rate in male collegiate players. The MCL is one of four ligaments in the knee and is located on the inside or medial portion of the knee connecting the femur and tibia. The ligaments purpose is to provide support to the inside of the knee helping 

Soccer Conditioning is Not Just Running

Conditioning for soccer does not mean distance running. There is no purpose of having soccer players go on distance runs or just instructing athletes that they “need to run”. Similar to every other anaerobic power sport, conditioning for soccer needs to be interval training not long distance runs. Soccer is a series of small sprints, change of direction, change of speed, jumping, and strength. None of these actions are usually over 30 or 40 yards, so why instruct soccer players to go on long high milage runs. It is detrimental because this trains the aerobic system not the anaerobic system. Essentially this is training their bodies to run similar to endurance cross country runners versus explosive soccer players.
Instead be specific as to what is expected of your athletes and construct the training to be purposeful and soccer specific. An example is intervals with a work-to-rest ratio of 3:1, 2:1, or 1:1. Depending on what fitness level the players are at, the duration, intensity, and volume can all be adjusted accordingly. 
 
Samples of ideas 

Use These Two Exercises to Help Prevent ACL Injuries

An Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL tear is one of the more feared injuries in sports, especially football. The ACL is the main stabilizing ligament of the knee joint and does not heal on it’s own. When an ACL ruptures it needs to be surgically repaired in order for the joint to be stable and function normally. Recovery from an ACL tear can take from six to 

Keeping It Simple

Today’s social media blitz shows top athletes performing extraordinary exercises and drills that almost look impossible. Sure, they look cool, but are they really beneficial? Are they for everyone? I recently spoke at a seminar and the common notion was “master the simple stuff.” This is true not only for the amateur athletes but professional athletes as well. Simple exercises such as the squat, lunge and push up are not always as simple as they may seem. Minor defects in mechanics can lead to asymmetries in strength, stability and flexibility. These defects can lead to decreased performance and injuries.

How Fatigue Can Cause Injuries

The body’s lower extremities connect and distribute weight throughout movements in our daily life. Energy absorption stems from the biomechanical mechanisms of which our body approaches movements.  Improper kinematics performed by one area of the body influences other lower extremities and can produce negative consequences. Inadequate strength, control, and/or alignment of the body’s structures upon ground-reaction subjects different lower extremity areas to injury. It is through the incorrect movements 

Get Stronger, Not Bigger

All the hype on social media today stresses how cool it is to be huge and lift heavy weights. You can’t look at Instagram, You Tube or Twitter without seeing some pro athlete or someone trying to be a pro athlete lifting an outrageous amount of weight one time and showing how big or “jacked” they are. It looks and is impressive, but what you might not know is how much pain they have in their joints, how limited their flexibility is and how they can’t move fluidly. The goal of strength training is to 

Guest Blog: Stop Blaming Injuries on Bad Luck

Whether you're an athlete, sport coach, strength & conditioning coach, rehab pro, or weekend warrior you can't afford to keep chalking up injuries to bad luck. As soon as you do that you're suggesting that all training, nutrition, and recovery strategies are all for show. In other words you believe that there's little you can do about frustrating and debilitating injuries.

Sliding Techniques in Baseball: Which is Safer? Which is Faster?

If you've been paying attention to the Major League Baseball season, and particularly if you're an Angels fan, you've probably heard about Mike Trout's injury that is going to result in surgery and DL stint for the first time in his career.  Trout injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb while sliding head first into second base.  This is a somewhat common injury in baseball due the prevalence of head first sliding, which is why you see many players now donning a protective hand and finger guard while running the bases.  Clearly, this indicates that there is an increased risk 

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