Christmas gift for skaters, MCL injuries in Goalies and more WINNERS!

Hi Gang,

I think this is the most jammed post I have ever written for the Hockey Training Blog – wow!  There is something in here for everyone and I will start by letting you know that I have been working on a special Christmas gift for the forwards and d-men who are loyal readers of the Hockey Training Blog and I think I have come up with a doozie!  I have had a few emails from some of the skaters out there asking why the goalies get so much content on the site lately.  The answer is simple…it is the goalies who are posting comments on at www.hockeytrainingpro.com or emailing me every week asking questions about their training, or telling me what they would like to see posted to the site.  I would rather give someone the exact information they need rather than guess at what you want to know.

I did not want you skaters to think I didn’t love you anymore though, so here is your  Christmas gift!  I am giving you a free copy of the HockeyStrong Training System.  I sell this for $97 with a bunch of bonuses added in, but I am giving you the off-ice program without all the bonuses for free.  Even you goalies out there might want to snag a copy or give a copy to one of your buddies for a Christmas present!  Feel free to share this post with any hockey player who is ready to take action and take their game to the next level.

Now before I give you the link and you dig into the program, I want to make sure you know that this program was created in 2008 and some of my training techniques have changed since I originally created it – you know that I no longer do crunches, so some of the core exercises in the program are obsolete as far as I am concerned.  If I were creating the program today, I would not include them.  In the manual, I have highlighted the exercises that I would OMIT in yellow!

Merry Christmas from the Hockey Training Blog – CLICK HERE!

The page that I am trying to direct you to is currently overloading so you may end up getting redirected back here – the url is http://hockeytrainingpro.com/wordpress/dryland-training-for-hockey-players/ but even that is not working right now because the site is jammed with folks trying to download the program.  Please be patient and try back later.  Thanks to the two of you who gave me a quick head’s up!

Hey, if you think this is a pretty good gift (and it is!) don’t forget your manners, post a comment below to just say “Thanks!”  While you are at it, click the Facebook “Like” button!  That would make my day!  You have until Christmas Day to download the program then it is gone!

MCL injuries in hockey goalies – a catch 22…

Okay, now that you have finished jumping around like crazy because you are soooooo excited about your early Christmas gift, I am going to deliver some content for the goalies who have MCL injuries and then I will announce the latest winners of a free copy of the Rapid Response Training System.  But first the MCL stuff!

If you actually can point to your MCL, chances are you have probably injured it.  The MCL is the medial collateral ligament on the inside aspect of your knee.  It can be injured in a few ways, one mechanism is having a player land on, or hit you from the outside of your knee.  This ‘gaps’ your joint on the medial side and could result in an MCL tear.  This is likely the original mechanism of injury for most of you.

Goalies who have had a previous MCL injury may then battle with MCL irritation secondary to the butterfly position.  The butterfly puts stress directly on the MCL and can be painful, this is not good.  For starters, your ligaments are what provide structural stability to your joints.  They are not a part of your muscle, they are connective tissue ‘ropes’ that connect bone to bone.   If the MCL is significantly damaged a goalie can be left with an unstable knee in the frontal plane.

You cannot avoid having someone fall on the outside of your knee, but there are a few things goalies can do to reduce the strain on your MCL from the butterfly position.  Training to reduce the stress on your MCL is the exact same type of training that will help you get a wider butterfly flare anyway.  If you can improve your hip internal rotation, you will get more movement from the hips and therefore you will be able to get your feet wider with less torque through the knee.  So you need to work on:

  • Prone Hip Internal Rotation
  • Supine Hip Internal Rotation
  • Seated Hip Internal Rotation
  • Self Myofascial Release of the Glutes

If you have an MCL injury and are trying to get back on the ice here are a few exercises you may wish to incorporate into your recovery.

  • Controlled Single Knee Drops to ½ Foam Roll
  • Sumo Stance Hip Internal Rotation
  • Squat Lateral w Foot on Ball – knee drive
  • Low Pulley Hip Adduction

Remember that all of these movements must be painfree if you are trying to come back from injury.  Trying to ‘work through’ the pain will only keep you on the sidelines longer.  Be patient, be consistent and get back on the ice.  Check out the video below to see what the last four exercises look like.

And the winners ARE…

Wow, thanks for making it so hard for me to pick winners for this contest – I typically pick one that is my favourite and one at random, but I had so many that I liked, I selected two favourites and two randoms.  I wish everyone could win!

Here are the winners –

  • Kayla Thompson – Ottawa (Kayla, my Grandmother was my best friend – I lost her about 6 years ago when she was 96 years old.  I used to visit her everyday and the fact that you take time out to spend with seniors really caught my attention.  I am sure it means so much to them and probably really improves your appreciation of seniors as well)
  • Chris Bergman – I liked the part where you talked about coming home to play with your 17-month old.  I liked it because I know that if you can stay involved in hockey that your child will get that love of sport for you and it will be something that you can both enjoy together for years.
  • Trevor Ammerman
  • Andrew Corchis

Congratulations everyone!  For the winners, could you please email me for the link to the Rapid Response registration page –  maria@revolutionconditioning.com

Whew!  That was huge!!  Thanks for reading it all!
Cheers,
Maria