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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
ANDREW RAYCROFT

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man whose NHL career began with an enormous impact, but whose role on the team now is the role most of us face in our gym and fitness battles: training and practice.

Andrew Raycroft emerged into the NHL with the Boston Bruins in the 2000-01 season, but had played so few games that he was still a rookie in 2003-04, when he became the team’s starting goaltender and won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year by earning 29 victories, 3 shutouts and a 2.05 goals against average in 57 games.

Two years later, Raycroft would become one of the league’s biggest workhorse goalies, playing in 72 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and setting a career high with 37 wins, placing him among the league leaders in the category.

After a brief stop in Colorado, Raycroft now finds himself the backup goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks, and in a supporting role to possibly the biggest workhorse goalie of them all, Roberto Luongo. On a team with Luongo, the backup plays 10 games per season if he is lucky, and that means his job is to step onto the ice after extended periods of time without real-game action.

It is thus up to Raycroft to find the focus to treat practices and training sessions with a level of intensity comparable to game play, if he is going to maintain the edge required to play at a high level and not show visible rust during the infrequent appearances as Luongo’s backup.

With a winning record so far, to go with a 2.39 goals against average and a .908 save percentage as a Vancouver Canuck, Raycroft’s focus is paying off and allowing him to contribute to the team and participate in one of the strongest goaltending tandems in the NHL.

TODAY: DAY OFF

Well, I guess it’s kind of fitting that on a training day where my inspiration was a backup goalie for Roberto Luongo (who plays virtually every game)…I took the day off from the gym…

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Body): Zero

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
NOLAN BAUMGARTNER

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who has, despite a good measure of talent and a record of good performance at the NHL level, spent the vast majority of his career embracing the Crash Davis-like role of mentoring up-and-comers at the minor league level.

Having played in parts of 10 NHL seasons, but with all but one of those seasons involving less than 20 appearances on the ice, Baumgartner was recently called up by the Vancouver Canucks from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose to bolster an injury-riddled blueline as the team pushes for the division championship down the stretch.

This has followed a strong minor league season for Baumgartner, where he just appeared in the AHL All-Star Game as captain of the Canadian All-Star Team for the league, and scored a goal in the game.

In the 2005-06 seaon with the Vancouver Canucks, Baumgartner appeared in 70 games and accumulate 34 points while going +11 on the season (on the ice for 11 more even strength goals for his team than against). Numbers like that, especially in today’s game with fewer and fewer scoring defensemen (especially who can be a plus-player to boot), will generally net a player a multi-year contract at the NHL level.

It earned Baumgartner a pink slip and only 13 games split between two different teams the next season, his last NHL icetime until big league injuries provided an opportunity to reward the man for his perseverance and dedication to the game. After years of mentoring prospects, Baumgartner is back in The Show.

In addition to his 132 NHL regular season games, Baumgartner has added 969 games in the minors and juniors, making him one of the most experienced active defensemen in professional hockey.

TODAY: CHEST (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

FLAT DUMBBELL FLYES (5 sets)
30 x 8
40 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 4
40 x 4

FLAT DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
40 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 5

DECLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
40 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 5

INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
40 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 4

STATIONARY BIKE
- Resistance 10/25
30 Minutes / 12.14 Miles / 399 Cal

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Chest): 14

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
DON LEVER

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who, for many years, held the Vancouver Canucks team record for the longest ironman consecutive games streak.

Don Lever played in over 400 straight games for Vancouver, after they drafted him 3rd overall in the 1972 NHL entry draft.

Years later, he would be barely passed by Trevor Linden and Brendan Morrison, both of whom were the NHL’s leading ironmen when they set their new team records.

Don Lever not only displayed a virtually unparalleled degree of durability and willingness to play through aches and pains, but also a high degree of leadership that, during his career, saw him named the team captain of both the Canucks and the New Jersey Devils.

