Stretch Shortening Cycle for Hockey Players

[Guest guest]

Plyometric training is recommended by almost every strength coach as

a means for ice hockey players to improve their speed and explosive

skating. This comes as no surprise. Most people also feel that the

goal behind nearly all plyometric exercises should be to make the

coupling time or ground contact time as short as possible....and that

training for skating is no exception to that.

However, I feel that there is a distinct difference in the time spent in

amortization (or

time spent on the ground) between ice-skating and running/jumping on

dry ground. The muscle contractions between a hockey player's stride

and that of an athlete trying to minimize that " time on the ground "

on dryland look quite different from one another.

Should it be important for the athlete to apply specificity in this or should he

continue to try and minimize the time spent in amortization? What

might be some good articles relating to this topic from either a

theoretical or practical basis? If anyone can shed some light on

this I'd greatly appreciate it.

Andy O'Brien

Student - University of Western Ontario

[Guest guest]

Well... I answered my own question on this...if anyone would like to

know, email me.

[Please share that information with list members in another letter-

I am sure that there will be many who are interested in the answers

which you arrived at. Mel Siff]

Andy O'Brien - Canada

aobuwo@...

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" aobuwo " <aobuwo@h...> wrote:

> Plyometric training is recommended by almost every strength coach as

> a means for ice hockey players to improve their speed and explosive

> skating. This comes as no surprise. Most people also feel that the

> goal behind nearly all plyometric exercises should be to make the

> coupling time or ground contact time as short as possible....and that

> training for skating is no exception to that.

>

> However, I feel that there is a distinct difference in the time spent in

amortization (or

> time spent on the ground) between ice-skating and running/jumping on

> dry ground. The muscle contractions between a hockey player's stride

> and that of an athlete trying to minimize that " time on the ground "

> on dryland look quite different from one another.

>

> Should it be important for the athlete to apply specificity in this or should

he

> continue to try and minimize the time spent in amortization? What

> might be some good articles relating to this topic from either a

> theoretical or practical basis? If anyone can shed some light on

> this I'd greatly appreciate it.

>

> Andy O'Brien

> Student - University of Western Ontario

[Guest guest]

> > Plyometric training is recommended by almost every strength coach

as

> > a means for ice hockey players to improve their speed and

explosive

> > skating. This comes as no surprise. Most people also feel that

the

> > goal behind nearly all plyometric exercises should be to make the

> > coupling time or ground contact time as short as possible....and

that

> > training for skating is no exception to that.

> >

> > However, I feel that there is a distinct difference in the time

spent in amortization (or

> > time spent on the ground) between ice-skating and running/jumping

on

> > dry ground. The muscle contractions between a hockey player's

stride

> > and that of an athlete trying to minimize that " time on the

ground "

> > on dryland look quite different from one another.

> >

> > Should it be important for the athlete to apply specificity in

this or should he

> > continue to try and minimize the time spent in amortization? What

> > might be some good articles relating to this topic from either a

> > theoretical or practical basis? If anyone can shed some light on

> > this I'd greatly appreciate it.

Andy,

I was part of research looking at some of the factors related to

speed in professional ice hockey players. Its going to be presented

at ACSM as part of the IOC World Congress.

One part of the research examined the relationship between different

jumps (Squat, Counter-movement & depth vertical,long jump, modified 1

leg long jump) and skating sprints from the goal line to both the

near and far blue lines. We examined the correlations between sprint

time and jump heights.

The Squat jump (static start after 3 second hold) had the greatest

correlation to the near blue line time. However, a 12 " depth jump

showed the greatest correlation to far blue line time. It was also

the lowest of the vertical jump correlations to the near blue. The

Squat Jump had the lowest correlation of the vertical jumps to far

blue line time.

This can help illustrate the different strength qualities that are

emphasized during different types of skating.

Your question about what to emphasize though is very important. The

amortization time in a hockey stride is much longer than running

sports and there are different eccentric needs during cornering as

well. A good program will probably incorporate several methods to

emphasize individual or training cycle needs appropriately.

Ken Vick

Director of Sports Performance

HEALTHSOUTH

Los Angeles, CA USA

[Guest guest]

Dear Andy,

I believe that I have read somewhere (in addition to plyometrics),

that squatting with chains is plyometric in nature.

[unless the action is explosive with a very short coupling time between

the eccentric amortisation phase and the subsequent concentric phase of

the exercise, then it cannot be termed " plyometric " . So, if you wish to do

" plyometric " squat training with chains, then you must use light loads with a

very

quick rebound from the lowest position of the squat. Mel Siff]

Also, if you are trying to enhance speed, how about squats with bands? I play

ice-

hockey myself and I know many big-time players like Mike Richter and

Dainus Zubrus do a great deal of squats in their dry-land training.

Lee Zimmerman

.....City?

-USA