This past week, I jumped hard onto learning about optimizing high-performance for hockey athletes, and I had the opportunity to listen to 2 separate podcasts from San Jose Sharks assistant strength coach Kevin Neeld. In both podcasts, he talked about everything from his assessment process to how he coaches some of his athletes in a group setting. Both podcasts were great, and I’ve outlined them a bit more in detail below. 

Also, I’ve been cranking up the podcast game, and it made me think that Gary Vaynerchuk is entirely right, audio is the place where things are going. Anytime, I am in the gym now; I am listening to podcasts, whether it’s from fitness education to self-development or business related advice. I find the podcasts help me spare some time, while still keeping up with my education in the process. Side note: I could probably retitle this blog series to “Things to Listen to Help Slay Your Day.” 

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie– If you look around, this book is recommended by many in the strength and conditioning and business world. I finally decided to get a copy myself a little over a week ago after I heard Pat Rigsby recommend it on a recent podcast I checked out. I can say that for 6 dollars, this was an excellent read!

This book dives into the mindset about how to successfully deal with people, and it provides specific examples of were situations went good and bad in leadership or business-related positions. I’d highly recommend for anyone that is involved or aspires to be in a managerial or ownership role. 

Strength Coach Podcast: Optimizing Adaptation & Performance with Kevin Neeld – I thought this was a phenomenal podcast that included parts from Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Gray Cook and Kevin Neeld. While each shared some valuable information about optimizing performance or business, Kevin’s part on hockey training was right up my alley. For instance, I enjoyed Kevin’s part on where he talked about how a lack of ankle dorsiflexion will force a hockey player into a more upright skating stance.

I find that many hockey players could benefit from some more soft tissue work and ankle mobility since they are constantly in a skate boot all the time, which may create some ankle mobility restrictions. Definitely would recommend this podcast episode to anyone working with hockey players or is interested in the sport of hockey!

Hockey Strength Podcast with Kevin Neeld – I was jumping on the Kevin Neeld train this week, and this was another great podcast from Kevin. A good reminder of why each athlete needs an individualized program since every athlete has different movement capabilities. 

Physical Preparation Podcast: Aaron Cunanan on Sports Science, Athlete Monitoring, and Being Evidence Driven – Understanding the external factors that an athlete has to deal with is “very” important in how a coach may implement training sessions. I know from my personal experience interning with the Toronto Raptors, a lot of the basketball athletes at the time had wives, children, and certain religious beliefs (Ramadan) that needed to be taken into consideration when trying to program their workouts. I thought Aaron Cunanan did a great job on covering this topic! 

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No one ever wants to pay for injury prevention until they sustained an injury. A sad thought, but it is the truth.

— Remi Sovran (@RemiSovran) July 11, 2018