Ultimate has been a joyful journey that has taught me so much. Today, I’ll share five lessons I’ve learned on becoming an athlete and working to maintain those abilities for more than a decade. While this topic has always been a passion of mine, I recently received my certification as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). That journey has helped me build a stronger base of educational, scientific and professional knowledge that I’m hoping to pass on to you.
Here are five lessons that I’ve learned and want to share with you.
1. Do You! (With help)
Just because something works for some people does not mean it will work for you. If three people do the same workout, it’s possible that it helps one, hurts one, and is neutral to the third. Further, workouts that once worked for you may change over the course of a career. Today, I would never do some of the workouts that Tyler Monroe and I did back in 2016. I will never lift heavy weights as I did with Felipe Ledezma in 2019. In fact, for the entire summer and fall of 2022 I was had so many injuries that I only did Hot Yoga and swam at the William H Rumsey Aquatic Center. No gym, no track. Would I recommend that? Probably not. But I couldn’t run pain-free and needed to save my volume and impact for practices. At the end of the day, due to various factors, my training has taken many shapes and forms. It’s important for you to find a safe and effective approach to training based on your own experience, health, age, and other factors.
Common Ultimate Training Mistakes
● You are overtraining and your body can’t recover enough between practices, games and Workouts.
● Your workout plan isn’t providing you a strong enough stimulus so you are plateauing.
● You don’t have a strong enough base to do the plyometric exercises you see over the internet.
● You don’t have enough coaching to execute powerful Olympic lifts correctly and your current form is harming, not helping.
Final Thoughts on ‘Doing You’
Learning your own body, and what feels good/ bad is skill. Talking with experienced teammates that lift, workout or other industry professionals can be a huge cheat code. Don’t be afraid to get some help and advice. And what works for your teammates and others isn’t always what is going to work best for you. If you want more tips, tricks or S+C advice, sign up to our monthly newsletter here.
2. The Cycles and Rhythms of a Season.
The level, division, and location you play ultimate is important to a proper strength and conditioning program. In the US, our college players have spring and fall seasons. Some of those players might also have a club season in the summer. The important thing to note is that you shouldn’t do the same type of workouts the whole year. Most of the time there is a post-season, which starts after the last game. From there you progress to an off-season. The off-season turns into pre-season, and then it’s the season. Let’s chat about each. For illustration, we’ll look at how the sets, reps and intensity varies for each season for squats, a common Ultimate exercise.
Post-season
The post-season is not for donuts. Well, maybe some. It’s a rest and recharge phase that helps reduce the risk of overtraining. It’s also a great time to try other sports you don’t get to participate in during the busy season. It can be a great time for Truck Stop basketball, disc golf, or other non-athletic hobbies. Giving your body a physical and mental rest will pay dividends when your training picks back up again.
Sample post-season squat routine – No squatting!
Post-season gym days: ~0-2 (slow down)
Off-season (aka donut season)
The off-season is a great time for all the people out there that love to lift. The sharp decline of practices and tournaments allow you to put more energy into the gym. This period is best for building up muscle and setting yourself up with a strong base to last throughout the season. The stronger we can be at the end of the off-season, the more powerful we’ll be when it’s time to play.
Sample off-season squat sets and reps – 3 Sets X 10 Reps at 70% of your 10 Rep Max Weight
Off-season gym days (resistance training): 4-6 per week
Pre-season
The pre-season is a blend of building up the strength base and converting that into power. The easiest way to differentiate between strength and power is this. Strength is how much weight you can lift and power is how fast you can move the weight. The pre-season also brings sport-specific skill development, practices and more Ultimate into play. It’s time to drop our lifting routine down a day or two to compensate. Be careful about adding too much too soon – the body loves adapting slowly over time.
