A lot of this month's focus has been on coordination exercises, and I'd like to continue that theme with a few fairly interesting videos.
-- Dennis Chighisola
New Hockey Coordination Exercises
I've known about this first video demonstrator for a lot of years. Actually, he's made a living performing all sorts of stunts with a simple sledge hammer. Most of his work in this area has to do with strength gains, but I was glad to see he also dabbles some in hand-eye coordination exercises... * Now, maybe some members are shrugging, and some are making the connection between a hockey player's use of his stick in much the same ways as demonstrated above. Hey, kids (and older guys) -- and especially the ones who really love the puck -- are always fiddling and diddling and keeping a puck or ball suspended in the air like this. Personally, I believe skaters and goalers would enhance their overall skills with those hammer-type coordination exercises. Borrowing even more from his ideas, though, I'd suggest trying them with both the dominant and non-dominant hands. And, I'd even suggest using the hockey in both ways -- holding it as a lefty for awhile, and then as a righty. For, to me, I sense there's an expansion of the brain's capabilities when doing such. Now, I think this next video offers a great idea for goaltenders... * Aaaaaah... Talk about one of the great hand-eye coordination exercises, especially for goalers. Now, like the first video, the demonstrated drill has some benefit. However, when it comes to netminders, I'd suggest two things: 1) set the ball a little lower, so that it moves in a range closer to where a goalie catches or blocks shots; and 2) I might do the exercise with the hands held in catching and blocking fashion -- one hand opened to catch, and the other turned to use the backhand like a blocker. Then, I wouldn't stop the ball, but keep tapping it rapidly with the proper hand, as if either catching or blocking a shot. Okay, this next one might help our goaltenders some, but it's mostly helpful in theory. In other words, listen to this guy's reasoning, and some of the scientific ideas he offers on speed and brain-related exercises... *
I hope members read a recent post on "Neurology 101 for Hockey", because a lot of the above video references the ideas explained in the past article and video. So, do go back and make sure you've digested all that's in that earlier post.
As for the boxing coach above, he's a pretty headsy guy, and he obviously is well schooled in the sciences. I'm not sure there's much usable in his coordination exercises, though, except for the theory I suggested earlier.
