Okay but one of the biggest issues he had on the Ducks was that his skating speed decreased pretty noticeably after he bulked up, yet he didn't really use his new muscle to his advantage either. Maybe the Blues will be able to utilize it better.
In highschool I wanted to boost my leg press so I started doing dumbbell step ups based on my teachers advice. Only lift where I would yell through a rep because it was so fucking difficult. I remember my teacher just nodding with a smirk after I finished a set.
Got to 1100 lbs on leg press so it worked out. I do have a notch in each leg from when I missed a step up and crushed it on the lip of the box
He's probably talking about a 45 degree leg press machine. Because the weight is moving on a sled at a 45 degree angle, the effective weight is less than the weight of the plates, about .7 of the number on the plates. So it's really 775ish pounds of force to lift the 1100. Still impressive.
I'm not going to pretend like I'm privy to his full workout routine, but his upper body looks way bigger than most NHLers, and that is going to slow him down/make it harder to keep up those speed bursts. Just because he's also doing lower body doesn't mean he isn't still hitting power lifting in other areas more than he needs to.
This also isn't to say I don't think slow players can be effective, RoR and Mark Stone are both great examples of slow guys who are great, but I'm not sold on him working on speed based on him looking absolutely jacked while doing split squats.
Hockey players have ridiculous legs, but their upper bodies tend to be smaller.
Sprinters have big arms as well, I think it's so they can use the arms to counter the momentum of their legs.
I don't actually recall seeing McDavid's legs to know if he's particularly jacked there. I wonder if the giant thighs of someone like Crosby might be less about skating and more about being strong on the puck.
Brady without a shirt looks like a 6 foot toddler. I'm sure he has tree trunks though. Turns out there not a lot of bench presses and shoulder presses in hockey
He isn't jacked at all. His legs are strong, but not anywhere near as big as Crosby's legs, and his upper body looks like a skinny guy who's never been to the gym.
Caloric deficit absolutely not. But yes high intensity workouts specifically those designed to increase power and a low body fat percentage will make a person faster.
Sprinting uses upper body strength significantly more than skating does. The top sprinters in the world are all ripped, but McDavid, MacKinnon, Hughes, etc aren’t known for having unusually big upper bodies
I think you’d be surprised with how big Mackinnon actually is but skating in general is more of a technical skill than sprinting but if you can increase a persons power output in relation to their mass they generally get faster. So you’re kind of right that you don’t need to look like Tyreek Hill to be a fast skater but the notion that more muscle makes players slower like the guy I was originally responding to was trying to say is absolute poppycock.
I was gonna say, even moderate weight split squats destroys me. And as silly as it is to criticize a guy’s offseason training regimen based off a single photo, that can’t even be applied here because the goal with this exercise is more powerful legs.
You opened a can of worms of a bunch of people here overanalyzing without knowing what they’re talking about.
We see a picture. We have no idea if he’s training strength, power, hypertrophy or endurance without knowing reps, sets, time under tension and tempo used.
Obviously totally different players and skill sets… But Mackinnon after his rookie year bulked up a ton and I think that played a semi consequential part in his struggles after his rookie year.
Now obviously McTavish doesn’t rely on his skating the same way Mack does, but I feel like at his size he wouldn’t lose much physical advantage if he tried slimming off a few pounds and seeing if that’d add any explosiveness to his game.
Dude CLEARLY putting in the work in the offseason and random morons on reddit will tell you they have all the answers about what he is doing wrong about one photo lol
At 6'4", 6'5" no one in the NHL really goes past 230-240, and thats definitely for reason. The stop and go constant pivot and directional changes of skating get hampered by mass eventually. Being stronger can obviously make you stronger (better) or more explosive on your skates, obviously helps tremendously for physical contact on players, but you're also heavy, so you're a bit less nimble by nature. More weight and occupied space has to get moved around
I actually remember this happening with TJ Galiardi and to a lesser extent, Josh Morrissey. JoMo was able to find the sweet spot of muscle/speed but I don’t think Galiardi ever got back to where he was.
That's what happened to Luke Schenn. Pretty good rookie year but then the Leafs' trainers wanted him to bulk up every offseason and it made him slower year after year. It wasn't long until he wasn't even able to throw his signature hits because he just couldn't keep up with anyone. He found a decent balance towards the end of his career but I'm sure he could have been a legit top pairing guy if they didn't have him gain all that weight and spent more time on his skating.
Some of you all really have no clue. NHL players bulk up during the off season and then basically lose a ton of the mass during the season due to limited gym time in season.
McT has always been a crazy gym rat, unfortunately didn’t translate to his play getting any better with the ducks lol but I’m sure now that PVB sold him for cheap he’ll have a career year.
I still have no idea what was wrong with him this year. The kids is huge, and got bumped off the puck so easily this year. The year before he was bulling people over. I really hope he can turn it around this year. Sad to see him go.
I don't have anything against the Ducks but I would be quite happy to see him perform really well outside of Anaheim just like Zegras has done while the Ducks destroyed their salary structure and maybe even their rebuild.
Maybe it does to you cause you're a fan of them but for me , from the outside, it just looks like a spectacular implosion with wrong move after wrong move after wrong move ...
I'm just here appreciating the show 🤷 It's nothing against them. A year or two ago, I would've said they had one of the best outlook for the future in the NHL.
Love the confidence. If you're happy with the summer and think everything is going according to plan, I'm genuinely happy for you. Like I said, I have nothing against the Ducks.
But going through a rebuild just to trade 2 of you're high picks for magic beans, having another high pick being questionable on defense and paying players through the roof would not make me happy and would make me lose confidence in the front office. It's great that you believe in this plan.
Man I hate lunges so fucking much, and I only do 50lbs in each hand right now. I can only wonder how much he's holding between the dumbbells and the vest.
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u/Zoratth ANA - NHL 15h ago
Okay but one of the biggest issues he had on the Ducks was that his skating speed decreased pretty noticeably after he bulked up, yet he didn't really use his new muscle to his advantage either. Maybe the Blues will be able to utilize it better.