Lever played in 15 seasons between 1972 and 1987, during which he broke the highly respected 1,000-game barrier, closing out his career with 1,020. During this stretch, he netted 313 goals and 680 points, making him a highly notable offensive contributor of his era, especially considering that he played most of his career with offensively challenged teams.

He played in the 1982 NHL All-Star Game and notched a career-high 38 goals in 1974-75.

As is often the case with players who display great leadership in their athletic career, Don Lever transitioned well to coaching. He was an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres for 12 years, and has also served several more years as an NHL assistant coach and an AHL head coach.

His coaching resume includes a 43-28 season with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2006-07, where his team won the AHL championship.

TODAY: DAY OFF!

A brief little recuperation day…

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Body): None

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
HENRIK SEDIN

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who has defied the skepticism of many fans and hockey “experts” and developed himself into one of the most durable and effective players in the entire NHL.

When Henrik Sedin and his brother Daniel were drafted 2nd and 3rd overall by Vancouver in the 1999 NHL draft, they were soon dubbed the “Sedin Sisters” by critics who had little appreciation for their skilled but unphysical style of play.

Talented but scrawny, Henrik Sedin scored between 29 and 42 points in each of his first four years. What the critics didn’t realize was that this gradual scoring development was the tip of the iceberg, and beneath the surface, the Sedins were developing their games and their bodies to become true NHL stars.

Within a couple years, the Sedins had gone from twigs to tree stumps and have shown an incredible ability to endure punishment due to their intense physical training and superior conditioning.

Currently the owner of the NHL’s second-longest active ironman streak, at about 500 consecutive games, Henrik is also sporting one of the more impressive streaks of all time and is on pace to soon eclipse the Canucks’ team record.

In Henrik’s second four-year-stretch of his career, he has consistently scored between 75 and 82 points, clearly establishing himself as a league star and bona fide first-line player.

But most impressive of all, he has jumped to an entirely new level once again this season. At the midway mark of the 2009-10 campaign, Henrik Sedin is leading the entire NHL in scoring, on pace to not only shatter the 100-point mark but on pace to set a new Canucks record for points in a season.

And with brother Daniel injured for much of the early part of the season, the accomplishment is all the more staggering when one considers that much of it was achieved without his regular linemates.

TODAY: CHEST (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and ABS (Fast Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

FLAT DUMBBELL PRESS (5 sets)
50 x 6
50 x 5
50 x 4
50 x 4
50 x 4

FLAT DUMBBELL FLYES (3 sets)
50 x 3
50 x 3
50 x 3

INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
50 x 3
50 x 3
50 x 3

DECLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
50 x 4
50 x 3
50 x 3

HANGING BENT LEG RAISES (4 sets)
x 16
x 16
x 16
x 16

HANGING BENT LEG OBLIQUE RAISES (4 sets)
x 16
x 16
x 16
x 12

SWISS BALL SIT-UPS (2 sets)
x 10
x 10

5K RUN
- 21:45 (8.5 / 9.0 mph)

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Chest): 14
Total Sets (Abs): 10

Pretty decent workout today. My 3-3-3 tempo is really playing out like 5-5-5 the way I am doing it in practice, so I should probably just call it like it is. But instead, I’ll just make a note that my 3-3-3 is extra-strenuous this time around.

The middle 3 count I am always holding the weight at the point of highest tension, so in a chest press or flye, it isn’t when the weight is lifted to its peak, it is when it is lowered to the horizontal.

This tires you out quicker and reduces the amount of weight you can do but also makes every single rep and exercise in control and serious muscle stimulator.

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
ALAIN VIGNEAULT

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who has shown that hard work and study of your field, whatever your goals, can leader to greater fruits than simply being born with a high degree of innate talent.

Alain Vigneault was a man who was born with just barely enough talent to make it to the NHL if he studied the game and worked tirelessly at his craft.

The result was 42 NHL games over two seasons with St. Louis Blues, with one goal scored in each season. To a man like Wayne Gretzky, it would have been an embarrassing couple of seasons. To Alain Vigneault, it was the absolute maximization of his potential to skate on NHL ice.

