ASPIRE ASPIRE PERFORM
Welcome to your Aspire USA 12-week strength & conditioning program for field hockey! Here you will find some details about the program and how you can get the most out of it to become the best athlete you can be.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
This program is designed to develop important and relevant strength qualities for field hockey and build competency in key movement patterns commonly used in strength and conditioning programs within both UK and US collegiate and elite field hockey systems. As such, this program is designed to help you improve your on-pitch performance and longevity in the sport.
Our previous experience working in elite field hockey has highlighted key areas of physical development important for success and longevity in the sport. This program focuses on developing several key physical qualities:
1) Maximal lower body strength and power, during both double and single leg tasks
2) Posterior chain maximal strength
3) Rotational strength and power
4) Scapular / shoulder and lower back health
The 12-week program is broken up into 3 distinct training blocks, each 4 weeks in duration. Each training block has a specific ‘de-load’ week in week 4. This is to ensure that we are not overloading your body for 12 weeks consecutively and allows for important recovery following hard, progressive training. The subsequent training blocks and their key focuses are noted below:
Introduction
Building competence with key movement patterns, acclimating to your new program and developing general strength.
Accumulation
The aim of this block is to increase the total volume and / or density of work that you complete.
Intensification
The aim of this block is to develop maximal strength, specifically by greater exposure to higher training loads, and typically building towards some heavy training sets.
ASPIRE Example Progam Structure:
PROGRAM SPECIFICS
You will see in the program that each exercise has been given a number, and some have been given letters. This is to signify how the session is to be caried out. Any exercise with a number only should be carried out by itself [e.g. 1) Back Squat – all sets of this exercise is completed before moving on to the next exercise]. Exercises with a number and letter should be carried out one after the other in the order that is highlighted on the program [e.g. 1.a) Push-Up, 1.b) Pull-Up – the first set of each exercise is completed one after the other, before repeating for the remainder of the sets].
Every exercise in the program has a ‘DEMO’ button beside it. Clicking this button will take you to YouTube, where a visual representation of each exercise and it’s set up can be viewed. Additionally, instructions or key points for each exercise are written in the ‘exercise notes’ column and are important to read ahead of each session and training block.
For all exercises, the number of filled columns represents the number of sets you are to do during that particular week, and the number within each column represents the number of repetitions to be performed during each set. All sets prescribed in the program are working sets, and as such it is vital to ensure that you undertake some warm-up sets to prepare you for and get the most out of those working sets.
Each exercise also has a prescribed RiR, meaning repetitions in reserve. This number is there to help you select appropriate loads during each training session and signifies how many reps are left in the tank before your exercise technique breaks down (important: not before you reach total muscular failure!).
The ‘Load’ row has been left blank, and this is for you to fill in the loads used during training to track and monitor progress week-to-week and block-to-block.