Ultimate Training Series #1 - Aerobic and Anaerobic Endurance!
Dear Ultimate Frisbee Players,
"You become fit to play Ultimate, not the other way round."
This quote is often passed down to us from the more senior players/coaches in the game and a very important quote as Ultimate demands a high level of physical fitness in order to play well in it. Hence, I would be releasing a 3-part training series for players to better understand what type of physical components are crucial in a game of Ultimate and the type of exercises that facilitate these components, especially now during the off-season of Ultimate in Singapore. Today we are going to talk about Aerobic and Anaerobic Endurance.
Aerobic Endurance
Aerobic endurance is how well one's heart can pump blood and oxygen to the various muscle groups for moderate to long period of activities. It is commonly associated with long distance running, cycling, swimming etc.
Anaerobic Endurance
Anaerobic endurance is how well one can perform high-intensity activities in the absence of oxygen. These activities when a lot of lactic acid is produced, creating the aching sensation that players have, including the breathlessness after such activities.
Think of Aerobic endurance like a bottle of jam and Anaerobic endurance like mini sachets of jam you have on planes or fast food restaurants. Aerobic endurance would provide you the energy to spread loaves of bread with jam, whereas anaerobic endurance would provide you the energy to spread slices of bread. How much slices of bread you can spread (activity level) depends on how big your respective sachets or bottle you have. (level of aerobic/anaerobic endurance)
Aerobic vs Anaerobic Endurance in Ultimate
So, in a game of Ultimate, which endurance is more important? Picture yourself in a game of Ultimate. when a point starts, you would sprint to make a cut, sometimes faking and sprinting away from your market to get the disc. In addition, you would also run your lungs for a deep throw into the endzone. This applies to defense as well, when you constantly had to run at a high intensity for short intervals to keep your opponents at bay. Hence, anaerobic endurance is very crucial aspect in a game of ultimate.
Aerobic Endurance Useless in Ultimate?
Although anaerobic endurnace is very curcial in a game of Ultimate, one must not neglect the need for aerobic endurance as well. A game of Ultimate last for more than an hour, let alone a point. A point be done in a few throws or it could be a marathon point, like this instance:
Aerobic Endurance is important and crucial for players to last the points and the game itself. It might also facilitate muscle recovery, for players to be ready for another bout in either offense or defense.
Exercises to facilitiate Anaerobic and Aerobic Endurance
In the light of all that was mentioned, Ultimate players should focus more on anaerobic fitness, catering to aerobic fitness as well. (probably 70:30, 60:40 in your training regime)
Here are some exercises that effectively work on each respective endurances. We would be focusing on the legs as they are major components in the game of Ultimate (ie sprinting, running etc)
Anaerobic:
1) Intervals: sprint and run in the ratio of with more rest time for the run (ie 30s sprint followed by 45s jog/run)
I would recommend doing at a ratio for 1:2 for about 4-6 sets, decreasing the rest ratio and increasing the number of sets as you get better. This mimics the motion of ultimate frisbee very well
Fartleks:
2) On a track, sprint for a certain distance, followed by a rest time of 1.5 - 2 x the time taken to complete that round. (i.e. sprint 400m at a time of 1m30s, and rest for 2m30s - 3m) I like to use the 1-2-3-4 set. (1 x 800m, 2 x 400m, 3 x 200m, 4 x 100m)
With a partner:
1-2-3-4 Drill
3) Place cones about 20 - 30 metres about with 1 being the cone in front and 4 being the cone at the back. Your partner would call any number combination from 1 - 4 ( for example, 4-2-3-1), and you would sprint and stop at the various cones that was called.
Increase the difficulty by catching a disc upon completion of the sprints
4) Pendulum Drill
I like this drill as it adds the element of throwing in the drill, allowing the drill to be as close to ultimate as possible.
5) Suicides
The most feared exercise among the ultimate players. it involves sprinting to various part of the field and coming back. Place cones or go to area with markings available, like a basketball or tennis court.
Aerobic Endurance
Long distance running, swimming or cycling would helping in improving your aerobic fitness.
If you have any other exercises to recommend, do share it as well via ultimateleh@gmail.com or even commenting at Ultimate Leh! Stay tuned for the next training series on plyometrics!
