distance Running and
important for performance, particularly
during long points. Also, Ultimate has
Ultimate – Friends or Foes?
fairly brief, intense efforts with recovery
in between. For example, you run hard
off the pull, match up with your defender,
BY KELLY JOHNSON, B.A. (ATHLETIC THERAPY), CSCS
cover a few in and out cuts, get the D,
score, and head off. This is very different
So you’re an Ultimate player heading into the off-season. You can
from distance running where a steady
remember times during the past season when you were too tired to heart rate is reached and a rhythm is
prevent your mark from scoring at the end of a long point; or you
attained. As such it is best to train for
Ultimate with short to medium, intense
tried to jump up for that huge grab in the end zone, only to have
bursts with recovery in between.
your legs fail on you as you watched the disc sail past; or some injury
Not convinced by the SAID principle?
trouble prevented you from finishing a tournament or relegated you
Then consider your muscle fibers. Ultimate
is a sport of speed-endurance. This means
to covering the opposing team’s slowest player. You vow that you will
you have to repeatedly come up with
train this off-season so that next year will be different. So, it’s time to
bursts of speed and powerful movements:
hit the treadmill or the pavement, right?
Sprints, cuts, jumps, and layouts. This
type of movement relies on fast twitch
As far as endurance requirements for a Michael Johnson. Distance running tends muscle fibers. Distance running, on the
sport go, Ultimate certainly ranks near the to involve more of a heel-toe stride where other hand, uses slow twitch muscle fibers.
top. Not too many other sports combine your foot lands well in front of your body. Building up your slow-twitch muscle
the impact of running, cutting, jumping Switching from one style to the other – as fibers through distance running wouldn’t
and laying out, often on hard fields with one would by using distance running as be such a big deal if there weren’t a third,
the seven-plus games in two days. It’s training for Ultimate - can have negative transitional type of muscle fiber. This third
been said that an Ultimate player can run carryover effects ranging from overuse type will adapt to become more like fast
10km in a game. So with all that running to injuries such as shin splints and hamstring or slow twitch fibers depending on what
prepare for it’s not surprising that people strains to diminished performance. kind of training they get. The more you
think that distance running would be a Shin splints happen because effective train them as fast twitch fibers, the faster,
logical conditioning choice. sprinting requires a stiff ankle joint more agile, and better able to sky people
Before I get fully into this, I want to make while distance running requires a lot of you become; the more they are exposed
it clear that these are training principles to movement through the ankle. Hamstring to continuous, slow running, the more
improve an athlete’s performance. In other injuries occur when trying to sprint with they will be recruited as slow-twitch
words, this is what most people would overly forward stride puts the hamstring muscle fibers. Through distance training,
get the most benefit from. That said, there at excessive stretch when it needs to your newly-recruited slow twitch fibers
are athletes that are so talented, skilled, contract forcefully. will limit the quantity of fast-twitch muscle
and mentally tough that they could play The second problem is something fibers you can have; effectively making
chess as training and still be phenomenal. called the Specific Adaptation to Imposed you slower.
It’s similar to the idea that some people Demands (SAID) principle. The SAID Here are five suggested workout
can smoke all their lives and still live to be principle states that your body will adapt alternatives to distance running to
90 but that doesn’t mean that everyone to the type of training you put it through. maximize your Ultimate performance:
should smoke. That said, even a prodigy Simply put, if you train your body to run
stands to improve with proper training. slowly – as one does in distance running; 1. Resistance Training
The problem with distance running as your body will learn to run slowly. If you Resistance for sport has requirements
training for Ultimate is that there are some train your body to run fast; your body will that are much different than training
key differences between them. The first is learn to run fast. As such you want your for general health and fitness or body
stride pattern. Good sprint form involves training to mimic game requirements and building. The two fitness elements that will
driving the balls of the feet into the ground conditions as closely as possible. help Ultimate the most are strength and
in a pattern similar to marching with high Now consider the SAID principle and power.
knees. Very important to effective sprinting your energy systems. Ultimate is a mix What this results in is a program of
is not having your foot hit the ground in of anaerobic alactic, lactic, and aerobic high resistance lifted explosively and
front of your centre of mass (navel). Think work. Lactic acid tolerance becomes very six reps per set or fewer. The benefits of
16 Ultimate Canada Magazine — www.canadianultimate.com
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