Boston College Ultimate Workouts

All-

Now that the fall season is over we have a long time until regular practices start back up after winter break. In past seasons, we’ve not focused enough on fitness during the time off and it’s hurt us when winter practices start because we have to spend more time than we can on getting back into good shape. The idea this season is to fix that.

So, I’m asking that we all work together through an “off-season” strength and conditioning program. I’m going to be working right along with you all and will be happy to answer any questions you have and hopefully be able to get over to campus to run some of them together.

What is the program? It’s Jim Biancolo’s “Decked”. Jim plays ultimate out in western mass and until recently posted pretty regularly about fitness with a ultimate-specific angle. It’s a nice program because each workout only needs 30 minutes but has a lot of diversity. Before we start, go ahead a read Jim’s article about the program, he has some great information about it and what some of the inspirations are.

The basics of the program are:

• The schedule is 3 days of exercise in a row followed by a day off
• Everything should be 30 minutes or less, but the idea is that you’re going as close to maximum effort as you can for the entire time. For some people this will be a BIG change to what you’re used to doing when you go to the gym but I think pays off big when you need to reach back a find that extra gear on the field. The mental aspect of teaching your body to attack workouts and competition is a huge plus.
• As with everything else, it’s more fun to workout together. If you can’t get together with other guys on the team then post your times and comments to the workout blog to let everyone know you’re working hard.
• Jim has some pretty basic stuff listed for what you need (dumbells, medicine ball, etc) but I’ll try and let you know when you can substitute a body-weight exercise in case you don’t have access to some of the stuff he talks about.

Now, my comments:

• Effort is the most important thing
• Stick with it, it’s going to be hard for the first week or two as you adjust to the schedule. But once you get into a rhythm it becomes your routine and you’ll be looking forward to it.
• If you need an extra day off or a light one here and there, take it. But always evaluate why you need that rest: are you tired from working hard, not mentally ready for it that day, or what? And, can you fix it going forward?
• Obviously, improving your diet goes hand in hand with improving fitness. I STRUGGLE with good diet all the time; and particularly when you’re a busy college student it can be very tough to make good decisions at the dining hall. But monitor what you’re doing for food and see if there’s easy stuff you can cut out or modify to make things healthier.

A copy of the plan is here, go download it and read it over.

Cool? Good. The plan is to start on Monday of next week: November, 23rd. That gives us Thanksgiving as the first day off which I think is a good plan.  I’ll try to remember to post the workout each day to the blog but try to keep up with it on your own as well.  And of course, make sure to post to the comments with how things are going!