Brennan brings weightlifting techniques to Thrashers conditioning

Rick Dudley and Barry Brennan speak the same language, one weight lifter to another.

When the Thrashers general manager was looking for a new strength and conditioning coach this offseason, it wasn’t long into his interview with Brennan that he knew he found his man.

“My background is exercise physiology,” Dudley said. “When he talks, I understand what he says. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I’m going to guess I spoke to 50 to 60 people about him and it was overwhelmingly positive, especially players. Players, to a man, said this was a great strength coach. It made it easy.”

Brennan was hired in June to replace Ray Bear, who spent eight seasons with the teambefore leaving for a position in the U.S. Army. Brennan spent the previous nine seasons in the Columbus organization, the last five as the Blue Jackets strength coach.

An Olympic-style weight lifting philosophy is what Brennan, a weight lifter and boxer himself, will bring to Atlanta.

“I spend time tailoring each program specifically for the players’ needs,” Brennan said. “I don’t know if everybody does that, but that’s they way I like it. You get a better response back from the players because they see you are putting a lot of time in to identify their strengths and weaknesses and working on those.”

Brennan was hired in July and began work just as Thrashers prospects arrived for developmental camp. His workload has picked up the past month as players have begun to report to the team’s practice facility for voluntary workouts before the start of training camp on Sept. 17. He has also been working during the summer with Nik Antropov, Boris Valabik and Angelo Esposito, all recovering from surgeries.

By using Olympic-style weight training -- lifting a heavier weight as fast as possible with fewer repetitions -- Brennan aims to alter a player’s muscle fiber.

“It’s very intense,” Brennan said. “It’s very explosive. What you are doing in Olympic-style weight lifting is teaching slow-twitch muscle fiber how to recover quicker. You are actually converting a slow-twitch muscle fiber into a fast-twitch muscle fiber. You are teaching it how to explode when your brain sends a signal.”

For a player like Valabik, the weight lifting technique is new. As he recovers from surgery to repair a torn ACL, the defenseman already sees the benefits.

“It’s definitely for that quick first step,” Valabik said. “Not a lot of reps, just heavy weight and you push it as fast as you can. Just explode as hard as you can. That’s exactly what I need, that first step to power my hips. It’s going to help me with my knees. It’s going to help me with my stride. It’s going to help me with my speed.”

Recovering from injury, Valabik will follow one program. A young player trying to gain size and strength, Alexander Burmistrov will have another program. A veteran goaltender, Chris Mason will have still another program.

“There are a million ways to skin a cat,” Brennan said.

For Mason, who has done some Olympic-style weight lifting in the past, a program of lighter weights and more repetitions make more sense for a 34-year-old body, which could use less impact on the joints. However, Mason said he has already benefited from Brennan’s techniques as an early reporter.

“Barry has me in every morning doing warmups and he stretches me out,” Mason said. “I’ve only been at it a week but I already notice a difference in my back and my flexibility."

Brennan spent four seasons as the strength and conditioning coach with Columbus’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse before joining the Blue Jackets. He spent one of those years splitting his time with the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67s and it was in his native Ottawa that he worked with Ben Eager, another Ottawan who came to the Thrashers in an off-season trade with Chicago. Brennan also knew Ron Hainsey from his playing days in Columbus. The rest of the Thrashers he is meeting as they report for voluntary workouts.

Brennan was not retained in Columbus when the franchise brought in a new coaching staff.