Strength

What are some good strength & mobility exercises to help with skating?

Skate stronger with these key strength and mobility exercises!

So I'm not a skater but I know lots of strength coaches and athletes that play hockey and skating and do things and work with people that do that. So, some good strength and Mobility exercises to help with that, you got to think about what you're doing and what you can do to kind of counteract, what you're doing to make your body feel better, and then also to help what you're doing. So when you're skating using lots of hips, you'd probably getting into anterior pelvic tilt so exercises, That can help you find a more neutral pelvis, doing some bridging doing some hamstring doing some hip stability, things to kind of stabilize and strengthen, your pelvis posteriorly, things to strengthen, your adductors, your abductors, all the muscles that you're going to be lengthening and shortening quickly in skating. I like to do. Lots of bunkies with my athletes funky hip stabilizing exercises. You can do a many different ways, but if you just have a little bench, you can basically work some n range hip stability. Lots of lower abs, just to kind of keep the pelvis pulling in the right direction. Belly button down, strength training, getting your lower abs to fire, getting your glutes, to fire. I said Bridges, I said, bunkies, basically anything you can do to get your glutes on, open up your hip flexors. So if we can do the couch trip, Which do some hip flexor stretches do some active and range adductor stretching things to kind of train you to get in the end ranges that you're going to be exposed to in the act of skating, being strong in those short, and ranges, and those lengthened and ranges, and also having them ability to hit those motions, but also the strength in those and ranges. So that, when you're doing it, you're not going to get hurt. Hope that helps

To help with skating, good strength and mobility exercises include bridging, hip stability exercises, lower ab exercises, glute activation exercises, hip flexor stretches, and adductor stretches. These will help strengthen and activate the muscles used in skating, as well as give the body the range of motion and flexibility needed to perform the movements without getting injured.

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As someone who isn't a skater, I've gathered insights from strength coaches and athletes who specialize in hockey and skating. Here are some recommended strength and mobility exercises to improve skating performance:

1. Focus on addressing anterior pelvic tilt, which is common during skating. Perform exercises like bridging, hamstring exercises, and hip stability exercises to help find a more neutral pelvis and strengthen the posterior pelvic region.

2. Strengthen the adductors and abductors, as these muscles are involved in the quick lengthening and shortening movements during skating. Incorporate exercises that target these muscle groups.

3. Include funky hip stabilizing exercises, which can be done in various ways, such as using a bench to work on hip stability in different ranges of motion.

4. Prioritize lower abdominal strength to maintain proper pelvic alignment. Engage the lower abs by focusing on exercises that activate them, along with glute activation exercises like bridges.

5. Stretch and open up the hip flexors with exercises like the couch stretch. Additionally, incorporate active and range adductor stretching to train your body for the end ranges of motion experienced during skating.

The goal is to develop strength in both the shortened and lengthened positions, as well as the ability to safely and effectively perform these movements. By incorporating these exercises, you can enhance your skating abilities and reduce the risk of injury.

Some really good athletes are really bad at doing pull-ups. Can you recommend some exercises to improve pull-up performance?

Boost Pull-Up Performance: Exercises & Techniques for Success!

Some exercises to improve, Pull Up Performance. When I think about the pillow performance, I think about the ranges of motion, you're going to hit when you do it, getting your chin up over the bar and then getting fully extended at the bottom. So you can start with isometric, holds holding your chin up over the bar, you could drop to 90 degrees holding your body halfway down to pull up. You can go to 120 degrees where your arms are almost straight. You can even do dead, Hanks, just building endurance in the different positions that you're going to do during a pull-up. It's a good place to start and then you could do e Centrex where you start standing on a box with your chin up over the bar, you lower 45 seconds to start, maybe do a couple reps of that then you lower for 10 seconds see if you can do a couple reps of that. Once you've done isometrics any Centrex, then you could do some assisted, you could use a band to help you get more reps of the pull up with concentric and eccentric. And then if you can't do many, but you can do a couple pull-ups, you could do accumulating pull ups where I say, you do three or four pull ups in a row for range of motion. You're getting good quality pull-ups and then you can't do anymore. So you take a 10 or 15 second break and then maybe you do two or three pull-ups, take another 10 or 15 second break and maybe you do one or two. So you can start to accumulate the Reps on top of each other for a set. So this is some basic ways. You can improve your pull-up performance. I hope that helps

To improve pull up performance, start with isometric holds, eccentric and concentric exercises, assisted reps with a band, and accumulating pull-up reps with a set amount of rest in between.

