“We like you as a player, but we all think you need another season to get stronger and hopefully come back next year.”  

Andrew had heard it before, but he thought after last season it was different. He had just come off a 25 goal season in Junior A and knew he had the speed and skill to play Major Junior. 

He had always been “the small guy” on the team. But it had forced him to play smarter, develop more elusive skating, and rely more on skill than size. And while he had heard scout say they shifted their priorities from size to speed – he was starting to feel that his size holding him back, and maybe this was his ceiling. ‍

“...but we’ll see you at main camp in the fall and hopefully you have a big summer.”

These final words from the Coach had stuck in his head. 

“It means they haven’t written me off, I just need to add some muscle & get stronger and it’ll take away any excuses they have to cut me.” 

Where many players would have felt dejected and accepted the label of being “too small for the next level” – he heard opportunity. 

For the past few off-seasons he had convinced himself that it was impossible for him to gain muscle. His dad was a skinny guy, and he claimed it was “in the genes.” Instead, he had invested all his energy in skill work to compensate for size and strength. 

He wanted to be a mix between Patrick Kane and Brandon Gallagher, two players who’s game he had studied intensely.  But he had realized that even his “smaller” NHL idols both weighed over 175 & had the strength when they needed. ‍

“I gotta add some muscle. It’s not that I’d play scared or get pushed around in the OHL, I just know I wouldn’t be able to play as fearless & rely just on my skill and skating. As long as it didn’t slow me down, adding muscle would actually let me play more of my game.” 

He was right. Every small player who’s been successful in this game has relied on a combination of skill, elusiveness, fearlessness, and strength. We were looking at a player who, if he added muscle, wouldn't just “get by” in the OHL, but could thrive. 

So we created a program that would strategically add muscle & strength without getting bulky or slowing him down. 

The result showed quickly showed.

Each week his lifts increased. The first phase he had gained 7lbs, more than any off-season he ever had. Then he gained another 7lbs when we shifted to our power development phase. Then finally another 3lbs in our transferable phase. A total of 17lbs for a player who has “skinny genes.” 

But the scale matters far less than the results on the ice. And despite getting bigger, his skill coach kept commenting on how much faster he looked. The strength and power work gave him more explosiveness in his starts, cuts, and change of direction and he felt it. 

Come training camp, he had eliminated any reason to cut him. He looked like a veteran on the ice, putting up multiple points per game in inter-squad games, and come pre-season kept the train rolling with points in each game. 

It was undeniable that he belonged in the OHL. 

After a successful season in the OHL, he connected us with a teammate of his, a tall lanky European defenceman, who also had the self-proclaimed “skinny genes.”

“You gotta give him the same game plan you did for me. If he throws on 20lbs of muscle he’d be a legit NHL caliber defenceman. He’s 6’5 but just not an imposing force out there. If he got the same strength I had it would turn him into a monster.”

We created a digital version of the program and sent it to him to use back in Europe. And again saw the same results. 

Each week we’d check in and his dad (who was also his youth coach and now ran his skates in the summer) would jump on the call and brag about the progress he was making on the ice. 

“He’s tried to add this strength for 3-4 seasons. He looks way more solid on his skates, no more “bambi feet,” he’s strong in corners, he’s shooting harder. He is going to be way tougher to play against.”

Both an undersized player and a tall lanky player each had their game transformed by adding the strength and muscle that mattered.  Their success was undeniable, and it was time to share it with the countless players at all levels that were being “held back” by their size. 

The Relentless Size & Strength Program was born. 

Since then, the program has been used by thousands of player from the skinny high school player and make a junior team to the pro trying to add more size to take his game to the next level. We've received dozens of emails who added meaningful muscle and broke through to the next level.

Eliminate the opportunity for coaches to knock you for your size. Make your game undeniable.