He was a positionally sound defenseman, known for playing a physical and fearless brand of hockey. His style of play earned him the nickname “Bam Bam.”

Former players like Don Cherry, Marc Crawford and Pat Quinn made it to the big leagues by the same means – hard work, accumulated knowledge and intense play – and like them, Vigneault took the work ethic and leadership that had allowed him to become a solid hockey player, and used them to become an extraordinary hockey coach.

Vigneault went from playing to coaching at a remarkably young age – 25 – after five years of professional and junior hockey, during which he played in 327 games. He toiled as a coach in the junior ranks for several years before getting a shot as an assistant coach at the NHL level in 1992.

Since then, he has built upon each opportunity as it has been presented, culminating thus far in his twice being a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL (2000 and 2007). Vigneault won the trophy in 2007 with the Vancouver Canucks, for a season in which he led the team to its best regular season record in its history (49-26-7).

As of the end of the 2008-09 season, Vigneault had coached 512 regular seasons games, sporting a record of 242-204-35-31, totals to which he continues to add.

TODAY: SHOULDERS (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

ARNOLD DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
30 x 7
30 x 7
30 x 5

DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE (3 sets)
15 x 5
15 x 5
15 x 4

DUMBBELL FORWARD RAISE (3 sets)
15 x 3
10 x 5
10 x 4

BENT OVER REAR DELT DUMBBELL FLYE (3 sets)
15 x 4
15 x 4
15 x 4

5K RUN
- 24:40

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Shoulders): 12

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
PAT QUINN

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who represents the trend that athletes who make it to the big leagues on the strength of their intensity and work ethic, as opposed to supernatural innate talents, often go on to become great coaches.

Pat Quinn was very respected and admirable defensive defenseman during his playing days in the NHL. Not blessed with incredible hands or scorig prowess, he contributed nightly by working hard, playing tough and being positionally sound.

His leadership and strong play saw him become captain of the Atlanta Flames near the end of his playing career, which spanned 9 seasons and 606 games.

When his playing days were over, Quinn took his training ethic and the knowledge of the game he had acquired through practice and study, and converted them into one of the greatest coaching careers the NHL has ever seen.

Quinn has twice won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year (1980 and 1992) and has accumulated (before the start of this season) 657 wins in 1,318 games, making him one of the all-time leaders in both categories.

His overall record of 657-481-154-26 stands as one of the greatest coaching achievements in hockey history, and it is a legacy to which he is currently adding as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

TODAY: BACK (Fast Tempo, 90 Second Rests)

WIDE GRIP FRONT PULL-UPS (3 sets)
Body x 12
Body x 10
Body x 10

WIDE PARALLEL GRIP PULL-UPS (3 sets)
Body x 10
Body x 10
Body x 8

CLOSE GRIP CABLE ROWS (3 sets)
70 kg x 10
70 kg x 10
70 kg x 10

BENT OVER DUMBBELL ROWS (3 sets)
- 3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests
50 x 8
40 x 4
30 x 4

STATIONARY BIKE
- Resistance 15/25
15 Minutes / 5.64 Miles / 225 Cal

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Back): 12

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
ORLAND KURTENBACH

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who toiled on the third and fourth lines in the NHL for years, developing a responsible and positionally sound game as a defensive forward, before being written off in the expansion draft and finding the perfect place for his hard work and leadership qualities with the expansion Vancouver Canucks.

Orland Kurtenbach was a solid but journeyman forward when the NHL expanded to include Vancouver for the 1970-71 season.

Kurtenbach had scored 37 points in his first full season season with the Boston Bruins (1963-64) but had seen his production trail off over the subsequent seasons. He had studied the game and drilled a strong defensive work ethic into his play, but he was left unprotected by the New York Rangers in the 1970 expansion draft.

Vancouver selected Kurtenbach and he was named the first team captain in Canucks history.