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To improve pull-up performance, there are several exercises you can try. Start with isometric holds, where you hold your chin above the bar, at 90 degrees, or at 120 degrees to build endurance in different positions. Dead hangs are also beneficial for building strength and endurance.

Next, incorporate eccentric exercises. Use eccentric pull-ups by starting with your chin above the bar and lowering yourself down slowly for 45 seconds or 10 seconds per rep. This helps build strength during the lowering phase of the pull-up.

Assisted pull-ups can be done using a band to provide support and help you perform more reps with both the concentric and eccentric phases.

If you can do a few pull-ups, try accumulating pull-ups. Perform three or four pull-ups in a row with good range of motion, take a short 10-15 second break, then do two or three more, and repeat. This allows you to accumulate reps while maintaining quality form.

These exercises provide a solid foundation for improving pull-up performance. Give them a try and see how they work for you!

With a developing athlete, is there an age that's too young to be hitting the weight room?

Youth Athletes: Wait Until Teenage Years to Hit the Weight Room

Hey Ross to answer your question about is there an age too young to hit the weight room When developing an athlete to specifically answer hitting the weight room where you're lifting weights and adding resistance to your own body weight. You probably want to wait till they're at least a teenager or even a little bit later. There's lots of things you can do before. Then to teach them proper movement, patterns, teach them how to squat properly to get their feet and ankles moving, right? Teach them the difference between a hip hinge in a squat, teach them how to love. Their hips, keep a flat spine, do lots of different things to ingrain movement quality, and proper movement patterns in them. I really like teaching younger athletes. The sevens, 212 is Ruben younger. How to accelerate properly, how to move it top speed properly, how to run properly, how to change direction. So that when they play their sports, that they're playing and do more athletic things, and develop it kind of goes back to the movement patterns to When they start to add weight to their squat or their hip hinge, they know how to do all these things properly. So to hit the weight room, you probably want to wait till they're at least a teenager or a little bit older to add resistance, but there's lots of things you can do before, then from 6 to 12, to teach them how to move better so that when they develop and get stronger and when they start getting in the weight room, they know how to do things, right? They use the right muscles and everything they do is productive for them. And nothing is going to be detrimental or set them back or or cause issues as they grow up.

When it comes to hitting the weight room and lifting weights with resistance, you should wait until they are at least a teenager. Before that, focus on teaching them proper movement patterns and how to move properly so they can be successful once they start lifting weights.

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When it comes to developing athletes and hitting the weight room, it's generally recommended to wait until they are at least teenagers or a little older. Before that, there are plenty of other things that can be done to focus on movement quality and proper patterns.

Teaching younger athletes, around the ages of 7 to 12, how to move properly is essential. This includes teaching them proper squatting techniques, improving foot and ankle movement, understanding the difference between a hip hinge and a squat, and emphasizing hip mobility and maintaining a flat spine. It's beneficial to teach them how to accelerate, move at top speed, run properly, and change direction effectively. These skills will enhance their athleticism and prepare them for their respective sports.

By focusing on movement patterns and quality before introducing weights, athletes will have a solid foundation when they eventually start adding resistance. Waiting until they are teenagers or older ensures that they have the necessary understanding and muscle activation to perform exercises correctly. This approach minimizes the risk of setbacks or issues as they continue to grow and develop.

How do you gain muscle without losing speed?

