Yunus Barisik, Author at Next Level Athletics

Yunus Barisik

Author Archives: Yunus Barisik

Yunus Barisik, CSCS, specializes in making hockey players strong, fast and explosive. He has trained 500+ hockey players at the junior, college and pro levels, including NHL Draft picks and World Champions. An accomplished author, Yunus has had articles published on top fitness and performance sites, including T Nation, STACK and Muscle & Strength. He also wrote Next Level Hockey Training, a comprehensive resource for ice hockey players on building athletic strength, size and power, while staying injury-free.

10 Great Classic Rock Songs to Train to

Most public gyms I’ve ever visited resemble Studio 54 more than a weight room when it comes to the music they’ve got blasting through the loudspeakers.

It has been scientifically proven that listening to Usher, Katy Perry or the Jonas Brothers when lifting heavy things decreases testosterone levels by as much as 80%, dropping your strength and power output capabilities down to approximately the level of a carboard cutout of Miley Cyrus.

To counteract the strength-sapping, catabolism-inducing effects of sucky training music, I have provided a daily remedy for treating these severe symptoms in this post.

Side effects may include a newly-found desire to load more weight on the bar, an uncontrollable need for headbanging between sets and a sharp increase in lusty gazes from attractive females wearing tight spandex.

Turn the volume up (I mean UP!) and wear your game face like the nice gentlemen of Metallica above as you go about shattering previous personal records with ease.

#10 Foo Fighters – Best of You

Dave Grohl has got one of the best voices in contemporary rock, and I get chills every time he lets loose at the 2:00 mark in this video.

Simple Training and Nutrition Tips for Young Hockey Players

Now that I’m fully back on the writing saddle after a four-month hiatus from the blog at the beginning of this year, I’ve begun receiving more training related questions again.

A few days ago, I found an email in my inbox from a young hockey player seeking my advice on nutrition and off-ice training.

Here’s the email (edited slightly for clarity and to protect privacy):

“Dear Yunus,

I was wondering if you could help me out.

I am a 16-year-old hockey player. I am contacting you for some advice for working out over the summer as a hockey player.

I live [on the East Coast] so unfortunately I cannot train with you however; I was hoping you could help me out with my training. I am small for my age (5’4) but height is overrated and I know you know because you saw numerous small hockey players at Ben Prentiss’s gym.

My goal this summer is to get bigger, stronger, and most importantly faster. I have learned that no matter how hard you work in the gym if you do not eat right you will not see the results you want.

This brings me to my first question, what is considered a good protein recovery shake?

One Simple Trick for Increased Exercise Volume

As strength & conditioning coach Mike Boyle is fond of saying: “In the fitness industry, common sense is not very common.”

I was once again reminded of this in the middle of my own training session yesterday.

Normally, I pay zero attention to what other people are doing in the gym, as I’ve noticed reminiscing about Jessica Alba’s underwater scenes in Into the Blue in the midst of a rest period keeps my blood pressure relatively within the accepted norms as opposed to having to witness yet another leg press-knee extension-lying leg curl training session that seems to be the go-to lower body workout for almost every personal trainer and their clients in town.

See? I told ya that was an Oscar-worthy performance by Jessica. If only I knew how to Photoshop myself in there and become that creepy white guy ~~groping those tight little buttocks~~ palpating her hip rotators, I think I could die happy…

But as I recovered from my R-rated, heavily Jessica Alba-influenced thoughts for a thorough look at the peeps training at the half-empty gym, it suddenly dawned on me that almost nobody uses supersets (sets combining opposite muscle groups/movement patterns) in their strength training sessions.

Why should this matter? Continue Reading

I Have Ebola!

Well not really… But I do have a new job!

I recently started as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for a youth hockey organization in Espoo, Finland – which means I’m responsible for designing and carrying out all their off-ice training sessions in preparation for and during the upcoming hockey season.

To say I’m happy about this opportunity to teach proper training and lifting habits to young athletes is like saying Jessica Alba all dolled up, flashing a peachy smile and a generous amount of cleavage looks kinda nice – a gigantic understatement.

On that note, I realize I’ve been severely underperforming on the writing front this year. My goal is to turn the tables around and start pumping out some fresh new content ASAP.

With that in mind, the direction of this site will take a new turn as well. I’ll be writing more about strength training for hockey players and youth athletes while also throwing in the occasional article for the gen pop out there.

I’ve got a few cool plans and projects scheduled for 2015, so be sure to check back here on the site regularly.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with what has the potential of being the dopest new movie release of the summer…

10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Lift

A few more nights left until December 24… and I’d venture a guess that there still are a few gifts that need to be bought before it’s time to attack that juicy roast turkey and ’em delicious jam pastries?

This Christmas, do yourself and the lifter/meathead in your friend/family member/significant other a favor by forgoing the Calvin Klein long johns, cheap imported vodka and Mariah Carey concert tickets that typically only generate a lukewarm reaction upon unwrapping a much awaited holiday present, and opt for one (or more) of the items on this list instead.

1. Medicine Ball

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A great tool for developing upper body explosiveness.

Elite Hockey Strength Training Interview

I had the chance to appear on the popular Lepopäivä podcast with my buddies Jaska and Antti last week.

We discussed several topics related to training hockey players, from juniors to the pros, namely:

• Improving strength, explosiveness and body composition

• Reducing injury risk

• Off-season strength training program design for 14-16-year-olds

• And much, much more that I learned during my internships at Prentiss Hockey Performance and Endeavor Sports Performance

Check it out!

(The interview is in Finnish)

https://soundcloud.com/antti-akonniemi/lepopaiva-jakso-22

5 Lessons I Learned About Training Youth Athletes at Endeavor Sports Performance

It’s been five weeks since my internship at Endeavor Sports Performance – the premier strength & conditioning facility for hockey players in the NJ/PA/DE area – came to an end.

During a typical week I had the chance to coach and work with dozens of athletes from various sports – mostly hockey players but there were some wrestlers, baseball, lacrosse and soccer players in the mix as well.

One of the teams I got to work with was the Philadelphia Flyers U20 team playing in the USPHL.

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