How do I control the intensity of a conditioning game?

Adjust pitch size, player numbers, rest between rounds and the rules you impose. The Small Sided Games masterclass with Andreu Enrich shows how reducing numbers and space forces more efforts per player, while Wouter Blondeel in Mastering Physical KPIs in Field Hockey stresses knowing what each drill actually costs through simple metrics or honest intensity cues.

Do I still need any off-ball fitness work?

A small amount, yes. Glenn Turner in Hockey Conditioning Made Simple argues most foundation work can be simple bodyweight movements like squats, lunges and push-ups, and Matthew Eyles in Injury Reduction Training Methods highlights that robustness and prehab are best handled with dedicated foundation strength that sits underneath your ball-based conditioning.

What makes a field hockey warm-up effective at getting players game-ready?

Build it in stages: raise heart rate and body temperature, move the joints through hockey ranges, then rehearse the sharp accelerations, changes of direction and decisions the game demands. In his Physically game ready masterclass on The Hockey Site, Mick Beunen stresses working on movements and coordination rather than isolated muscles, with agility integrated throughout, so players finish primed to fire rather than merely warm.

How does a warm-up help cut injuries in field hockey?

Matthew Eyles, in his Injury Reduction Training Methods masterclass on The Hockey Site, notes that most hockey injuries are soft-tissue overloads to the hamstrings, groins and calves rather than contact injuries, and that they are largely preventable with good preparation. Including short doses of eccentric work such as the Nordic hamstring extension and Copenhagen side plank, plus reactive multidirectional running, exposes those vulnerable tissues before they are tested at full speed.

How long should a field hockey warm-up take?

There is no fixed number, but around 15 to 20 minutes is usually enough to raise temperature, rehearse game movements and prime the tissues most at risk. The Hockey Site coaches emphasise content over the clock: too short and the hamstrings and groins are never ready, too long and players go flat. Aim to finish game-ready, not gassed, and adjust intensity to how fresh the squad is.

practice planning Archives - The Hockey Site

Q: Can I build field hockey fitness inside stick and ball drills?

Largely yes. Small-sided games and game scenarios can carry your aerobic base and repeated-sprint quality if the running is intense enough and rest is controlled. In Physically game ready, Mick Beunen describes running small-sided games above 85 percent of maximum heart rate with limited rest to reproduce match intensity, and Russell Coates in Smart Pre-Season Planning recommends reaching match fitness through targeted hockey activities rather than isolated fitness tests.

How do I build field hockey fitness without taking players off the ball?

Quick answer. Yes, you can build most of your field hockey fitness inside stick and ball work. Design games and drills so the running is high enough to matter, keep the ball involved for as much of the session as you can, and only step outside for the foundation strength and prep work that ball drills cannot cover.

That surface answer is comfortable, but the coaches on The Hockey Site would not want you to stop there. Conditioning inside drills only works if you actually control the intensity, monitor what a session is costing your players, and keep a small amount of off-ball foundation work in the plan. Here is how a few of them think about it.

Start by keeping it simpler than you think. In Hockey Conditioning Made Simple, Glenn Turner makes the case that hockey is first and foremost an aerobic game, so the ability to keep running matters more than a big number on a squat or bench. He warns that overcomplicated gym programmes and heavy lifting have ended careers rather than built them, and argues coaches should back themselves to use simple bodyweight movements, squats, lunges, push-ups and pull-ups, that can be done on any field. That is good news for anyone worried about time on the ball, because it frees you to put the running load where the ball already is.

Make small-sided games your main engine. The Small Sided Games masterclass with Andreu Enrich is built on the idea that reducing numbers and space forces more touches, more decisions and more repeated efforts per player. The same tool that teaches basic skills and off-ball principles is also a conditioning tool, because you can dial the physical demand up or down through pitch size, player numbers, rest between rounds and the rules you impose. A tight four-versus-four with short recoveries asks a very different physical question than a spread-out seven-versus-seven, and both keep sticks and a ball in every player’s hands.

Integrate the physical work rather than bolting it on. In Physically game ready, Mick Beunen, physical performance coach for the Belgian men, describes running small-sided games above 85 percent of maximum heart rate with limited rest to reproduce match intensity. His principle is that strength is the foundation but is never trained in isolation, it is always combined with speed, movement and game context. He also leans on dual tasks, pairing agility and running with decisions under pressure, so the movement is stored alongside the hockey rather than separate from it. For club teams with only two sessions a week, his advice is blunt, integrate physical skills into the hockey session and keep short strength routines on the side.

Condition through game scenarios, not just fitness tests. That thinking runs through Smart Pre-Season Planning with Russell Coates, who encourages coaches to reach match fitness through targeted hockey activities and game scenarios rather than isolated running drills. When the conditioning stimulus is wrapped inside a pressing game or a transition drill, players get fit while rehearsing the exact actions they need on a Saturday, which is a far better return on limited pitch time than laps of the field.

Sequence the week so the load lands where you want it. Conditioning inside drills can quietly overcook a squad if you do not plan the rhythm. In Practice Session Design, Fede Tanuscio treats session and week design as a deliberate act, deciding which sessions carry the highest physical demand and which pull back. If your Tuesday is a high-intensity small-sided block, your plan needs to know that, so the harder ball-based conditioning arrives on the right day and eases off before a match.

Measure it so it is not guesswork. Mastering Physical KPIs in Field Hockey with Wouter Blondeel is a useful companion here, because conditioning through drills only stays safe when you know what each drill actually costs. Whether that is sprint counts, explosive metres or simply honest intensity cues you can read off the group, having a KPI in mind turns a fun game into a controlled training load. Beunen makes a similar point about monitoring roles differently, midfielders on combined sprint and explosive distance, attackers on explosive metres.