Gaining Muscle: Maintaining Speed & Explosiveness

If you put on appropriate muscle in your lower half in your core and your chest and back, it should help you maintain, if not gain speed, as you gain more strength and muscle, mass to put more Force into the ground, a few more explosive. So, just make sure you're doing appropriate workouts to focus on those areas. Another way you can do it, as make sure you keep getting your speed workouts in as you do your strength, workouts, to gain muscle. So you keep running at full speed you keep doing Agility. Explosive sprinting workouts, to maintain if not gain speed, as you try to put on muscle mass. And then when you're doing your workouts, you can do some speed strength. Exercises are some speed strength workouts, where you're lifting weight, but you're making sure Jammu fast. You're not just lifting heavy weight, moving slow. If you can kind of do all those, if you can focus on appropriate areas that you're gaining muscle, it should help with your speed. Your speed workouts. Make sure you're getting the street, working your agility work. It should help you maintain speed while gaining muscle and if you do faster movements in the gym, Plyometrics resisted weight movements quickly, making sure you're moving fast under load, you shouldn't lose speed when you gain muscle.

To maintain or gain speed while gaining muscle, make sure to focus on appropriate workouts for the lower body, core, chest, and back. Also, keep up with your speed workouts, as well as agility and explosive sprinting workouts. Doing faster movements in the gym such as plyometrics and resisted weight movements quickly can help you maintain speed when gaining muscle.

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To gain muscle without losing speed, there are a few strategies you can follow. First, focus on appropriate workouts that target your lower half, core, chest, and back. By building strength and muscle in these areas, you can generate more force and explosiveness, potentially maintaining or even improving your speed.

Additionally, it's important to continue incorporating speed workouts alongside your strength training. This means consistently engaging in full-speed running, agility exercises, and explosive sprinting workouts. By combining these with your muscle-building routines, you can work on gaining muscle mass while still prioritizing speed.

During your workouts, consider incorporating speed-strength exercises or workouts. This involves lifting weights but ensuring that you perform the movements quickly rather than moving slowly with heavy weights. By focusing on fast movements, you can train your muscles for speed and power.

Lastly, incorporating faster movements in the gym, such as plyometrics or resisted weight movements performed quickly, can help you maintain speed while gaining muscle. The key is to prioritize speed and explosiveness even as you work on building muscle.

By following these strategies, focusing on appropriate muscle areas, and balancing speed and strength training, you can aim to gain muscle without sacrificing speed.

What are you thoughts on push ups instead of bench press?

Push-ups vs. Bench Press: Achieve Your Goals with the Right Exercise Variation

Bench press and push ups are both very good exercises. Again, it just kind of depends what you're trying to achieve. So if you're a younger athlete just starting off or just a younger person or someone that's not as strong. If you're doing push-ups, you may not be able to do as many because you're not strong enough to move your body weight yet. So you can regress, your push-ups on your knees or something, do more of them or you could just do bench press with a lighter weight than your body weight and do. Two more reps if you're strong and you've been training for a while, you can probably do a lot of push-ups, so it's maybe not as challenging. If you're trying to build more strength or build more muscle mass, you could always put weights on your back when you do push-ups or use bands, find ways to resistant. So just comes down to what you're trying to achieve. There's lots of different variations for both of them as well. You can do one arm bench presses, you could do alternating dumbbell presses. There's Lots of different combinations of bench presses. You could do and same with push-ups, you Spider-Man, push-ups yoga push-ups elevated decline, push-ups push-ups of the Rope, push-ups re-stabilize push-ups for your rotate, it just kind of comes down to what you're trying to achieve. So there's lots of ways you can do both exercises, just depends where you are and what you're trying to get out of it. Hope that helps The last thing I want to say about both of them is they're very good core exercises. So if you're on a bench press, I know when you lift heavy weights in your bench press, you tend to curve your low back, but when you're doing push-ups and bench presses, try to really draw your belly in and engage your core and keep your back flat. So you get a lot out of your core as well. Same with your push-ups one thing I try to do with all my athletes or clients is keep a good cylinder. So if you keep your ribs down, keep your pelvis tucked, keep your abs and glutes on at all. Time. So when you move, you're moving your whole cylinder, your whole body or not breaking anywhere in your chain, whether you're benching or doing push-ups in the last thing. I like about push-ups. As you get a little more scapula movement so you kind of give the train more room to run on the tracks if you can really push out and kind of protract at the top of the push-up bench press, you can't do as much of that, you tend to be stuck back a little more because you're on the bench. So both very beneficial but that's what I like about. Both of them.

