July 19, 2011
Q&A with ... St. Lawrence athletic trainer Bob Mowry
by Staff Report/
Bob Mowry (photo: St. Lawrence Athletics)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each month, New York Hockey Journal takes you around the state to get training tips from the region’s top athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches.
A graduate of the University at Buffalo with both a bachelor's and master's degree in exercise science, Bob Mowry joined the St. Lawrence athletic training staff in the fall of 2008.
In his role as an athletic trainer at St. Lawrence, Mowry works with the men's hockey team in the care and prevention of injuries, and also works with other teams in the school's 32-sport athletic program.
Prior to that, he worked as an athletic training intern for the Buffalo Sabres during the 2007-08 season, where he developed and implemented rehabilitation plans for injured Sabres players while the team was on the road.
Mowry played hockey for the University at Buffalo and was captain from 2005 through 2007. He was also a NJCAA All America and played in the NJCAA national tournament in 2003-04 while at Monroe Community College.
What are the first things you tell players who are new to the St. Lawrence program?
I talk to them about taking care of injuries as soon as they happen. The young guys especially have a tendency to try and work through injuries without mentioning anything to myself or the coaching staff. I stress the fact that my job isn’t to keep them out of the line-up; I want to see everyone healthy and able to play.
Believe me, it makes my job a heck of a lot easier when I don’t have anyone in the training room. We’re working with Division 1 athletes, so every guy on our team is a good hockey player; there isn’t one guy on our team that’s better at 85 percent than someone else playing at 100 percent, so take care of things right away.
What are the biggest differences in their training regimens players see when they arrive?
A lot of our guys are coming from junior hockey and are not used to being a full-time student along with being an athlete. Talking with some of our athletes, they are used to going to the rink for practice, working out and going home.
Now incorporate a full-time class schedule, studying and homework on top of that, and their days can get pretty long. If they have any injuries they have to schedule rehab appointments with myself as well, so I’d say the first couple months is when they have the most difficulty, until they get used to managing their time with all of these things going on.
What are some of the most common training mistakes you see with new players?
I tend to see our new guys try to impress their teammates and either lift the same weights or jump into exercises where they don’t really know what to do.
Our older players have been doing these exercises for up to four years already at St. Lawrence, so they know what myself and our strength and conditioning coach, Mike Elberty, are looking for.
That’s why Mike and I are constantly in the weight room while they are lifting, to show proper technique and help prevent any strains or overuse injuries.
If you had a list of a few top exercises to help young players improve their injury prevention, what would they be?
First and foremost is stretching. Some guys come here and are so inflexible that it can be quite comical. If we can increase their range of motion then that will allow their limbs and joints to move further before an injury occurs.
Mike Elberty and I incorporate stretching techniques and the use of foam rollers in our workouts to help improve flexibility. We also tend to see a lot of shoulder and groin/hip flexor injuries in hockey. We have all of our guys work with thera bands and do internal/external rotation, flexion/extension and abduction/adduction exercises to help strengthen these key areas before an injury can occur.
What are some good training exercises players can do over the summer when they’re away from the rink?
We are really big on body weight exercises; that way our guys don’t even need a gym for some days of their off season workouts. To name a few exercises we like to do: burpees, push-ups, plyo push-ups, crow hops, spiders, core work and sprints.
What’s one thing a player can work on now that would yield significant results by the time the new season starts?
Right now a player should be working on increasing their max strength and bulking up if need be. Once the season starts rolling, and everyone is getting their typical bumps and bruises, we tend to lean more towards maintenance lifting for the team and specific rehab exercises for our injured athletes.
Nutritionally speaking, what are your biggest do’s and don’ts?
I tell our athletes you can’t outwork a bad diet, and obviously stay away from the fast foods as much as possible. I understand they are college students so they can’t stay away from that stuff completely, but eat fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, pasta, that sort of stuff, on a regular basis.
Myself and the coaching staff controls what they eat on the road, and they do pretty well with their diet during the week, so after a Saturday night game we order either subs or pizza as a treat.
What are some of the biggest trends you see in the athletic training field?
There is always a new and improved recovery modality that comes out. Within the past couple years it has been the HIVAMAT, NormaTec MVP, or even the GameReady machine.
All of these are a tremendous help to us athletic trainers and it’s our responsibility to stay up on these things either through our NATA convention or networking with other ATC’s to find out what they’ve had the most success with, or what their athletes feel works best for them.
