Dan Replies:
I probably get this question more than any other. Here's a training method worth mentioning. As I have readily admitted, I am not the fastest skater in the NHL. Perhaps I’m not the slowest and I can usually hold my own in game situations but quickness isn’t on the top of my list of abilities. So during the season and particularly the off season, I work on trying to improve my quickness.
Early in the summer I heard that Orthopedic Associates of Grand Rapids, MI, had installed a Frappier Acceleration Sports Training Program(TM). This program combines plyometric with hockey treadmill workouts three times per week. The treadmill has adjustable speeds (16+ miles per hour) and can be inclined (up to 35+%) and you skate on it with your hockey skates. In addition, tensor cords can be attached to your feet and thighs to increase the resistance on the hip flexor muscle group. The hip flexors are a major muscle group when considering speed. And because you are stationary, you can watch yourself in a mirror and monitor your technique – knee bend, striding to the side, head and shoulder movement, replanting your feet, and arm swing.
The program is designed to give everyone - from the developing skater (age 11 minimum) to the pro athlete – more speed. Additional benefits include agility, balance, strength, stamina and power. Their studies have shown that your fast twitch muscle fibers can be worked to make them bigger and faster and thereby increase the rate at which your body reacts and the speed at which it performs. This type of training involves neuro-muscular learning – teaching your brain how to skate with maximum efficiency and superb form. When your brain has become accustomed to that model, it will translate into controlling your muscles better in order to skate with maximum efficiency, that is; faster with the same energy output.
During your workout, you are under the constant supervision of a Certified Athletic Trainer, and with the case of Karyn Hazel in Grand Rapids, she knows her business and tells me all the Frappier Acceleration centers, 86 around the United States, have very qualified instructors.
Both Mike Knuble (Boston) and I have been participating in the program for three weeks and I can tell I’m faster. At the end of the 21 in session program, I will be measurably faster. Mike feels he’s made the same improvement.
The program is not cheap, but for about the cost of attending my hockey camp, you can be a faster and more efficient skater. But as nice as Ms. Hazel is, this isn’t as much fun as my hockey camp. It’s as demanding a work out as you might want. But… no pain, no gain.
You can check out the sites of the Frappier Acceleration Programs at www.accelerationproducts.com