Bench press and push-ups are both great exercises, depending on what you're trying to achieve. Push-ups may be better for younger athletes who aren't as strong yet. Both exercises also engage your core muscles, so focus on keeping your back flat and your belly in when doing each exercise. Additionally, with push-ups you can get more scapula movement which gives your muscles more room to move.

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Both bench press and push-ups are excellent exercises, and their effectiveness depends on your goals and current fitness level. If you're a beginner or not yet strong enough to do push-ups, you can modify them by doing push-ups on your knees or using a lighter weight for bench press. As you progress and become stronger, you can increase the challenge by adding weights to your push-ups or using resistance bands.

Both exercises offer various variations and combinations. Bench press can be done with one arm or alternating dumbbells, while push-ups can include Spider-Man push-ups, yoga push-ups, elevated or decline push-ups, rope push-ups, and more. The choice depends on what you're trying to achieve.

It's important to note that both exercises engage the core muscles. When performing bench press or push-ups, focus on drawing your belly in, engaging your core, and keeping your back flat. This ensures that you get the most out of your core muscles. Additionally, maintaining a good cylinder position with ribs down, pelvis tucked, and abs and glutes activated throughout the movement helps maintain proper form and prevent any breaks in the kinetic chain.

One advantage of push-ups is that they allow for more scapula movement, providing greater range of motion. In contrast, bench press limits this movement due to being performed on a bench. Both exercises have their benefits, and it's important to consider your specific goals and preferences.

In summary, both bench press and push-ups are valuable exercises. Choose the one that aligns with your goals and fitness level, and remember to maintain proper form and engage your core muscles for optimal results.

If you were coaching someone how to squat, what specific cues would you use?

Master the Squat: Grab, Spiral, Tuck, Pull

So when I'm coaching the squat, I try to start from the ground up and think about the feet, kind of grabbing the ground and then like turning kind of outward like you're turning the doorknob. So there's sending a spiral up your leg to drive your knees out and kind of keep your pelvis under. You don't think about spreading the floor too hard. Just think about grabbing the ground and kind of spiraling that energy from the ground all the way up to the knees and to the hips. And then from there, I Think about keeping the chin tucked. So you don't want to look up as you squat, you want to keep your chin tucked so we don't cut off the energy through your cervical spine. And then from there, once I get to the bottom of the squat, if I can keep that energy from my feet, to my hips, and keep my chin tucked. When I'm at the bottom, I try to think about pulling my torso into my thigh. So give me a little extra depth while keeping a neutral pelvis, and just try to get as deep as I can. While keeping good posture my feet and my Chin and my pelvis. Hope that helps.

Start from the ground up by "grabbing" and spiraling the energy from your feet to your knees and hips, tuck your chin, and pull your torso into your thigh while keeping a neutral pelvis at the bottom of the squat.

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When coaching someone on how to squat, I focus on specific cues to ensure proper form. Here are the cues I would use:

1. Start from the ground up: Begin by thinking about your feet. Imagine grabbing the ground and turning outward, as if you're turning a doorknob. This creates a spiral up your leg, helping to drive your knees out and maintain proper alignment of the pelvis.

2. Keep the chin tucked: Avoid looking up while squatting. Instead, keep your chin tucked to maintain proper alignment and prevent unnecessary strain on the cervical spine.

3. Maintain energy and posture: As you reach the bottom of the squat, aim to keep the energy from your feet to your hips and maintain a neutral pelvis. To achieve a little extra depth, think about pulling your torso into your thighs while still maintaining good posture.

By following these cues, you can ensure proper technique and form throughout the squat movement.

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Matt Eiden is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach (RSCC) with 14 years of experience. He was a strength coach for the Washington Nationals from 2009 to 2022. He is also Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) certified. After graduating from St. Mary's with a BS degree in Sports Management in 2008, he played two professional seasons of independent baseball before joining the Nationals as an intern in 2009. In 2016, he was promoted to Head MLB Strength and Conditioning Coach. During the off-season, he resides in Hilton Head, SC with his wife, Ashley. His hobbies include golf, basketball, reading, and spending time with his wife and family. Matt believes that moving well is essential and coaches must be able to connect with athletes to help them work toward the greater goals of the player and team.