I’ve always been a firm believer that I should be able to perform the tasks I ask of my athletes. This is why my personal training regimes very closely mimic the plans I implement with the elite hockey athletes I work with.
One of the reasons I believe that my personal training practices must be the same of those that I prescribe, is because I want to feel what the athlete’s feel. It’s one thing to use scientific methods while creating training programs and sessions, but it’s a whole other ball game when you personally have to endure the work loads.
Working through many exercises and movement patterns that are specific to hockey athletes has opened my mind to creating many new training plans and exercises. When I train on ice it brings a whole new perspective of the demands each athlete will endure and how this can translate into both on and off ice training methodologies.
I love training and leading training sessions by moving myself. When training many of my elite athletes and teams I will often work out alongside the athletes for 2 reasons. The first is to give the athletes additional guidance on how to correctly move and what level they should be performing at. The second reason I believe it’s sometimes important to train alongside the athlete’s is because they almost always work much harder when they are being lead by someone who is training just as hard as they are.
One of the key components to my leadership style is infusing myself in with the team and leading through an example of my hard work. This has always been a very successful approach when it comes to training and brings a level of mutual respect between myself and each athlete.
