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…
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.
5 Things I Learned About Making NHL Players Strong and Powerful at Prentiss Hockey Performance
Posing with Stanley Cup champ, MVP, 2x Art Ross winner and Olympic gold winner, Martin St. Louis of the New York Rangers
I just wrapped up my one-week internship at Prentiss Hockey Performance in Darien, CT – a sports performance facility known for its top end pro hockey clientele.
I had the great opportunity to observe numerous NHL players (not to mention AHL and college players and guys who play in Europe) training for improved strength, power and conditioning.
And obviously I got to pick the brain of head honcho and owner, Ben Prentiss, on any training related question I could come up with. Ben was even nice enough to give me daily homework to ensure I got the most out of this fantastic experience.
Strength & Conditioning World Tour 2014 – Part 6: Pitman, NJ
After two straight weeks of hopping from city to city making the rounds, I arrived at my final destination on my US tour – the small town of Pitman, New Jersey.
What brought me down here was not the chance to blow my humble travel budget at blackjack tables in Atlantic City or attending a seminar on how to look like a huge douchebag on national TV and make a million bucks while at it hosted by the Jersey Shore crew.
Oh well… maybe next time
Instead, I opted to visit Endeavor Sports Performance – a sports performance facility mainly catering to the improvement of physical attributes of hockey players (though they have some baseball, basketball and soccer athletes as well) for 5 full days to get my learn on.
In practice this meant that I got to observe the workouts taking place at the gym throughout the day and ask questions from Kevin Neeld who is responsible for running the athletic development side at Endeavor.
Strength & Conditioning World Tour 2014 – Part 5: Darien, CT
After hopping through Providence and Boston, I landed in a small town called Darien – about an hour away from New York near Stamford, Connecticut.
If I told you that for many NHL players Darien, CT – a tiny community of 20 000 people – is THE PLACE to be during the summer months, what would you say? I wouldn’t be surprised if you called bullshit on that statement.
But the reason NHL’ers flock to Darien in droves lies in the fact that it’s home to Prentiss Hockey Performance – a 2000 square foot training facility run by strength coach Ben Prentiss, situated inside a former gas station just off I-95 that Prentiss converted into a gym some 15 years ago.
Ben is a relatively unknown guy (at least in the Internetland of strength & conditioning) because unlike many other trainers more concerned with building a huge internet presence, he actually prefers working with his athletes in the gym day in, day out.
Ben’s client list includes such names as two-time Art Ross winner Martin St. Louis, Stanley Cup winners Brad Richards and Jonathan Quick, 30-goal scorers Max Pacioretty, James van Riemsdyk and Matt Moulson, and a whole bunch of other pro hockey players in the NHL and in Europe.
Needless to say, there are not many people in the business who can match that roster.
Strength & Conditioning World Tour 2014 – Part 4: Boston, MA
After the Perform Better Summit in Providence, my journey on the U.S. East Coast took me to Boston.
On my first day in the city I headed into the Sports Museum after a great early morning training session at the Charles River playground, which is a small park with various pull-up bars and other implements that allow joggers and other trainees to get in some bodyweight action while enjoying the beautiful Charles River scenery.
The Sports Museum is located neatly inside TD Garden where the Bruins play their home games.
View from the nosebleed section at TD Garden