It was in this new environment, one that required a leader to rise, that Kurtenbach took his game to an entirely new level. In his eleventh season, at a time when most players are slowing down, Kurtenbach set career highs with 21 goals and 53 points. The next year, at age 35, he improved upon that with 24 goals and 61 points.

For his final four seasons in the NHL, he served as the Canucks’ captain and leader, retiring when cumulative injuries from a hard-driving style of play wore down his body.

However, he didn’t leave the game before he had set a tone of excellence for a franchise in need of a standard to follow. He was named the Canucks’ MVP in each of his first three seasons with the team and finished his NHL career with 119 goals and 332 points in 639 games.

TODAY: CHEST (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests
and BICEPS (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

FLAT DUMBBELL PRESS (5 sets)
30 x 10
40 x 7
40 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 4

FLAT DUMBBELL FLYES (5 sets)
30 x 6
40 x 3
30 x 5
30 x 5
30 x 5

INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
30 x 5
40 x 5
40 x 4

DECLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
30 x 6
40 x 5
40 x 5

BARBELL PREACHER CURLS (3 sets)
50 x 5
50 x 4
50 x 3

DUMBBELL PREACHER HAMMER CURLS (1 set)
20 x 2

STATIONARY BIKE
- Resistance 15/25
15 Minutes / 5.53 Miles / 221 Cal

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Chest): 16
Total Sets (Biceps): 4

Well, it was time to test out the arm and I may have jumped the gun ever so slightly. I had to pull the plug very early into biceps but I got through chest reasonably well. The results were mixed, even with keeping the weights light, but it is the start of good things to come.

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
GARTH BUTCHER

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who played one of the toughest and most physical brands of hockey in the 1980s and 1990s.

Garth Butcher was drafted 10th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1981 and went on to play with Team Canada, being part of the first Canadian squad to win gold at the World Junior Championships in 1982.

Unlike most top-10 draft picks, Butcher didn’t make his name in the NHL with prolific goal-scoring. The rugged defenseman left his mark in the league in the uncelebrated but necessary role of responsible stay-at-home defenseman, specializing in thwarting opponents’ attempts to score.

Garth Butcher was also one of the toughest men of his era, recording one of the highest penalty minute totals in NHL history with 2,302.

In a career through which he was renowned for his leadership and work ethic, Butcher played in 897 NHL games, recording 206 points. His physical style of play resulted in his breaking the 200-penalty-minute mark in six of his fourteen seasons.

His leadership saw him named captain of the St. Louis Blues, with his tenure bridging the captaincies of two NHL legends: Scott Stevens and Brett Hull.

TODAY: CALVES (3-3-3 Tempo, 90 Second Rests)
and ABS (Fast Tempo, 60 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

SEATED CALF RAISE (3 sets)
90 x 8
90 x 4
90 x 5

HANGING BENT LEG RAISE (3 sets)
x 20
x 20
x 20

HANGING BENT LEG OBLIQUE RAISE (3 sets)
x 15
x 11
x 12

JUMP ROPE
- 2 Rounds

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Calves): 3
Total Sets (Abs): 6

Well, I’m not going to lie. Not being able to use my arm or upper body is not doing great things for my motivation and it’s showing…

This was a pretty pathetic workout across the board.

I would love to just delete all of the above and write “day off” but I am going to leave it up there so I am motivated by the shame of it all.

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
TIM HUNTER

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who established himself over a long career as one of the greatest tough guys in NHL history.

Tim Hunter played 16 NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks and Quebec Nordiques. During this impressive run, he appeared in 815 games, scoring 62 goals and 138 points, while accumulating 3,142 minutes in penalties.

This total presently has him in 8th place on the league’s all-time list of penalty leaders.

More importantly, Hunter’s physical presence and willingness to put himself at risk contributed to a great deal of team success. Hunter appeared in three Stanley Cup Finals, twice with Calgary in 1986 and 1989, and later with Vancouver in 1994.