Keep a little off-ball foundation in the mix. Not everything can live inside a stick and ball drill, and Injury Reduction Training Methods with Matthew Eyles is the reason why. Robustness, tissue tolerance and the prehab work that keeps players available are best handled with dedicated foundation strength, much of which Turner shows can be simple bodyweight work. That is the honest limit of conditioning inside drills, it can carry your aerobic base and your repeated-sprint quality, but it works best sitting on top of a small, non-negotiable block of foundation work.

Put together, the message from these coaches is reassuring, you rarely need to choose between fitness and the ball. Build small-sided games that run hard, integrate the physical demand into game scenarios, plan the week so the load lands well, keep an eye on what each session costs, and protect a little foundation work on the side. The masterclasses below go far deeper than any single session plan, and they are worth an evening if you want to design this properly.

Go more in depth here

Glenn Turner

Hockey Conditioning Made Simple

Watch on demand

Mick Beunen

Physically game ready

Watch on demand

Andreu Enrich

Small Sided Games

Watch on demand

More coaching questions: How do I get field hockey players fit for the real demands of a game?, What is the best field hockey warm-up to get game-ready and cut injuries?, How often should my players train before I’m overcooking them?, How do I know if my players are actually fit, and what’s a good score?. All of them are in Field Hockey Coaching Questions.

The experts mentioned in this article

Glenn TurnerFormer Australian international player

Andreu EnrichFormer Spanish international player coaching in Germany

Mick BeunenPhysical trainer for the national men’s team of Belgium

Russell CoatesCoach in The Netherlands, founder of Hockey Platform

Fede TanuscioFormer Argentina international, Sport Director for Hockey Luxembourg

Wouter BlondeelStrength and conditioning expert from Belgium

Matthew EylesStrength and conditioning expert from Australia

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What is the best field hockey warm-up to get game-ready and cut injuries?

Quick answer. Build the warm-up in stages: raise heart rate and body temperature, take the joints through hockey ranges, rehearse the sharp multidirectional actions the game demands, then add a few short primers for the tissues that get injured most (hamstrings, groins, calves). Around 15 to 20 minutes is usually plenty. The coaches on The Hockey Site are clear that what you put into those minutes matters far more than the number on the clock.

That is a solid surface answer, but the coaches on The Hockey Site would tell you not to stop at a routine the squad runs on autopilot. The warm-up is the moment where physical preparation and injury prevention actually meet the pitch, and a handful of their masterclasses explain why.

Warm up the way the game is played. In Physically game ready, Mick Beunen, physical trainer for the Belgian men, makes the point that physical work should mirror the actions of the sport rather than isolated fitness. As he puts it, “strength is crucial, but always in combination with speed and, focused on movements and not on muscles, on coordination,” with the agility work “integrated always.” Read across to the warm-up and the message is the same: get players accelerating, changing direction and making quick decisions before the first whistle, not just jogging a lap and reaching for their toes.

Prime players to fire, not just to sweat. Beunen frames the goal of good physical preparation as being able to keep performing when it counts, noting that robust athletes “can continue to fire at high speeds, up until the last quarter or up until the last game.” For elite squads he builds in priming and activation work before a game so bodies are switched on from the start. At club level the same idea scales down: a warm-up should leave players sharp and ready to sprint, not merely warm and slightly tired.

Aim the warm-up at the injuries hockey actually causes. In Injury Reduction Training Methods, Matthew Eyles, a strength and conditioning specialist who has worked with the Dutch national teams, is blunt about what tends to go wrong. “The majority of injuries in hockey are not catastrophic contact injuries, but soft tissue overloads that are largely preventable with good preparation.” He points to hamstrings, groins and calves as the usual culprits, with the knee and ankle earning honourable mentions. A warm-up that never asks those tissues to lengthen, brake and accelerate is leaving the most common injuries unaddressed.

Expose the vulnerable tissues, briefly and often. Eyles keeps his non-negotiables simple: the Nordic hamstring extension, which loads the hamstring through its eccentric phase, and the Copenhagen side plank for the adductors and groin, both backed by research linking eccentric strength to lower injury risk. He also wants the on-field portion to be reactive and multidirectional, “forwards, backwards, sideways shuffling, sideways running and looking over your shoulder, running backwards to turning and accelerating out,” because that is how the game moves. A short dose of that exposure in every warm-up does more than an occasional heavy gym session.

Keep it simple and repeatable. In Hockey Conditioning Made Simple, former Australian international Glenn Turner argues that physical preparation only works when it is practical enough to actually happen week after week, especially for players juggling school, work and training. The warm-up is the same story. A short, consistent routine the whole squad knows will always beat an elaborate one that gets skipped the moment you are short of time or numbers.

Let readiness guide the intensity. In Mastering Physical KPIs in Field Hockey, Belgian strength and conditioning expert Wouter Blondeel makes the case for paying attention to what players are actually producing rather than guessing. Treat the warm-up partly as a readiness check and adjust it: after a congested run of fixtures you may prime lightly, whereas a fresh squad can be pushed harder. Beunen echoes the flexibility, reminding coaches that “our weeks are never the same” and that load has to bend to the schedule in front of you.

Mind the content before the clock. So how long should it take? There is no magic number, and none of these coaches hands you a stopwatch figure. A focused 15 to 20 minutes is usually enough to raise temperature, rehearse game movements and prime the tissues most at risk. Cut it much shorter and the hamstrings and groins never get ready; drag it out and players go flat. The through-line from Beunen and Eyles is the useful test: finish the warm-up game-ready, not gassed.

If you want the detail behind these principles, the full masterclasses are where the thinking lives, from Beunen’s integrated approach and Eyles’ specific injury-reduction exercises to how coaches monitor and adapt load across a real season. They are worth a slow watch before you rebuild your team’s warm-up.