Winter Work

[Contributed by Sam #6]

The fall is over. We did some really good work this fall, taking steps towards our goals for the spring. We progressed through several tournaments, even shaking a rough start at Glory Days to throw down and crush our sunday competition. But here is the catch: Everything we have done in the Fall is now irrelevant. Now that we're heading into our Winter Break from school, its time to start thinking about spring ultimate and the College Series. The college series is our goal as a team, the time when we want to peak and perform at our best, hopefully making the step to REGIONALS this year. It is going to take us a lot of work to become a great team, and the break away from school is a great time to start putting in that work on an individual level. Ultimate is one of the most demanding sports I have ever played, combining sprinting, changing direction, jumping and laying out throughout a point, and repeated through seven or eight games for a whole weekend tournament. This intense sport requires a good deal of work to be played at that level, and the more work we put in as individuals over break will result in a higher starting point as a team when we meet up in January again. If you talk to any good team, they will tell you that the basis for their spring success is work, all winter, they work their asses off to get in shape. So lets make it our goal this winter to work more often, and harder then we have worked so far in ISU Ultimate history.

I have looked at other team's winter workout programs, and here is a a sample of the work done by many regionally, and nationally competitive teams:

• Workouts of some sort up to five days a week
• Snertz (hurl)
• Track workouts: 12x200 repeats, 8x400 repeats, Ladders from 100 to 500, etc.
• Leg circuits (like we did in practice on Monday)
• Stair workouts
• Team runs
• Workout groups (every elite team I know of has groups that go to the gym and lift together at least 3 days a week, up to 6!)

Notice any themes? Teams work. Hard. If we wanna make the next step as a team, we need to work hard too! Wisconsin won three college national championships on the premise that their legs would win them games, not their skill. If they can win national championships by outrunning and outworking their opponents, we can certainly learn some lessons from that.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to read up on ultimate and watch some games online while you have some time off from school. There are tons of good sites, like The Huddle, that offer tons of knowledge on ultimate. There are also videos of the resent club championships on the UPA's website.

So use this upcoming break to get your legs under you, get strong and healthy, and get ready to train us some energy legs! If you have any questions or comments, shoot them to me or Steve. Need some ideas to get your ass in shape, ask me or Steve. Whether you have access to a gym, or just stuff you can do around the house, there is a way for you to get into shape going into the winter. Lets start putting in the work now and make some noise this spring.

A few other notes, we will be getting jerseys shortly, so keep your ears open for info on such. Also it is time to decide about High Tide, so get me your money if you want to be included in our plans for this sweet trip. I need money, or at the least commitment before we go on break.

Thats about it for this post, everybody have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and a great New Year. Have a great break.

Bust a nut, GnoMEN!