I’ve just completed reading “Over-speed Skill Training for Hockey” by Jack Blatherwick (1994). I found it very useful thus far, and my dad as a coach (the person who gave it to me) has heard my pleas and may change his practices for his team. (under 14 girls) Anyhow, the training makes a lot of sense, and I was wondering if:
a) this was a good book, even though it’s a little dated.
b) What other books/videos are good and useful for working on your hockey skills? (I’ve already been to the USNTDP stickhandling drills, and may throw a link up for you all, and also employ many techniques from Sean Skinner’s stickhandling beyond belief set.
I have the blatherwick book and feel that it is a good book, it is dated and I think the off ice stuff in the book may be a bit more advanced today (more stuff and variety). The book is good because it seems to have studied how the russians trained their players. THe russians really focused on the skill part of the game and I like a lot of the drills in the blatherwick book. You said your dad is a coach, a good book I once read was called Tarasov, it is about the former Russian coach Anatoly Tarasov and it talks about his strategies and how he taught his player…if you have a chance to get a hold of any film of the old russian teams, like the 72’ summit series or earlier you will understand how the russians attempted to revolutionize the game with skill and puck movement, it really is awsome to watch. In terms of newer training books…I am not sure but I think there are some dudes on this forum that train hockey guys so they could probably give good info…one more thing I was amazed at was how the blatherwick book talks about one of the guys they trained in the book who added 20 lbs in 2 summers and worked up to like 5 hour leg workouts with squat sets of 15 with 400lbs!! He went from like a below average speed on the ice to one of the fastest guys timed in college hockey… Awsome motivation! It is on the last page I think…Peace
There’s a book called “Hockey Tough” by Saul Miller I’ve been meaning to get my hands on.
I’ve got Peter Twists book and it’s alright.
One thing I notice is the these guys that come in the gym and they’ve been reading these books and are totally jacked to start working out. They start with the workout and they haven’t got a clue how to do the exercise. Lol usually after I ask them what they’re doing they finally realise they don’t know what the hell they’re doing or how to do it and they start working out with me.
My point is that these workouts are good but you need to know how to do the exercise. Especially with all these stability ones they have now.
I’m gonna check out that Over-Speed book you guys were talking about.
A good conditioning book for hockey is “Strength, Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey” by Joseph Horrigan and Doc Kreis.
Info below:
“Joseph Horrigan’s dedication and reputation in treating injured athletes speaks for itself. He is one of the very best.”
–Wayne Gretzsky
“I’ve been on the program for over a year now and I can’t believe the results. My strength, explosive power, and speed have increased dramatically. I have never felt better on the ice.”
–Cammi Granato, Olympic gold medalist and captain of the 2002 USA Women’s Hockey Team
Bigger and faster, today’s hockey players sustain more serious injuries than ever before. How can you protect yourself and still play your best on the ice? Train like the pros. Strength, Conditioning, and Injury Prevention for Hockey features the proven and effective program developed by the renowned sports medicine experts Dr. Joseph Horrigan and E. J. Kreis and endorsed by NHL players. For the first time, the authors make their cutting-edge methodology available to hockey players of all levels.
Inside, you’ll find:
* More than a hundred photos illustrating exercises and proper technique
* Sample workout schedules and warm-up routines
* Troubleshooting tips for proper training
* Hints on how to recognize and avoid overtraining
* A special chapter on avoiding and recovering from head trauma
Packed with easy-to-follow expert advice, Strength, Conditioning, and Injury Prevention for Hockey answers all of your questions on getting stronger, maximizing your performance, and staying injury free–so you can get off the bench and onto the ice.
Peter Twists book is alright (Complete Conditoning for Ice Hockey). Nothing ground breaking but if you’re not familiar with things it’s a good place to start.
Total Hockey Conditioning by Tudor Bompa is also pretty good (not sure if that’s what the earlier post refers to) I’d recommend that more for your dad since it gets into training programs for the younger kids
I’ll back up the opinion on the Horrigan book
also, definitely worth a look
Something that I would actually HIGHLY recommend is not a hockey book at all it’s a book about training children. It’s called Children and Sports Training (by Jozef Drabik) and you/your dad could really get alot out of it in terms of understanding developmental phases kids undergo and how to maximize development all of the different skills kids need…check it out
message me if you want any more info I primarily train youth hockey players
In terms of Multilateral Development, I would stick with Tudor O Bompa’s material. My guess is that this is where Faccioni was influenced by or took the idea of Multilateral Development. Bompa has research to back up his stuff in terms of age of specialization and such. I doubt faccioni has any research but rather it’s just his opinion.
It seems whoever made that presentation simply read the book and recapped information which can actually be learned from reading the book (which is their only reference). The presentation looks more like cliffnotes on the book to me than an actual presentation. After reading the book that couldn’t have taken more than 30 minutes to put together.
As for the plyometric work that seems to be the authors own ideas as I do not recall and cannot find anything specifically recommended by the book other than it stating plyometric exercise is ok and safe. I certainly wouldn’t recommend any depth jumps for a very young trainee.
That wasn’t off topic really. I can’t say I have too many kids I recommend doing drop jumps with either. This may help someone make a decision to buy the book or not.
I’ve read hockey tough. It’s a great read. It’s about the mental training in hockey rather than anything physical, but I defenatley recomend it though! So many things it teaches if you don’t know much about mental training. I would say it is a little basic though, and I’m not sure if it would keep a person who is familiar with sports psychology interested.