Hockey
training program
Repeat sprints in a low, bent posture for 60 minutes — engine, change of direction and a bullet-proof back + hamstrings.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.
Why this program exists
You sprint repeatedly, in a bent-over posture, for sixty minutes. Then your lower back tightens up and your hamstrings are permanently short, and no generic program has any idea why.
Hockey is soccer’s neighbour on running and hamstring demand, with one addition nothing else has: a sport played bent over. So the prehab is spinal flexion under load, hip rotation and the wrists that hold the stick — plus a rotational med-ball throw for the drag flick.
A default hockey week
This is the sport’s own template — the starting point before it is fitted to your days, your equipment and your season. Team nights and game day are protected; everything else moves to the days you are free.
What hockey is won with
These are the qualities the program is built to develop, in priority order. They come from the sport, not from a generic template.
- Repeat-sprint ability
- Bent-posture endurance
- Change of direction
- Hamstring + back durability
| Session | Type | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Strength + Posterior | Gym | 55–65 min | Sprint strength + back/hamstring armour |
| Repeat Sprints + COD | Conditioning | 35–45 min | Match-speed running + cutting |
| Power + Trunk | Gym | 45–55 min | Explosive hits + rotational control |
| Aerobic Engine | Conditioning | 40–50 min | Run out a full 60 minutes |
The season changes the program
- Pre-season
- February – March — set volume ×1.2. Build the engine and the strength base.
- In-season
- April – September — set volume ×0.7, prescribed weights hold. Maintain, don’t drain.
- Off-season
- October – January — baseline volume. Rebuild general strength and fix the niggles.
- Block structure
- Four-week blocks: three weeks accumulating, one week deload. The block’s character changes across the year rather than repeating.
- Game day
- Protected. The day before gets a 20-minute explosive primer with no running, no heavy legs and no prehab block bolted on.
The hockey testing battery
Five numbers, re-run every eight weeks. Chosen to match what hockey programs actually measure — and the results re-price your training weights and reset your conditioning paces.
| Test | Measures | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery 1 | Repeat-effort capacity with recovery, which is how a game is actually played. | level |
| Max pull-ups | Relative pulling strength — the best upper-body number there is for a field athlete. | reps |
| Rotational med-ball throw | Rotational power — the drag flick, the strike, the throw. | m |
| Standing vertical jump | Lower-body power in its purest form, and the cheapest fatigue check you own. | cm |
| Nordic hamstring break point | Eccentric hamstring strength — the best-evidenced hamstring injury screen there is. | ° |
Staying available
The prehab block is matched to the region of the session it sits in and to the tissue this sport actually punishes — not a generic mobility flow bolted to the front.
Prehab only works if it happens, and the reason it usually does not is that it has nothing to do with the session it is attached to. Rotating a pool by session number puts shoulder work before a squat day and Copenhagen planks before a bench press. Technically covered; nobody does it.
In Train Smart each movement is classified by the region it protects and matched to the session, and the pool rotates across the week so you cover all of it rather than doing the same three moves three times.
More on prehab that people actually do →
Hockey training questions
What does the Train Smart hockey program include?
When is hockey pre-season?
Can I follow this program if I only train twice a week?
What tests does the hockey program use?
Do I need a full gym?
Get your hockey program
Pick hockey, answer eight questions, and your week is built — around your team nights, your game and the days you can actually train.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.