Sample pre-season squat routine – 4 Sets X 4 Reps at 80% of your 1 Rep Max Weight
Pre-season gym days: 3-4 per week
In-season
Practices and tournaments can be very demanding. We all picked a taxing sport to play. With all of the volume and Ultimate going on, it can be hard to become stronger throughout the long season. But we should try to maintain our strength as much as possible. Gym days per week will drop, as will the number of reps we lift. Instead of the focus on maximum strength and muscle growth, we should aim for a low amount of volume, but done at a high intensity.
Sample in-season squat routines:
Maintenance- 4 Sets X 4 Reps at 85% 1 Rep Max
Peaking- 3 Sets X 2 Reps at 85% 1 Rep Max (moving fast)
In-season gym days: 1-3 per week
3. Fast Makes Fast.
This one is quick and easy. Let’s say you want to get fast. Not just running fast, but that top speed sprint speed, which is a non-negotiable tool if you want to succeed in ultimate. Going for long runs, doing shuttle workouts, or running 400-meter repeats on the track will not move the needle. Well, maybe a little, but if you want that top speed, you need to hit that top speed. Try this. My favorite top speed workout: put out three cones, each spaced 30 yards apart. Get a full warm-up and prep the body to sprint. Visual learners can watch this workout in a recent video here.
Start out on the first cone and take 30 yards to get up to a full speed sprint, and simply maintain that top speed for 30 yards. Gradually come to a rest. Now rest 4, yes 4 minutes, and do another. Do 5 total, resting 4 minutes each. Resting 4 minutes for a 4-6 second burst of energy might seem like overkill, but we want to have absolutely no fatigue. There are other ways to get that top speed. Working on technique and resistance training are probably the next best things. But it’s the principle. And applicable to jumping higher, too. If you want to work on a skill or ability, try to get as close to that as possible.
4. Dealing With Injuries.
Injuries are momentum killers. It can mean time away from Ultimate, training, and friends. Workouts can become PT sessions. Performance can dip. It’s quite likely that someone on your team is dealing with this now, and maybe it’s you. And after going through years of nagging hamstring injuries I’ve had to deal with the struggles that come with them. It’s impossible to fully prevent injuries. There is inherent risk and uncontrollables that come with Ultimate. Poor field quality and outside shoulder bids are just two of many. But prepping ourselves with resistance training in the gym can help keep the likelihood of injuries down. Here are two personal anecdotes regarding training. First, the body is incredible at slowly adapting over time to meet the demands you put on it. And bringing on a new stimulus too fast and too furiously is the opposite of injury prevention. Let’s revisit the top speed workout I explained above. You want to get faster.
Don’t run that top speed workout 5 days a week, for 4 weeks to get fast for tryouts that are still a month away. The body doesn’t like that. Instead, introduce the new workout and run it once a week while slowly adding a rep or two each time. For more ways to introduce and acclimate to gym and field workouts, come on over to our free S+C newsletter linked above!
The second anecdote is on movement quality and personal records (PRs). Now we all love to hit a nice PR and see results in the gym. But moving well is way healthier than loading up too much weight and executing the lift. Movement quality can help you engage the correct muscles, work through the full range of motion, and reduce the injury risk both on the field and in the gym itself.
5. Where Are You Going?
The last part of this essay is more of a philosophy. Excel’s Ultimate Training program is full of Sport-specific skill development. Why? It’s not always the fastest player creating the most separation or the strongest player shutting down the weaker one. Game IQ, knowing where to go, executing the right footwork, and increasing your anticipation enhance all of the benefits you get in the gym 10 times over.
I honestly am not surprised that my best seasons ever took place in my mid-30s, after multiple hamstring injuries. I stopped overrunning and became efficient. I used feints and fakes and shoulders and eyes. Moving around the field became an art. It was a revelation. I’ll always be a big fan of lifting, training, and working out. But I’ll also invest equal energy into field vision, sport-specific skill development, including work with the disc.
Overall, I cannot wait to put my new strength and conditioning knowledge to the ultimate test: my own career. Thanks for reading and click below if any of our other articles catch your eye:
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