How to dominate physically on the hockey field

During its transition from grass to Astroturf, field hockey has become a fast paced, powerful sport, incorporating every muscle in your body. In order to keep up and get the most out of yourself, it is imperative that your training is specific to the game and must incorporate more than just running or endurance training. To play hockey to the best of your ability you need to work on all aspects of the game. It is an explosive sport of which power underpins the ability to pull off skilful moves, such as drag flicks and aerials.

To create optimum fitness which is specific to hockey you must train in a way which mirrors the movements and cardiovascular requirements when you play. Doing this also avoids muscular imbalances which can lead to injury. A lot of players wrongly assume that if they’re running long distances it constitutes effective training for hockey. The ability to run for 70 minutes is essential, but in reality a hockey game doesn’t consist of 70 minutes of jogging, it is a combination between sprints, jogging, stopping and starting, changing direction quickly and upper body strength.

There are several physical aspects which are integral to becoming a well-rounded hockey player. These are; power, endurance, flexibility, speed, stamina, strength, agility, fast recovery, injury prevention and core stability.

Core stability is important for anyone, regardless of their levels of activity. However it is very significant for hockey players and is often overlooked. Often considered as the base of athleticism, a strong core can help to prevent injuries and reduce excess strain on other muscles. Those players that do insist that they do core training will usually admit that they just do sit ups to train their abs.

However, the first thing to understand is that the core is made up of more than just the ‘abs’ that we see; in hockey you need to train your core, not your abs. The core consists of a bundle of muscle groups which essentially connect your lower body to your upper body. These are; the rectus abdominis (abs), transversus abdominis, intercostals, serratus, obliques, erector spinae muscles and hip flexors.

The first reason that doing exercises like sit-ups are not good for training for hockey is because they are training your abs and not your core, and if performed incorrectly can actually cause more harm than good by putting excessive strain on the lower back.

Secondly, sit-ups should be avoided is because most hockey players tend to have shortened hip flexors sure to the position that they play in and sit-ups require further shortening of the hip flexors. Excessive shortening or tightness in a muscle is then what leads to muscular imbalance and injury.

Thirdly, exercises such as sit-ups aren’t very transferable onto the hockey pitch. There are several other very effective core exercises that can be performed instead which have a better carry on to the pitch and are more relevant to the game. Some examples of these are: ab roller, woodchop, Russian twists, spiderman plank and side bends. Training your core for sports performance trains movements by restricting force and transferring power which is more applicable to playing hockey, rather than the aesthetic of ‘getting abs’.

As the core is made up of primarily fast-twitch muscle fibres, hard, heavy, and explosive bouts of exercise will stimulate them a lot more. This means that core training should be performed in the moderate rep range for best growth. For example, 3 sets in the 8-15 rep range.

There are two main benefits of training your core to improve your hockey game. These are:

Core stability- This enables you to be strong on the ball and also prevents injury.

Rotational power- This is your ability to re-direct or transfer force and power from your lower body by rotating at the shoulders. I.e. A slap shot. Players lose power in this movement as there is not an effective transfer due to a weak core.