Hunter’s Calgary Flames went all the way and won the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Hunter also played in 132 playoff games, during which time he added another 426 minutes in penalties. He twice led the NHL in penalty minutes (1987 and 1989) and three more times was among the top four in the league.

Tim Hunter’s leadership and selfless style of play were recognized throughout the league, and he was twice his team’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded each year to the player who most exemplifies perseverance and dedication to hockey.

TODAY: BACK (Fast Tempo, 60 Second Rests)

WIDE GRIP FRONT PULL-UPS (3 sets)
Body x 10
Body x 8
Body x 6

WIDE GRIP REAR PULL-UPS (3 sets)
Body x 8
Body x 10
Body x 6

CLOSE GRIP UNDERHAND PULL-UPS (3 sets)
Body x 8
Body x 8
Body x 6

SUPINE ROWS (3 sets)
Body x 10
Body x 10
Body x 10

BENT OVER DUMBBELL ROWS (3 sets)
50 x 10
50 x 10
50 x 10

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Back): 15

Yikes! Under the weather! Barely made it through that light workout!

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
TAYLOR PYATT

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a hockey player who, last season, overcame one of the most traumatizing experiences that could afflict anyone – not just in sports but in life – and showed the world an undeniable spirit in lacing up the skates for the playoffs when most men might instead be spiraling into an ever-deepening depression.

Taylor Pyatt was a promising forward with the Vancouver Canucks, his powerful 6′4″ / 235-pound frame a highly difficult object for opposing defensemen to move away from their nets.

He had recently enjoyed a strong 23-goal season with Vancouver, and had scored 10+ goals in five of his seven NHL seasons (with the only two years where he failed to do so being due to his missing significant portions of the year).

This all followed an impressive junior career in the OHL, where over three seasons with the Sudbury Wolves, Pyatt racked up 91 goals and 195 points in 194 games.

Last season, the Canucks were wrapping up their regular season (one which culminated in a division championship) and preparing for the playoffs when the unthinkable happened.

Taylor Pyatt, who was due to be married in the summer, learned that his fiancee Carly Bragnalo had been killed in a car accident. What had been scheduled to become the best summer of his life had instantly been recast as a hellish summer on the way, and he was required to leave the team to deal with both the personal and practical affairs that arise when a loved one is lost.

Nobody could have blamed Pyatt if he had chosen to quit hockey, retire, or become an angry hermit in some remote northern territory. Virtually any course of action would become understandable under circumstances as horrific as these.

Pyatt’s choice? He came back to help his team in the second round of the playoffs against the talent-heavy Chicago Blackhawks. Pyatt appeared in the final four games of the series, attempting to help his team stave off elimination. The Canucks were ultimately defeated by Chicago but Pyatt showed a spirit that indicated he had no intention of being defeated by anything.

TODAY: BICEPS (Fast Tempo, 40 Second Rests)
and CARDIO

PREACHER HAMMER DUMBBELL CURLS (5 sets)
30 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 4
40 x 9
40 x 8

PREACHER UNDERHAND DUMBBELL CURLS (5 sets)
30 x 10
30 x 10
40 x 6
40 x 6
40 x 6

TWISTING INCLINE SUSPENDED-LEGS DUMBBELL CURLS (2 sets)
30 x 8
30 x 6

STANDING OVERHAND BARBELL CURLS (2 sets)
45 x 20
45 x 20

STATIONARY BIKE
- Resistance 25/25
30 Minutes / 7.28 Miles / 459 Cal
- 3.26 Miles at 15 Minute Mark

STATIONARY BIKE
- Resistance 15/25
30 Minutes / 11.75 Miles / 472 Cal
- 6.02 Miles at 15 Minute Mark

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Biceps): 14

Turned the resistance on the bike up to the maximum of 25/25 to add a little variety, make it feel like a bit of a different exercise, and make it a little more like resistance training than outright cardio.

Anyway, damn that was one long half hour…

Made the second half hour at 15/25 resistance seem like a Sunday stroll…

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